Margaret and her sister Jean, Pam's mum, came to New Zealand from Scotland in 1950 on a 10 immigrant ship. They were 17 and 18, and the deal was they would become nurses. When Margaret met Donald, a master builder, he was renovating Greenlane Hospital. (He later built the Wilson Home up the road in Takapuna, Pam says.)
"Aunty Margaret was tutoring these nurses and there was a bit too much noise next door so she tells them off." The person who copped the telling off was Donald."
The pair fell in love and were married. Like the house, Margaret was a grand old lady, says Pam, and she and Donald were ahead of their time with their home alterations. They incorporated a walk-in wardrobe and en suite in the master bedroom; a big, light room which looks across the Devonport rooftops to Rangitoto and North Head.
They hung embossed wallpaper, which cost $60 a roll, in the entranceway. That was a small fortune then, and it has hardly faded. They also put in a red kitchen in their upstairs quarters. The cupboards and tiles are red and there is even a red dishwasher.
"Who would have had a red kitchen in 1976, and a red dishwasher?" says Pam.
On the bench is a microwave that Pam says is one of the earliest -- they had to have a special licence for it. The microwave still works.
To say the house has a prime position in Devonport Village is an understatement. The view takes in Rangitoto and North Head and sweeps across the harbour. There's a great view of the museum and it also takes in the city, the Ports of Auckland, the ferry wharf and the Sky Tower.
The early history of the house proved a bit of a mystery but some detective work has found the land was purchased in 1901 from the Duder family, a well-known Devonport family, and that Frank Mason, an accountant active in the community, had the house built in 1911.
Though the house can't be altered outside, the interior is ready for updating, and there is an extremely large front yard.
The grand entranceway has a split-level kauri staircase that sweeps up to the upstairs quarters' three bedrooms. Including the flats, two one-bedrooms and one two-bedroom, there are seven bedrooms in all. The flats all have privacy, their own balconies and separate entrances.
Describing the house as a villa doesn't do it justice, so Pam agrees it's a "super villa".
She is emotional about the loss of her aunty Margaret, who was 83, and has fond memories of visiting as a girl, but she lives in Palmerston North and the family has made the decision to sell.
