Realignment and renovation helped transform this house into a grand yet comfortable home. Photo / Geoff Dale
Homes of the year series
75 ARGYLE ST, HERNE BAY
It's hard to believe this grand and elegant home was once verging on ruin, especially as it was home to Farmers retail chain founder Robert Laidlaw early in its life.
The rambling three-storey house, featured in Heraldhomes in July, was built about 1912, then served time as a backpackers' hostel.
Later, a couple began returning it to a family home but had given up when Andrew and Janet looked at it 10 years ago.
It was in a terrible state. One major problem, Andrew says, was that the property had been subdivided, leaving it with a huge south-facing front yard and nothing at the rear. So they shifted the home 15m towards the road. They also twisted it around to orient it better for sunlight and shunted it to the west to create room for a 20m lap pool and spa pool.
The ground floor, with its high stud and proliferation of windows and French doors, is flooded with light reflected off the kauri floorboards. Its large kitchen and family area opens to a patio beside the pool and also leads down to the pool house.
On the western side is the study, which leads into a games room, with which it shares back-to-back gas fires. Downstairs there is an exercise room and wine cellar.
A staircase winds up through the centre of the house, and on the northern side there is a fireman's pole from top to bottom. "The kids loved it when they were younger," says Janet. "They used to appear for breakfast every morning down the fireman's pole."
The second floor houses the master suite, the main bathroom and an office. A sunroom runs the width of the northern side and has wide views of the harbour.
On the top floor are four bedrooms with city views on one side and harbour views on the other. "You feel like you're right on the water here," says Andrew.
Sold by Pene Milne and Cathy Roselli of Premium, with settlement in late February 2010. Price expectation was around $5 million.
