KEY POINTS:
4 GALATEA TCE,
HERNE BAY.
Home to some of the bluest of blue chip property in the of the Auckland region, the tucked-away corner of Auckland's inner city now known as Herne Bay Pt used to have a whole separate identity as Bayfield.
The trams turned around up on the corner and the big houses on their wide sunny streets slumbered on undisturbed by passing traffic.
Things haven't changed all that much since the trams stopped coming and the area changed its name. The roads are still so empty that cats risk napping on the centre line and only the excited voices of 10-year-olds at a birthday party disturb the spring afternoon.
Shan McElroy, who with her husband, Dave, has made the fairytale early-19th-century villa at the top of one of these sleepy streets their family home for the past few years, wouldn't have it any other way.
"When Dave and I looked at it, we felt the area was very like what we remembered from our own childhoods. And my children are no different. They come home from school, throw their bags on the ground and disappear outside until they are hungry."
Paige, 14, might have outgrown the need to let off steam round the pool in the rear garden, but 10-year-old Teague and 6-year-old Harriet make full use of it.
"It's the sort of house where you either have none of them, or an army, to feed," admits Shan.
"Luckily there's so much space, it just swallows up whatever you throw at it. We make lots of use of the outdoor dining area on the veranda, too.
"It's so sheltered that no matter what the weather, it's almost always usable, and the views of the harbour from it and all over the rear of the house are just lovely. I love the way they are framed by the trees but not obscured."
Behind the veranda, through floor-to-ceiling sash windows, the moulded plaster-work on the ceilings in the formal areas of the house has to be seen to be appreciated.
Previous owners told Shan they were a wedding gift to the original owners when the house was built in 1910 and their art-nouveau glories are seldom to be seen on this side of the world.
"We love them. You look up and appreciate all the work that's gone into them. It's hard to imagine, really."
On the other side of the wide hall that runs the width of the property is the grand entrance lobby, the master bedroom, Harriet's room and two bathrooms. Paige's bedroom is on the floor above with Teague well separated at the other end. They share a big bathroom and a large sunny living space with ample storage and concealed cubby holes under the eaves.
Even the 112sq m three-bed flat on the garden level is built on a grand scale. Completely separate from the house with its own side entrance, it not only provides extra income but offers a whole new take on the idea of living in a flat.
"You could say, we have no problem letting it," laughs Shan.
The McElroys have loved their time in one of Auckland's premier homes, but want to travel before the younger children enter secondary school.
"We're pretty nomadic. This has been our fifth home in 20 years so who knows what the next one will be like," says Shan.
"It won't match this one though, certainly not the ceilings."
