SCHOOL ZONES:
Victoria Avenue Primary, Remuera Intermediate, double Grammar zone.
CONTACT:
Ross Hawkins, Sotheby’s, 027 472 0577, 09 352 2502.
Out of sight amid native bush in one of Remuera's stylish enclaves, there's a home with a vibe that gets everyone who walks through its doors querying, surmising and marvelling at its starry form.
Almost three years ago Mark Vela and Kate Moodabe walked through double steel-studded doors and, in an instant, saw all the vibe of the exciting 1920s/30s era of great American movies. For Mark it was the glamour of Hollywood. For Kate, whose grandfather Michael Moodabe established the Amalgamated Theatres chain in this country during the 1920s, it was less Hollywood and more about the style of the movie The Great Gatsby.
"More Gatsby-esque," she confirms. "It is glamorous, but it is also family oriented."
Together, Mark and Kate have completed the cinema connection, creating a gallery in their family room with framed photographs of the Moodabe patriarch with the actress Grace Kelly and his sons, including Kate's father, Joe, photographed with the 1930s' child star Shirley Temple.
For Mark's and Kate's friends, such a signature touch has added to the magic of this place and also to their keenness to speculate on the design influences throughout these soaring walls.
For some it is the Spanish/Moroccan vibe from the metal lanterns and light fittings. Others have picked up the influences of early 20th-century American architect Frank Lloyd Wright in the textured pillars by the dining room. For some it is the American Art Deco ziggurat form of the tiered mantel in the formal lounge that has drawn comment.
For this professional couple and their blended family of five sons, the common elements are indisputable.
Image 1 of 5: The pairing of architectural influences forms an inviting ambience in a property that inspires conversation and countless questions
"It is the style and the glamour," says Mark. "It is architecturally appealing. This is not scary architecture. It is ageless. There is not an ordinary room in the house."
Built of solid plaster over a timber frame, this three-level home has the bedrooms and bathrooms located above and below the middle, entry-level living, which is oriented to the bush and the deck-side infinity pool.
It was designed in the early 2000s by Auckland architect Allan Shanahan in what he calls "a close and a detailed collaboration" with a client whose influence was much more Middle Eastern than Frank Lloyd Wright.
Nowhere is the Moroccan element more evident than in the panels of bespoke relief tiles that was inspired by a photograph of a wall of coloured Moroccan star tiles and recreated using a locally made plaster mould.
Likewise the kitchen with its twin island benches, a design the client had seen in a magazine and which Allan Shanahan says is the only one of its kind he has ever designed. Its perimeter work and storage spaces include one stove with a ceramic cooktop and a second, larger, free-standing oven with a six-burner gas hob beside a marble worktop on castors. The larger, fixed, island bench is the interface with the dining area. "I didn't understand the kitchen when I first moved in," says Kate. "We just couldn't work it until we realised how good it is for 'people flow' when you're entertaining and still need to be in the kitchen."
The marble surfaces here and in the en suite upstairs and the bathroom by the sauna downstairs have been etched, rather than honed, to give the effect of natural stone.
The separation of bedrooms from the living areas has worked perfectly for this family. "There's a lot of concrete between us and the kids," says Kate.
Now they're about to downsize and leave the home that has brought ease of living and glamour into one memorable experience for them all.
