SCHOOL ZONES:
Te Aroha Primary School, Te Aroha College.
CONTACT:
Wayne Heron, 027 483 4266, or Jenny Nickel, 027 478 8946, Property Brokers
The grandeur of a striking Te Aroha bungalow caught Anne Udy's eye when it was time for her and husband Noel to retire from their dairy farm.
Noel was 91 years old when he died this year, outliving his wife by several years, but he still kept this distinctive character home and its grounds neat as a pin.
Son Vince says: "It really is a striking place. It's a bit hidden by the front garden and trees so when you first see it, it really makes an impact."
Now Noel and Anne have passed away, the property is being sold as part of their estate.
Vince and his two sisters had already grown up by the time their parents retired to Te Aroha from their long-held dairy farm in Waiorongomai around the late '80s.
Vince says: "Te Aroha was their local community and I think my mother was taken with the grandeur of this property.
"It reminds me of a couple of the historic old bungalows I've seen in the Coromandel."
Vince understands the property was built as a notable home for a solicitor.
"The Burns, who built the house, appreciated music so designed part of the front formal lounge to be an acoustic area particularly good for projecting music or voice."
Vince says his parents had once been given an award from the local district council for the way they established and maintained the grounds.
271 Whitaker St, Te Aroha.
The symmetrical front veranda adorned with fretwork creates a real sense of arrival. Colourful original glass features in a central dormer window and the upper reaches of front windows.
Vince says: "You look out from the front veranda to an amazing view of Mount Te Aroha."
Inside, there's an impressively high stud in a wide hallway where swagged curtains adorn an archway.
Noel says his parents made a few changes to the kitchen and upgraded a shower room but much of the balance of the meticulously maintained home is unchanged.
In addition to the front lounge, which would have originally been designed for formal entertaining, there's a second lounge clad in wood incorporating an open fire and some leadlight built-in cabinets. The kitchen-dining room with heat pump also has a log-burning fireplace with a wet back which future owners could connect up.
The front master bedroom is one of four, another notable one being a bedroom which opens into a balmy sunroom.
The large grounds on the corner of Whitaker St and Jackson St incorporate two single garages and the glasshouse where Anne used to raise cacti and succulents.
Vince says there was no question of his father, who was a keen golfer and did volunteer work, ever forsaking this property for a retirement home.
