SCHOOL ZONES:
Bayfield School, Auckland Girls’ Grammar, St Pauls College.
CONTACT:
Blair Haddow, 021 544 555, Bayleys.
AUCTION:
Wed Nov 16, 2pm.
Chris O'Brien walked into this circa 1905 villa 14 years ago and one of the things he fell for was the space.
He doesn't like feeling confined and though the location was great, too, it was the high ceilings and the comfort factor that really beckoned him.
The house is a home, he says. It needed work but the structure was there and now when he walks in after a busy day, he feels a sense of calm and happiness. The rooms are balanced and symmetrical.
He says: "Symmetry creates balance and the balance creates comfort and the comfort creates calm and in turn you feel happy, which is good architecture."
The area is fabulous, as well, because of its convenience to the city, which makes for easy living, and also because there are low key, easy going residents in the street - and there are a lot of beaches to choose from.
"The beaches are neat during the summer. There are heaps. Every little street has almost got a beach at the end of it."
There are great shops and restaurants within walking distance, but Chris says while people often stress the importance of shops and restaurants you don't live in them.
"You live in your home. You enjoy your neighbours. You enjoy your location because of convenience, and you've got neat parks, Pt Erin, Salisbury, little beaches. That's what makes an area nice to live in."
The house itself is light and airy with many north-facing windows.
Image 1 of 9: 50 Albany Rd, Herne Bay, Auckland. Photograph / David Rowland
Through the front door, with its period stained glass, and along the hallway you step into a voluminous dining area, walk past the central kitchen then go into the lounge that has recessed bifold doors, which pull back to open to the garden.
Chris likes that while all the living areas flow one to another and all have that sense of space and height, this is not one of those houses where you feel as if you are living in the kitchen.
"It's there but it's sufficiently, discreetly removed that you can be part of it or not."
There are native timber floors and a wood fire in the lounge, and outside is a garden that has taken years of love and care to establish.
"The garden's pretty special," Chris says. "There are a lot of great plants in there. It's been pretty carefully crafted over many years just so you have that seamless feeling with your living and it's completely private."
It's also fully contained and child and animal proof, and Chris and his family spend a lot of time outdoors: "breakfast, lunch, dinner".
He wanted simplicity and went for repeat plantings, carefully choosing good specimens. There are crab apples at the front and rear and buxus hedging gives definition, and the garden is designed so you can follow the seasons.
"There's always something coming out, and it's repetition, so all the hydrangeas are the same, the rhodos there's only two varieties, there's some incredibly special roses in there."
There's also a big, old loquat tree that gives the garden definition and brings in the birds.
One of the bedrooms has a bay window and the master bedroom has a walk-in wardrobe with shelves designed for ventilation. The wardrobe takes you through to the en suite, which has interesting tiling and use of space.
Leaving isn't easy but Chris says it is time to move on. The family is after a new project - but whatever that turns out to be, the same level of comfort will be created.
