SCHOOL ZONES:
Westmere School, Ponsonby Intermediate, Western Springs College.
CONTACT:
Chloe Wither, Ray White, 021 672 191.
AUCTION:
March 15, The Sapphire Room, Ponsonby Central (unless sold prior).
*1 Off-street
Charm wins over Ame and Saville Kushner every time.
Costa Rican-born Ame says: "We've lived in several countries now and every time we say, "We're going to get a super modern house this time". Husband Saville says: "But we never do. Homes like this draw you in.
"They're well-built by master craftsman, they've got character and you feel like you're living in the history of the place."
Having owned three Victorian homes in London, perhaps the result was inevitable five years ago when they investigated this circa 1880s home behind No. 359's fence.
They'd been renting in Grey Lynn and had already focused in on a couple of other local houses as purchase possibilities when they checked out this one towards the end of a rainy open home.
Saville, who recently retired as a Professor of Education at Auckland University, says: "We only had five or 10 minutes in the house and fell in love with it.
It felt like it had a bit of dignity with its high ceilings, cathedral windows and some stained glass windows. "It felt like a house that made you feel a bit posh" he says.
The property has a bit of posh in its history, too, once owned by prominent Aucklander Alfred Buckland, whose family Bucklands Beach is named after.
When Alfred wasn't siring his 21 children he purchased properties including this one, Highwic House in Epsom and his private racecourse.
Despite being near the West Lynn shops and walking distance to Ponsonby's restaurants, the two-storey home feels private, set amidst fully fenced gardens.
These include a French-inspired front garden the Kushners had a landscaper design.
Wrap-around covered verandas introduce the kauri home with off-street parking space for Saville's scooter and one car.
Their yorkie-poo dog Poncho welcomes everyone into the high ceiling, timber-floored reception foyer with stairwell stained glass window.
Ame says: "English friends say we're lucky because as well as having character we get beautiful light in all the rooms, which English homes don't always have."
She says: "We love having multiple entertaining spaces; the lounge, the covered verandas, the open plan kitchen-dining-family room and the covered deck and courtyard off that."
Saville says: "The heart of this place is a cottage but people need to imagine a cottage with grandeur that has been extended well over the years.
"When you're here you feel like you could be in the countryside because we look out on so much greenery." There are two bedrooms downstairs, one boasting a pressed tin ceiling.
The bedroom of their younger son Olie, a 21-year-old trainee nurse who appeared on reality TV programme 'First Dates New Zealand', opens to the veranda and garden.
The Kushners' renovations include having a rusty old Royal Doulton claw-foot bath resurfaced to be a show-piece in the downstairs bathroom-laundry, re-wiring and modernising plumbing.
The graceful cathedral-style windows in the kitchen-dining-family room are courtesy of a previous owner as is the oversized separate studio beyond their outdoor entertaining patio.
With frequent guests and 24-year-old son Elliot based in London, the Kushners appreciate its spacious one-bedroom sleeping-living set-up with loft, bathroom and its own deck area. Its own entrance suggests work or rental potential, too.
Upstairs in the main house qualified yoga instructor Ame does her practice on the north-facing balcony, which enjoys a peep of the sea, opening off the master suite with dressing area and en suite.
Former United Nations adviser Saville's favourite spot is sitting on a bench admiring the French-inspired garden, book or glass of wine in hand.
Now he's retired the couple are selling as they plan to travel extensively.
