FEATURES:
Absolute beachfront Omanu Beach,
Mt Maunganui property with distinctive
octagonal home built in the late 60s to
showcase Lockwood Homes' innovative
potential. Considerable section offers
development potential.
A distinctive octagonal 1960s house built on a big, absolute beachfront site showcased Lockwood Homes' early innovative potential.
Four generations of the La Grouw family have relaxed here over the past 45 years. And although the late Jo La Grouw created a stereotypical Kiwi beach-house lifestyle for his family and descendants, there's not much that's typical about the free-spirited bach he designed for them.
Architect-engineer Jo and his wife Gonda emigrated to Rotorua in 1951, keen to settle in a country where world wars hadn't raged. Jo co-founded solid-wood construction company Lockwood Homes, building using a method of interlocking timber.
Its growth allowed him to buy this beachfront site in Tauranga, where his family had often attended swimming carnivals.
One of his sons, Corgi La Grouw, who built this house in 1968 fondly explains his father would've been drawn to the site's initial affordability.
"My father came to New Zealand with nothing so he had to be frugal. And this was a big beachfront section but it would have been affordable back then because locals had occasionally used it as a bit of an unofficial tip."
Easterly wind interacted with a seawards windbreak Jo had erected, dumping sand on the section and raising its level favourably.
Corgi says "we did not need any equipment to do the 'earthworks'.
"Being an architect and an engineer Father decided to design a beach bach that would not just look good, be fit for purpose and take advantage of the climate and view, but also be a feat of engineering in solid-wood construction. He wanted to show the versatility of what Lockwood could do. It wasn't about square boxes."
Developers will be eyeing the 1224sq m beachfront section but there's also merit in the quirky two-storey dwelling. Its octagonal design's geometry supports an octagonal roof, allowing the upper level to be largely open-plan without unnecessary uprights. Jo chose a cupola roof dome incorporating an octagonal glass skylight to help ensure a light-filled interior.
Clive Hulme, father of Formula One world champion Dennis Hulme, was a water diviner and mine driller who found underground hot water. It has nurtured the lush but low-maintenance lawn-free gardens Jo and Gonda established and fed hot water to an impressive indoor pool created in a heavily glassed extension to the bach.
The essence of the original 45-year-old home is largely intact although there have been modifications over the years. It's almost completely swathed in decks, from where it's only steps to the white sandy Omanu beach.
The upper level revels in the sea outlook, incorporating the distinctive wood interior, two living areas, a kitchen, a bedroom and bathroom-laundry. Downstairs has its own living-dining area and kitchen, three bedrooms, two bathrooms, a laundry and a corridor to the indoor pool complex.
Image 1 of 6: 35A Oceanbeach Rd, Mt Maunganui.
The property has been all about enjoyment for the La Grouw family, who've gathered there for many grand Christmases. Corgi can see wry humour in how early Norwegian pine Christmas trees his father planted post celebrations eventually became unwieldy and took considerable effort to remove.
The fact the property incorporates its own driveway, as opposed to sharing a right-of-way with other properties, heightens its development potential. Should multiple dwellings be built onsite, all could have easy beach access thanks to the public walkway already alongside the property.
Corgi says now his parents are survived by three generations of descendants it's no longer practical for them all to share the bach so it's being sold.
