SCHOOL ZONES:
Richmond Rd Primary, Ponsonby Intermediate, Western Springs College, Auckland Girls’ Grammar.
CONTACT:
Felicity Scott, Barfoots, 0274 522241.
AUCTION:
March 11 (unless sold prior).
*2 off-street
Gillian Fong is more than a little sad to be leaving the Ponsonby home she and her husband Weimond have owned for more than 33 years.
They bought the former hostel back in Ponsonby's bohemian days when locals used to spit-roast pigs in the backyard and houses up and down the street were full of artists and creative types.
Their daughters have grown up here, and the family has strong roots in the community and church. But the Fongs are realistic.
Their 'girls', now 25 and 22, have left home and the couple would like to resume the missionary work they have a passion for, so they are selling up.
This is not the first time they have left the house. They had tenants in while they spent 10 years working in Hong Kong, and again when they went back to the Philippines a few times to work on food and education programmes with squatter communities.
"Weimond put so much into building this house; I still think the timbers carry our love and energy and sacrifice," says Gillian.
"We had so many guests and friends coming and going -- afternoons on the veranda, people staying in the bedrooms downstairs. This house carries a lot of memories."
The Fongs don't have the usual horror stories many renovators can tell. The way Gillian tells it, restoring the square-fronted villa was a labour of love, as Weimond enjoys taking things apart and putting them together again.
For their first few years in the house, the couple kept the changes simple. They stripped layers of paint (a vivid blue) from the doors, architraves, tongue and groove wall panels and skirtings, polished the wide-board kauri floors, and painted. The original lean-to kitchen and bathroom were serviceable enough.
When they returned to Auckland in 1996, they commissioned an architect and builder to re-work the back of the house, creating a new kitchen, bathrooms and a living room.
They were determined to keep the renovations sympathetic to the early Victorian roots of the house -- no modern glass boxes here -- creating a pitched roof, using reproduction French doors and windows, and replicating the original wide floorboards.
From the outside, the lines continue those of the original cottage, albeit with modern skylights to let in more sunlight. Inside, soaring cathedral windows let light flood in from all sides -- Gillian says this changing light is one of her favourite parts of the house.
Image 1 of 6: A light, bright and welcoming villa on a generous site and in a prime location is the place memories are created
The clever floorplan switched the positions of the old lean-to bathroom and kitchen -- tucking in a smart en suite off the master bedroom and a second good-sized family bathroom, complete with vintage pedestal sink.
Weimond did a lot of the finishing himself over the next six years. He kept the original floorboards where he could, making them a feature of the new kitchen which was re-done only a year ago, complete with vintage-look cupboards, granite and stainless steel benches.
The front of the house is a traditional villa layout: three bedrooms and a winter sitting room, lined with original tongue and groove, off the central hall. Two rooms still have working fireplaces (although not the parlour maids to clean and black them, Gillian notes) and all still have their sash windows.
The couple continued the veranda around the side of the house, creating a shady spot that was a favourite for Sunday gatherings.
The dining deck at the back of the house is at tree-top level -- from here you can see only one neighbour, the rest of the view is trees, the only noise comes from the crickets.
The sloping site gives the traditional footprint a bonus ground floor, suitable for a sitting room. French doors open on to a gravel and brick courtyard and the grassy back lawn, plus there's a bathroom, two bedrooms and an office with its own separate entrance. These rooms have been perfect for the teenage girls and their friends, homestay guests and visiting friends.
There is even a space for under-house storage, perfect for all of Weimond's tools and collection of timbers.
The Fongs loved that walking around Ponsonby was so easy, public transport was right at the top of the street and there were plenty of good food shops.
The shops may have been replaced with ones offering fancier fare, but many of the neighbours are still around -- Vermont is that kind of street.
"This house has been so carefully planned and loved, it will be hard to leave all that," admits Gillian. But she is also happy another family can grow their own memories and become part of this special neighbourhood.
