SCHOOL ZONES:
Parnell School, double Grammar zone.
CONTACT:
Gary Wallace and Vicki Wallace, Bayleys. Gary 027 498 8585, Vicki 021 988 585.
AUCTION:
September10.
When most people take on a major renovation they start by researching current design trends appropriate to their taste and lifestyle.
Not so Pete Adams, who bought this property in 2012. Once he had installed tenants in this 1887 kauri cottage, he headed off to the library to research its history.
He knew the previous owners were the Heather family, of Rose & Heather Furniture, and that they'd lived here for almost 50 years, but he wanted to know more. He discovered paperwork confirming its 1913-14 status as a "cottage" and its then-address, No2 Staffa St. By 1924/25, the house was described as a "wood house", having sold for £600 in 1920.
The following year that same owner paid £198 for a building permit for the attic, a key part of the house as it exists now following its redesign by Jones Architect and its rebuild by Matt Moore.
For Pete and Kylie Adams, whose background is in the hospitality industry, their guardianship has been about reconfiguring its entire floor plan for greater, light-filled social connectivity and, along the way, they discovered still more history.
As they stripped back old plasterboard, they found old newspapers over the original kauri sarking, including a snippet from the Auckland Evening Star, dated June 25, 1887, which they have framed for posterity.
Beneath its pitched roof and within its original structure, they cribbed dormer window and veranda space to enlarge a second bedroom/study. At the front, they altered the veranda to enlarge the carport. Off the front lounge, new, slim doors define the profile of their new double-glazed cedar joinery. Along the fire-rated, protected north-facing side of the house, original window frames have been double-glazed.
Image 1 of 5: Edwardian style has been reclaimed and embellished for a charming house's future
Downstairs they took out the chimney so they could add double doors from the family room to the front lounge and its new fireplace. On the opposite side, they opened up the former piano room to enlarge the dining area. At the same time, they cut back the upstairs mezzanine to create a glazed, double-height atrium above the dining area, which opens to the outdoors and a courtyard with reconfigured paving in the original historic bricks.
The kitchen wing was a 1980s addition and its transformation from a kitchen/bathroom/laundry to a kitchen with an adjacent, separate laundry is a nod to Kylie's job as a baker and her love of pink. Inspired by her pink kitchen mixer, the colour is obvious in the glass mosaic splashback, less so in the subtle inside colour of the pendant lights above the marble-look Corian island bench.
"I thought 'Well, why not work with that theme?'," says Pete.
He is as passionate about the original spiral staircase to the two bedrooms and bathrooms that were built by Tim Heather that he has had restored with new balusters beneath the original handrail.
Tim Heather also built what is now the separate guest lodge, his daughter, Maryjane Heather, confirms. Alongside the Heather family's original guest room, bathroom and toilet, they had a sauna, built by Tim in their pre-furniture-making days when he and his wife Lucille built saunas for a living.
Pete Adams is proud of the new detail throughout this house. He's talking about the replica board-and-batten ceilings and the three components used to create the deep cornices in the formal rooms.
This home's history has charmed them, as has its location in a cul-de-sac off a cul-de-sac, within walking distance of and in view of the city.
