SCHOOL ZONES:
Selwyn college, Remuera Intermediate, Meadowbank primary.
CONTACT:
Roy Champtaloup, Ray White, 027 555 5557.
AUCTION:
Wednesday December 16, 2.30pm.
Good architecture should not be about showing off, nor big budgets. And back in the glorious heyday of modern New Zealand, the 1950s and 60s, that was the philosophy of some of the great architects: beautiful design was available to people of modest means, in modern uses of small square footage.
One of the leaders of that movement was Czech ex-pat Vladimir Cacala, who joined the famed Brenner Associates partnership in the mid-1950s. Some of his tutors were from the German Bauhaus school, and he is sometimes named the peer of Australia's famed Harry Siedler.
The house he designed just off Meadowbank Rd in 1963 had his signature style -- the living areas cantilevered over a double height glass and stone entry, immaculate built-in cabinets, windows arranged in a striking regular rhythm all around the house.
The immaculate house was extended in 2006 with another impeccable addition by architect Daniel Marshall (it won the Institute of Architect national award in 2007) to create a comfortable size for today's demands. When the property went on the market in 2009, it was snapped up by Simon and Veronica Ward.
"We saw the house at 2pm. We'd put our offer in by 5pm," says Veronica. "We are both architecture fans and we'd lived in Milan for many years. We'd come from a little villa in Ponsonby, with no storage. This house was like paradise."
You can see why. With typical Cacala style, the original part of the house is flooded with sunshine from the continuous wrap-around north-facing windows. Original rimu panelling still lines the stairwell and living room.
With the addition of the Marshall glass and zinc box for kitchen, living and dining, the living spaces in the original house have been re-purposed to an enormous recreation room, big enough for a media zone, a table tennis table, with its own enclosed decks to collect the last of the afternoon sun.
The kitchen was converted to offices with pantry cupboards left for clearing the clutter out of sight. Original folding wood doors enclose the laundry by the back door, handy to the service areas in the side yard.
Image 1 of 8: One tasteful update after the other delivers a stylish award-winning home. Photos / Ted Baghurst
The two double bedrooms, complete with vintage built-ins, are airy and light for the children while the former master bedroom has been opened out into a terrific study and craftsroom for the children.
Downstairs the guest bathroom and bedroom opening to the sunny lawn were in heavy demand from visiting family from Italy. The Wards are in the wine business, so, naturally, Simon had fitted out a good cellar in the cool lower ground floor too.
The owners who'd commissioned the Marshall addition were collectors and sellers of mid-century furniture, so knew not to muck with the vintage structure. Apart from blonding the wood floors and painting the hessian walls in white, they left Cacala's finishes intact.
The Wards have had little to do: they spruced up the guest bathroom with mosaic tiles to match those in their master bedroom, levelled the back lawn to create a soccer pitch for their son and vege garden for Italian Veronica's tomatoes, and inserted a pizza oven in the sunny courtyard off the kitchen.
It is easy to see why Marshall won the award, his modern box doesn't attempt to mimic the Cacala original, but, as his award cites, was "pared back" to honour the original.
The dramatic zinc-wrapped box is separated from the main house by a glazed stairwell, overlooking a serene pond and a view of the exterior of the old house painted in a dramatic modernist mural -- echoes of Cacala's fondness for colour on his later apartment blocks. Within the double height space, Marshall suspended a white cube for the upstairs master bedroom, bathroom and closets.
Its covered terrace -- a contemporary spin on the original at the other end of the house -- is one of Veronica's favourite spots, as it looks straight into the tree-tops, the green valleys of Meadowbank and across the road is the twin to this house, equally cool and contemporary.
She proclaims the shower in the couple's master suite the best ever (there's also a luxury soaking tub, all softly lit by frosted windows). The whole space is serene and thoughtfully detailed.
But it is the kitchen and living room that has the drama: dark slate floors and dark walls are a foil for the glass windows that completely swing away for the summer. The kitchen has extra wide benches, perfect for the Italian cooking classes Veronica used to hold, with clean stainless steel finishes. The courtyard eating space is a family favourite as it is sheltered all day.
"This is such a lovely neighbourhood. The kids have a three-minute walk to Meadowbank school, we're handy to the Orakei basin for walking with the dog every morning, the train station makes getting to work easy," says Veronica.
