Tradition's many charms in Remuera

140 Orakei Road, Remuera, Auckland. Photo / Getty Images

140 ORAKEI RD REMUERA

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SIZE: Land 865sq m, house 210sq m.

PRICE INDICATION: 2011 CV $1.44 million. Buyers in excess of $1.6 million should view this property. Tenders close November 22.

INSPECT: Sat/Sun 2-2.30pm.

ON THE WEB: harcourts.co.nz/SH3544

SCHOOL ZONES: Victoria Ave Primary, Remuera Intermediate, Epsom Girls' Grammar, Auckland Grammar.

CONTACT: David Nightingale and Jennifer Kim, Harcourts, ph 575 2535 or 027 227 2949 (David) or 021 102 8148 (Jennifer).

FEATURES: 1930s character brick home with elegant front porch. Plaster ceilings, leadlight windows, bevelled glass doors and white-painted timber panelled walls in the lobby. Separate kitchen hot-water cylinder. Heat pump in family room. Wood-burning fireplace in lounge. Off-street parking.

For more than 80 years, this character home has supported three families. Each has, in turn, bequeathed something of its significance to the next owners.

In 1965 June and Howard Sexton and their four pre-school children became the third owners, moving here from their two-bedroom home in Westmere.

This house suited their numbers; its Grammar-zone designation did too, when considering future educational needs.

"People didn't change their homes the way they do these days and a lot of the houses we looked at were small," June recalls. This house had already proven its worth. The previous family had also raised four children here.

In the garden - where the macadamia nut tree and feijoa tree now flourish - there was a jungle gym that the previous owner had built. The Sexton children also had a playground and a playhouse big enough for bunks. In their sandpit, the four kids payed together in their own corners, building make-believe homes out of sand and adorning their plots with hedges from clippings of garden foliage.

Meanwhile, June and Howard were planning their own structural improvements. In 1971, the year their fifth and last child was born, they added on a large family room with built-in shelving and a desk. Their four eldest children each had their own cupboard under the desk for their school bags and books. Sliding doors open the family room to a courtyard underneath a wisteria-draped pergola. Two back doors open from the kitchen and the laundry of the original part of the house to the courtyard. Shuttered doors now open up the lounge into the music room. Next to the family room, this would make an ideal library or study, says June.

Upstairs, they turned the sunroom into a double bedroom. Once the girls' shared bedroom, it is now the master bedroom with magnificent views to the city.

Throughout the house, June and Howard have retained significant original architectural details. Says their daughter Andrea Broughton, "I like its character features, the beautiful ceilings, the bevelled-glass doors, the glass door handles. June loves this house because it is so sunny but for me, it's the character."

There was never any temptation to strip the painted panelled walls back to their original timber. "We've always liked the finish and the colour and we've maintained that look," June explains. "This is a house that somebody put a lot of thought into."

Built about 1930 by a family with connections to the brick-making industry, it's obvious the thoughtful decisions began at the front boundary. Glazed bricks in the front fence match those on the house sills. Beyond the curved front steps, the brick-lined front porch, with its leadlight windows and tessellated floor tiles, is picture-book perfect.

Inside, the different fibrous plaster ceilings in the lobby, the lounge and the dining room are enhanced by elegance of the leadlight windows.

Upstairs, the Art Deco-style family bathroom has a Greek key design in the black and white floor tiles, with green wall tiles and original textured glass in the windows.

Still more enduring legacies include the plaster cornices, the stair newel posts and the timber floors in the granite kitchen which hint at quality timber elsewhere that is hidden beneath the carpet.

Another interesting legacy is a special favourite of June's. It is the tall swan plant by the courtyard. "This is for any new children who come here," she explains.