CONTACT:
Jill Jackson, 021 745 424, or Emma John, 021 862 242, Barfoot & Thompson.
AUCTION:
April 20.
One of Parnell's oldest houses goes under the hammer this month after being owned by the same Auckland family for 99 years.
"Hillside" in Ayr St was built in 1883 by the Reverend Vicesimus Lush and his wife Blanche, who lived next door in Parnell's historic Ewelme Cottage.
After Lush died, "Hillside" was rented out for the best part of 40 years until the current owners' grandfather, Harry Cocker, bought it in 1917. "Our grandfather was mowing the lawns there when Blanche asked if he wanted to rent the house. He said: 'Only if I can buy it'," says Margaret Cocker, who grew up in the house with her brother Brian and has lived there for most of her life.
Harry bought the house for 850 pound, paid it off at 10 shillings a week, and continued to live in a self-contained part of the house with his wife Florence after selling it in 1952 to their son Basil who was Margaret and Brian's father.
Basil's 94-year-old brother Arthur still lives in a house that he and Harry built behind "Hillside" after the property was subdivided in 1946.
The design of "Hillside", which is zoned Residential One, has changed little in 133 years and it still has its original street-facing facade including pretty fretwork.
Over the years Harry's DIY projects included closing in the east-facing veranda which is now one of two kitchens, digging out under the house to create a basement and adding a large carport to accommodate a caravan. Extensions to the north-facing back of the house included adding a veranda that has views to Rangitoto Island, Hobson Bay and Remuera's northern slopes.
Image 1 of 5: 'Hillside' has weathered the changing landscape and fortunes of Parnell. Photo / Ted Baghurst
Margaret and Brian share rich memories of their childhood in Parnell, which they say was a far cry from the gentrified suburb it has become today.
"When I went to school, people looked down on Parnell. It was very much a working class area. A lot of the homes were run-down and the bottom of Brighton Rd was almost derelict," says Margaret.
Growing up in Ayr St in the 1950s and 1960s, they had free rein to play in the native bush that stretched from behind Ewelme Cottage through the valley below it to Hobson Bay. They walked from home to Parnell School, Epsom Girls Grammar and Auckland Grammar, which are in zone for the property today.
The property is also close to Newmarket shops, Parnell Village, the Auckland Domain and War Memorial Museum, many bush and coastal walks and is convenient to the central city.
Apart from the basement, the house is all on one level, elevated on a sloping 626sq m site that shares a driveway and is accessed from a lane off Ayr St.
The front porch of the square-fronted house leads into a hallway with a large bedroom to the immediate left and another to the right that has a bathroom and toilet off it.
Also off the L-shaped hallway are two smaller bedrooms and the large main living room that adjoins the kitchen and opens to the veranda.
At the end of the hall is a "granny flat" with its own bathroom, separate toilet, and a combined kitchen and dining room that open to the back veranda. The flat's living room opens to a sheltered courtyard garden tucked on the western corner of the house.
Now it is time to sell their family home, Margaret and Brian hope the new owners will look after it and appreciate the part it plays in Parnell's history.
