Design: Styles of the city

Auckland has so many styles of housing it's hard to decide what to live in. Stacy Gregg examines the options.

Victorian Villa

Built between 1860 and 1910, the villa is the backbone of housing in many Auckland suburbs. Reviled in the "cleanliness-conscious" late 1800s for being dank, dusty and disease-ridden, the villa fell into disrepute. Its popularity has waxed and waned ever since. In the 1980s the villa-style underwent its most serious revival, particularly in inner-city suburbs such as Ponsonby. Today the villa thrives in Ponsonby, Mt Eden and in more elaborate "English cottage" structures in Remuera.

On the plus side, Victorian villas lend themselves well to doing-up - their wooden frameworks are easily modified. The bay windows, verandas and high ceilings give a classical charm.

On the minus side, villas tend to be dark because of the typical layout of boxy rooms radiating out from a central hallway. Classic Victorian design also often put the kitchen to the rear of the house, separate from the dining room, as food preparation was not regarded as a task to be witnessed. And even in 1900 it was still a new concept to have the bathroom inside the home, so the ablutions areas tended to be small, perfunctory affairs.

Most villas today have had some renovation already and many problems have been eliminated, with internal walls being removed and windows being added.

If you're thinking of buying a villa, key checkpoints include piling, wiring and plumbing.

Transitional Villa

Although they're a common sight in Auckland, particularly in suburbs such as Herne Bay, the transitional villa was a short-lived construction. All of them were built roughly between 1908 and 1918, in - as the name suggests - a transitional period between the early Victorian villa and the new Californian bungalow.

With the wooden cladding and verandas, the transitional villa can be mistaken for the Victorian villa. But it has a flatter, gabled roof, and may have pylons on the porch instead of the classic villa balustrades.

Inside, transitional villas are more open than their older cousins, with a broader, shorter central hall, and larger rooms.

As with all villas, the transitional design can be slightly problematic to do up because it does not meet modern specifications. If you're renovating, there are costs involved in having woodwork specifically designed to match the old fashioned dimensions.

Californian Bungalow

Built between 1910 and 1940, the Californian bungalow saw concrete, brick and stucco take over from weatherboards.

The bay windows of villas persisted, but they were mixed with arched porches, with thick pylons supporting them. Roofs became flatter and the exterior elements of fancy latticework were replaced by simple lines.

With double-brick or concrete walls and concrete foundations, bungalows tend to be a solid bet structurally. However, this also makes them harder to transform.

State House

From the late 30s when they were first built, Michael Joseph Savage demanded that the state house, a cheap form of accommodation for those who couldn't afford their own home, should be built to last. Consequently, those staties that are still left in Auckland today are generally structurally sound.

They're also basic in terms of design - a three-bedroom box. Nine times out of ten they'll be weatherboard constructions, but there are state houses in areas such as Remuera that involved a little more thought - two-level modernist designs in stucco and brick.

Stuccos, Spanish Mission Style, Moderne And Deco

The most interesting example of the Spanish Mission style in Auckland is not a house at all - it's the main building of Auckland Grammar School. The school has all the classic Spanish Mission features: stucco cladding, archways, a courtyard effect on the balconies, and parapets and peaks on the roof.

There are other good examples of the form in various suburbs of Auckland, particularly Grafton and Parnell. In common with Art Deco and Moderne houses, Spanish Mission uses a flat roofline, often with parapets, and no front porches, decks or verandas.

Moderne and art deco, however, both feature geometric detailing and are pieced together in cubes and large curved bays. These cubes and curves often fit together in a waterfall pattern of different roof levels. A classic example of this is the Cintra flats in Whitaker Place in the central city.

Modern

An upsurge in apartments has meant that modern Auckland housing is often about getting the most effective use of space in the home. New construction materials such as Tri-board and Zincalume are being used.

However, traditional raw materials such as breeze-block, natural timber and lots of glass are back in fashion. As with an old house, it pays to check on the construction when you buy a new house or apartment. Ask about the materials that were used and the quality of the workmanship.