Sometimes it's hard to move from your favourite corner of Auckland. Nina and Roy Grant had lived in a townhouse around the corner from Park Ave, a leafy street leading straight down to the beach from Lake Rd, for 14 years. They couldn't imagine living anywhere else that had the easy walking to beach, shops, restaurants, the movies and markets -- and Nina's mum lived next door.
Over the years they'd been eyeing the old cottage on a huge site, with tennis court, backing on to their townhouse. When it finally came on the market in mid-2015, they snapped it up.
"It was a 1924 cottage, and we were delighted when a family bought it to relocate to their farm in Puhoi. Our plan was to build a pair of future-proof houses on the site, Lindy Leuschke is a friend so we wanted her to design the pair of houses," says Nina.
The couple subdivided the land, building the street-side house over the past year. They are selling it now, and starting the build of their own property on the back section.
Lindy designed the front house for what she calls the "generic family", which these days could mean a combination of multi-generations, adult kids or elderly relatives coming and going. The building had to be adaptable for future buyers and fit in with a street that included bungalows, mid-century and modern houses. She organised the spaces in the roomy house (extra-tall studs help with that impression) so that rooms borrow light and views from each other, sight-lines look beyond just the usual four-square room and the rooms are arranged around courtyards and terraces that blur the lines between indoors and out.
"We made spaces that can interconnect and flow, but that can be closed off if they need," she says. "It's easy to think of outdoor living for evening cocktails, but I think the terraces [on the street side] are just as good when you are having coffee in the morning in your pyjamas. You see people on the street, you get the views, but the world isn't looking at you."
Image 1 of 5: On the site of a 1920s cottage, this couple have created a home for the 21st century.
Lindy used a mix of natural materials including timber and concrete brick, with aluminium to reflect the street's mix of houses. She massed a raked roof with flat-roofed box, using a standout brick pattern bagged in white as the anchoring material. The textured walls from outside to inside, frame the courtyards and terraces and set up a striking interplay of shadows. The intriguing mix of textures continues with a waving screen above the front entrance of chain mail (developed, as it happens, by Weta workshops for armour in the Lord of the Rings movies). Inside, a sculptural open-tread staircase of dark oak with steel balustrades anchors the double-height entry. Wood-look tile floors in all the bathrooms continue the warm, textured palette.
Nina was particularly delighted with how Lindy arranged the open plan kitchen around a sleek island of putty-coloured Caesarstone and a custom slim light fixture and hood in raw steel. With Fisher and Paykel double oven, double fridge and gas cooker and plugs aplenty for appliances, there is more thoughtful future-proofing. This informal room opens to a sunny breakfast deck on the street side, and courtyards and lawns on the back for afternoon sun. Off the entry hall, a sliding door can close off the formal living room, with gas fireplace, or the rooms can merge depending on the crowd or time of day.
The couple were keen to incorporate a full bedroom suite on the ground floor for guests or folks who don't want to tackle stairs, specifying a full bathroom (there's another guest loo on this floor). Nina wanted a proper laundry, plenty of storage and room for an outdoor shower for swimmers coming in off the beach.
Upstairs are a further four bedrooms. The master suite has a generous terrace with the best views over the trees to the sea, a luxurious bathroom and en suite. Two of the double bedrooms share a Jack and Jill bathroom, while the fourth bedroom, currently set up as an office, has its own en suite. The house is wired for tech and security, there's underfloor heating and two sets of hot water tanks to keep all those bathrooms going. Nina has finished some of the rooms with linen drapery, but left the rest for the new owners to add their touch.
"We're sensitive to how this house, and our new house on the back, fit the neighbourhood. We didn't want to block views, everyone gets sun and privacy," explains Nina. "It's all about walking down to the beach. We've always loved that about living here."
