CONTACT:
Gary and Vicki Wallace, Bayleys
Auckland Central, mob 0274 988 585 (Gary) or
021 988 585 (Vicki).
FEATURES:
Landmark 1936 weatherboard-brick
Art Deco home with views, reinvigorated by a
major renovation and rebuild. Fully landscaped,
irrigated grounds with a gas-heated pool.
The Aucklander credited with manufacturing sandals based on Japanese footwear in the 1950s, Maurice Yock, appreciated form and function.
Now the distinctive 1936 Art Deco house designed for him is for sale, sporting a major renovation and rebuild sensitively honouring its origins while delivering upmarket family functionality.
This Parnell beauty's original designer, A.C. Jeffries, chose weatherboards atop a brick base instead of Art Deco's usual stucco. Although effectively curved, the front of the three-storey bay's upper is actually made up of angular weatherboard facets.
Its owner since 2006, John, says: "It is believed to be the last, or one of the last remaining brick and weatherboard three-storey 'turreted' Art Deco houses in Auckland."
Professional couple John and wife Fiona farewelled Herne Bay to be minutes from the CBD with a better selection of schooling nearby for their two children.
"We're only the fourth owners of this property and I'm told all the others also sent their children to Parnell District School."
The school's outer playing fields bound their rear fence.
"We could see the house had incredible street presence and huge potential," says John.
Repeat Master Builder award-winners PSL Construction effectively built a new home with better flow within the upgraded 1936 shell, to the design of architect Michael Fisher of CPRW Fisher. The property now has central core climate control, a wealth of premium materials and custom-made fittings plus automated underground irrigation.
The front garden incorporates lawn and layered hedges. John's office in the ground floor of the bay has its own entrance. Major excavation amplified this level to also include a wine room, cloakroom and big, carpeted four-car garage, which has hosted great children's parties.
The main entrance is mid-floor, up brick steps. The stepped profile of the staircase accents a gracious entry hall, concealing a guest loo. French oak flooring extends through key living areas. As well as being showcased in a glossy magazine cover-story and featured in a television carpet commercial, the home's interior won a bronze medal in 2010 at the Designers' Institute of New Zealand Best Design Awards.
Light-filled north-facing living areas look quietly cultured, incorporating areas designed specifically for art and built-in library-quality bookshelves. John explains that this storey also entertains beautifully. "You could entertain 100 people here, and lose them, all on this one level."
The main living room courses into the front bay and past a marble-sheathed gas central fireplace to a separate living area. This opens to a "sun-trap" front terrace beside a family room with home theatre sound system.
A generous kitchen island and closeable home office alcove feature in the impeccable kitchen-dining-family area opening wide to a patio. This is where three levels of terraced outdoor living begin, which landscaper Russell Dawe (Inlandscape Garden Design) topped with an 11m swimming pool (gas heated with automated maintenance).
Handily, there's a bathroom, laundry and storage room just off the family room.
Upstairs, the master suite with dressing room boasts an extraordinary bathroom in its front bay. It showcases a bath recessed into an oak podium flanked by twin basins. Its stellar outlook, centred on the harbour, is every bit as fine as the views from the rear grounds and the mid-level.
"Somebody said we should sell bathroom space by the hour."
Versatility allows another three or four bedrooms on this level. A veranda wraps around two spacious rear bedrooms near the family bathroom. A serene front room with built-in daybed can be a sitting room or study/bedroom. Teamed with its neighbouring bedroom and polished bathroom it becomes a guest suite.
