SCHOOL ZONES:
Freemans Bay Primary, Ponsonby
Intermediate, Auckland Girls' Grammar, Western
Springs College
CONTACT:
Andrea Ritchie, ph 021 906 793, or
Duncan Ritchie, 021 400 811
Having been "door knocked" by someone wanting to buy their Remuera home, Cathy Gould and Roger Donald had an unexpected challenge on their hands. "Selling that house all happened so fast so we had to find somewhere to live quite quickly," says Cathy. Luckily, 13 Picton St - which had just been totally renovated - came on to the market at the same time.
"When we saw it advertised we thought it would be too big and it wouldn't work for us but when we came to look at it we loved the sense of history and the generosity of the spaces," says Cathy. "It sounds like a cliche but this was the first place we looked at, and we bought it."
Cathy says she has tried to discover more about her home of seven years but without much luck. She thinks it dates from about the 1880s and likes to imagine it was a harbourmaster's or merchant's home as it would have been near the water before land was reclaimed.
Clipped box hedging, port wine magnolia and star jasmine create a formal entrance to the home, which has an internal access garage at street level and the home sitting proud of that. On the lower level is an elegant lounge/study with bay window that also served as a bedroom for the couple's son when he was staying with them.
"It gets lovely winter sun in this room when the plane trees lose their leaves," says Cathy. Across the hallway are a bathroom and laundry.
Upstairs is the main living level with the airy and light-filled open-plan kitchen, dining and family room flowing out via bifolds to another formal garden. With a high stud and effortless connection to the outdoors, this space has been used for everything from hosting charity events to shooting ads. It is also an ideal setting for displaying their collection of art, found objects and memorabilia.
Cathy says the sleek kitchen is "the best I've ever had" and makes it easy to indulge her passion for eating fresh produce from the garden - as long as she can beat her two West Highland terriers to the tomatoes, lettuce and strawberries they love to munch. For the past four years she has been involved with the Garden to Table scheme, which educates schoolchildren on growing and eating fresh fruit and vegetables. At one end of the kitchen is an office nook beside a double-sided gas fire that is shared with the formal lounge facing the street. This quiet room opens to a veranda overlooking the street. "It's lovely to sit out here in the evening with a glass of wine and wave out to the neighbours. There's a real sense of community on this street."
Across the hall from the lounge is the master bedroom - complete with large, luxurious en suite, walk-in wardrobe and bay window.
Because the home was so beautifully renovated when they bought it, Cathy says she and Roger have made just a few cosmetic changes, except for landscaping the backyard.
"The hard landscaping was in when we bought it," she says, "but this was just lawn out here and didn't look right."
Enclosed by a titoki hedge for privacy and shelter, the back yard is now a terraced outdoor room with an open fire and specially made gazebo for al-fresco dining. Box hedge creates a formal structure with gardenia, jasmine and queen of the night providing a scented backdrop.
At the front of the house, box hedging frames the roof of the garage and a meteor-like gleaming silver sculpture by David McCracken that sits on a bed of white stones. "I told the kids next door that it was a star that had fallen from the sky," laughs Cathy. "I love the way when you look at it you can see the house reflected."
At the rear of the main living area, a staircase angles across the back wall - creating an architectural feature in itself - and leads to the two attic bedrooms. On this level there is another bathroom with whitewashed wallboards a feature, and plenty of storage.
"With its layout, the house is quite flexible for different uses and ages," says Cathy. "And I like to think it has a real heart and soul about it."
She and Roger are selling up to develop land at Matakana where they can create a walled potager garden, inspired by Prince Charles' garden at Highgrove.
"It's part of the dream," says Cathy. "We are both hard workers, and love architecture and gardens. I've got so many ideas, things I would like to create but we need more land and more space."
