SCHOOL ZONES:
Ponsonby primary and intermediate, Western Springs College, Auckland Girls’ Grammar.
CONTACT:
Chloe Wither, Ray White, ph 021 672 191.
The delightful secret of Herne Bay is not the grand mansions -- old and new -- that line the northern slopes streets. Nor is it the handful of pocket beaches found down wonderfully rickety old-school stairs under the pohutukawa.
The real secret of this inner suburb is the hidden rows of apartments, boatsheds and houses tucked down long driveways and barely spotted cul-de sac lanes off cliff-top Sarsfield St. These houses are protected from the traffic, seen only from the water or glimpsed from the harbour bridge, hovering right over the inner harbour.
One of the more dramatic and stylish apartment blocks is the sloping tiled building designed by architect Dr Robert Donald in 1978. Owners Leigh and Barry Wither had moved around the suburb as they brought up their family -- Leigh reels off each street -- before lighting on this striking apartment, 11 years ago. It is the top floor of the block -- two other apartments are on the lower two floors, all share the grounds and the sea views. Leigh laughs that this was planned as the empty nest house, but over the years that changed.
"It kept absorbing more and more people as at various times our son, our daughter, even our granddaughter came home to live," she says.
"This is such a generous house, it just keeps absorbing people, but we could all have our private space, too."
The couple have moved around the bay to a house with a pool to accommodate the children, putting this one on the market now that the refurbishment has finished.
Dr Donald is known for his striking apartment buildings -- the curvy Bay Terraces of Mission Bay are his, as are apartments in Remuera, Mount Maunganui and further afield. The couple were captivated by the stunning water views, but engineer husband Barry was also drawn to the avante garde design. He has spent the past two years doing what Leigh understates as "some pottering" to refresh and modernise the apartment. Previous owners had made the most of the soaring cathedral ceilings by inserting a crisply designed mezzanine floor in 1995, all steel and glass to complement Donald's assertive lines. The kitchen was refitted with a beautifully detailed oak and granite one from Poggenpohl, with those storage drawers the company is famed for, plus Gaggenau and Bosch appliances and a twin-door fridge and a nifty cocktail cabinet and wine fridge.
Barry's updates included replacing all the glass sliding walls -- the entire front of the apartment opens to a deep, sheltered terrace -- with double glazing and hush glass, putting in a generous gas fire with granite hearth in the living room, and adding new wood floors and tiles. Each of the three bedrooms has its own en suite, all with underfloor heating. Barry also reconfigured spaces to create a laundry room with guest loo. The master suite shares the terrace, and those up-close sea views, with the main living floor. That bathroom is lit by a delightful shaft of sky-light, while the wardrobe uses every inch of space in the sloping walls.
Image 1 of 3: Great designers marry form with function. Add in a superb location and you see why the details in this 70s apartment work so well.
A second bedroom is tucked at the back of the apartments, its windows have tree-framed views of the gardens, beach and harbour bridge. Upstairs is a third large bedroom with more of those sea views and a study with its own small balcony -- in fact, it's hard to imagine working there with the water action just outside.
The couple are clearly storage fiends: at every turn there are more sleekly fitted cupboards and drawers, there is extra basement storage below the two-car garage. The home was well future-proofed in its early design -- a landing next to the entry staircase is intended for a lift shaft if needed, the house is well insulated, and the northern sun keeps the interior spaces toasty.
But it is that orientation which has delighted the family over the decade. Heraldhomes was disappointed to have missed a pod of orca that had been cavorting just off the coast, and dolphins are not uncommon. Year-round the family has loved watching the yacht racing, the Birkenhead ferry ploughing back and forth, plenty of kayakers and boaties, and the sweep of the harbour bridge. The grounds are still ringed by ancient pohutukawa, with lawns and a "fairy dell" to delight the children. Steps meander down to one of those tiny beaches at the bottom of Curran St, the water clear enough to see sea life.
Now this little corner of Herne Bay is not so secret.
