Homes of the Year: Room for girls to have a level each

The house at 28 Darwin Lane has a cable car going up the six levels. Photo / Ted Baghurst

We look at some of the most stunning homes that were for sale this year

28 DARWIN LANE
REMUERA

Eight bathrooms, six bedrooms, seven-car garaging, four living spaces, a home theatre, games room, artist's studio, swimming pool, spa and stunning views across Remuera's Orakei Basin.

What more could you possibly want? A panic room, perhaps, to retreat to while you contemplate the sheer size of this new 1000sq m, six-level home built into the side of a steep hill in Darwin Lane - a secluded and sought-after cul-de-sac at the bottom of Upland Rd.

One of two large dressing rooms off the master bedroom does, in fact, double as a panic room - complete with steel-lined doors and wired so you can view footage from five infrared security cameras on the property.

The house is the pet project of owners Andrew and Lee Spence, who moved in with daughters Holly, 19, and Mallory, 21, last December after it took three years to build.

Nine hundred truckloads of concrete were needed for the foundations of the house alone, which was designed by architect Adrian McNaught and made of concrete, South Island basalt and steel - its piling reaching 20m in some places to reach bedrock within the basin's extinct volcanic crater.

Although its scale was imposing at first, Mr Spence said the home worked well for the family because his daughters had a level each where they could entertain friends while he and Lee lived mostly on the top two levels.

These include the main kitchen, indoor and outdoor dining spaces, a laundry and covered outdoor area for the clothesline, a snug on level five and a master bedroom with a deck, two en suites, two dressing rooms and Lee's sunny painting studio on the top level.

Level four is devoted to 160sq m of garaging, with plenty of turning space so you don't have to reverse up narrow Darwin Lane, and a large foyer which opens to stairs that lead to the main living area on level five.

"It's a house that is ideal for a multi-generational family," said Mr Spence.

"We can spread out as much as we like but, equally, Lee and I can spend most of our time on the top two levels without feeling that the house is too big for us."

Level three, where Holly lives, includes three double bedrooms, all with en suites, a TV room and a large, north-facing deck. Level two includes two double bedrooms, two bathrooms and the home theatre with iPad-controlled giant screen, lighting, sound and doors.

The games room on level one is an ideal space for entertaining teenagers. It includes a bar and food-preparation area and opens on to a deck, spa and 13m, gas-heated swimming pool.

An internal staircase on the eastern side of the house accesses all levels and a cable car runs up and down the outside of the house and opens on to the staircase landings.

Other features include reverse-cycle air-conditioning heat pumps that can be operated independently in each room, five gas water heaters, a three-phase generator in case of power cuts, two water tanks and two pumps for the fire sprinklers in every room which are part of a fire-evacuation system.

"The house is like an industrial building. The Fire Service insisted that we had our own fire standard because the house that used to be on this site burnt down when the fire trucks could not get to it fast enough."

Mr Spence said now that the two girls were studying, he and Lee were keen to move to Clevedon to enjoy the country lifestyle.

The property has a 2011 capital value of $10.5 million and is still on the market with Bayleys real estate.