Glendowie: A new lease of life

A doctor considered knocking his house down before an architect convinced him to restore it.

503 Riddell Road, Glendowie.

Jim Cleland shakes his head when he recalls that he nearly had his house knocked down after he bought it in 1978.

"It was built during the depression in 1928, and was in very original condition," he says euphemistically. "But the architect I consulted, David Armstrong, drew me a beautiful picture of what he had in mind for it - this classic Pompallier-style family home - and I fell in love with it."

Jim's wife Sue grew up near Riddell Road, which back then was a farm track flanked by deep ditches. There was no Tamaki Drive until the end of the World War II, and the area was accessed via a back route.

"The beach below Riddell Road was our adventure playground, and this was the first house to be built above the beach [by Richard Bolt, whose famous aviator brother George has the road to the airport named after him]," she says. "We used to climb up the slippery bank to some pine trees that used to be at the bottom of the house's orchard, and one day we found an air raid shelter. We children didn't know what it was - we thought it was a pirate's den stocked with provisions and maybe hiding stolen treasure."

Little did Sue know that in 1993 she would walk back down to that beach along a pohutukawa-lined track, and be married on the sand to a subsequent owner of that house, Jim. It became the fifth address on Riddell Road in which she's lived.

Even now, she's not moving far. She and Jim have built a new home in front of their Pompallier house. While it takes some of the view, there are still many windows in the Pompallier house that look out down to Farm Cove, around the harbour and across Brown's Island to Coromandel and even Great Barrier Island on clearer days.

Both the impressive fireplace mantles came from Great Barrier, where the couple has a holiday home. Jim and friends dug out the massive piece of kauri in the lounge from a swamp - he estimates it lay there for about 80 years. The slab of macrocarpa above the fire in the family room was adzed by the architect David Armstrong.

"I think that's a work of art in itself," says Jim, looking at it admiringly.

And at the entry to the lounge is a totara post, carved by Jim's father, Isaac Cleland, a master craftsman famous in Wellington for his hand made furniture and antique restoration.

There is also rimu lining a curved ceiling by the front door, and in a floating ceiling above the kitchen.

In addition to wood, another feature of the interior design is arched doorways. They were a favourite device of David Armstrong and lend a relaxed feel. Even a couple of tiled shower entrances are arched.

Most of the upstairs bedrooms and the study open onto the balcony which runs the length of the house. The rooms have built-in desks where Jim's three children all studied to become doctors like their father. Jim has retired as a clinical haematologist, but can't help but continue talking shop with Jacqueline, a GP in Highland Park, Hilary, a GP in Christchurch, and James, an assistant professor of neurology in Rochester, New York State.

"We all pitched in and helped when the place was being renovated back in '78," recalls Jim, showing me photos of Jacqueline and Hilary mixing concrete, and James and himself building a wall.

Downstairs is a sauna, changing rooms for it and the spa pool outside, and what could be a rumpus room or self-contained guest area that opens onto a garden courtyard. Its porthole windows were salvaged from a foreign ship that was scuttled off the coast about the time the house was renovated. Outside is the ship's lantern, and a bell that was given to Jim by a friend. A length of thick rope along the handrail of an exterior spiral staircase adds to the nautical theme.

"I used to have a yacht moored off the beach down below," says Jim. "I kept a dinghy down there so we could row out whenever we wanted and go for a sail."

The spa pool is on a raised stone platform with stunning views down to Farm Cove. Jim and Sue have designed the rear of their new house to preserve the privacy of the new owners of the Pompallier house. There are almost no windows facing back, and the few that are have been sited high to provide light rather than vision.

"We aren't really leaving our memories, just moving next door," says Jim. "We hope we'll become friends with the new owners. We'll try to remember to explain all the house's idiosyncrasies to them, but they won't have far to come to ask us anything we may have forgotten."

Vital Statistics

SIZE: Land 1832sq m, house 344sq m, garage 70sq m.

PRICE INDICATION: Interest expected above $2.8 million. Tender closes July 5.

INSPECT: Sat/Sun/Tues 1-2pm, or by appointment.

CONTACT: Bob Gordon, Barfoot and Thompson, ph 025 759 025.

FEATURES: Historic family home renovated in the French provincial style of Pompallier House near Russell. Formal lounge and dining, family room with conservatory, breakfast room. Study upstairs (with stunning view). Rumpus/guest area downstairs. Sauna, spa pool, changing rooms. Parking for up to 14 cars in a compass rose turning circle. Three car garage has a workshop, photographic room and children's loft. Access to beach down a pohutukawa-lined track.