When former Hamiltonians Bev and Colin Walker's mates were heading off to weekend beach places, they took the exciting course of buying this surprising property as their Auckland weekender.
The three-level home, which has now been their fulltime home for 10 of the 26 years they've owned it, surprises ontwo fronts.
First are the widescreen rear views which Bev spied when she sneaked a look through the front window all those years ago. They're not apparent from the street front but take in a glorious harbour view from the container terminals, past North Head and Rangitoto to the Parnell ridgeline.
Bev says: "I took one look, turned to Colin and said 'I like it, let's buy it'."
Colin says: "There's always something to see out there with cruise ships coming in, yacht races and ferries."
The second big surprise is the double grammar-zoned home's size, given its frontage suggests cute but compact cottage dimensions. It unfurls across three levels with a two-bedroom flat downstairs able to be self-contained or used as part of the main home.
Two of the couple's three children spent stints living with their families in the downstairs set-up, which has also been tenanted.
The Walkers are retired now but always enjoyed coming up for weekends from Hamilton where Bev managed a carpet business and Colin had a car yard.
The couple chose this location knowing it'd be incredibly easy to stroll into Parnell to dine out.
Bev put in the cottagey front garden, where roses are about to bloom, along the front veranda. With a neighbour they upgraded the shared gravel driveway; now character brickwork leads down to their two parking spots.
The middle, entry level embraces the views with a wide dining-kitchen expanse opening to a veranda. This area stretches back into a restful lounge with gas fireplace and heat pump.
The front of the home, where the Walkers created a cosy additional sitting room, dates from the turn-of-the-century.
They renovated in keeping with the character ambience, replacing some aluminium joinery with timber sash windows and doors when they pushed out a corner of the lounge. They replaced an orange formica kitchen with a more upmarket timeless version.
A bedroom with access to a bathroom rounds out this level.
The view becomes even more impressive upstairs where the couple added another deck. Glass balustrading ensures both bedrooms opening out to it can drink in the vista.
