SCHOOL ZONES:
Remuera Primary and Intermediate, double Grammar.
CONTACT:
Leila MacDonald, Barfoot & Thompson, ph 021 928 926, or David MacDonald, 021 650 901.
* Plus 2 toilets
Sometimes houses and owners are so beautifully matched that it seems impossible to imagine one without the other. That is the case in the grand 1920s home in Remuera owned by Martin and Catherine Spencer. The couple bought the house 40 years ago from the original owner, who, in turn, had bought the land from a friend.
"The story goes that dentist Bertie Binstead owned the first house in this block and wanted to be sure he had good neighbours so he had all his friends and patients buy the sections," laughs Martin. "He was still here when we moved. He lived into his 90s."
The original owners combined the properties at Nos6 and 8 Waiata Ave, off the top of Victoria Ave and commissioned architect Benjamin Chilwell to design the house. British-born Chilwell had worked for Alexander Wiseman on the Auckland Ferry Building and later designed the Whitcombe and Tombs and Endean buildings, Drury's Jolly Farmer Inn and a number of important houses. Researchers have shared Chilwell's records with the Spencers, showing that this house build cost £2500 in 1929, a considerable sum for the time.
"We fell in love with the house" says Catherine. "But it wasn't until we came back later that we realised that we had a 26 acre reserve at the bottom of the street. The garden was 'bucolic', shall we say. There was an old army hut and chicken runs, old grapefruit trees and a clothesline, quite cut off from the living areas."
But the house was well sited on the section -- apart from a couple of service rooms, every room faces north, the upper rooms have views across the valley to Rangitoto Island -- and, as Catherine loves the garden and interior design, it was the perfect project for the young family. With a 4-year-old, a toddler and a third baby born in the house, the Spencers were putting down roots.
Martin's family settled in the area in the 1860s. His son's family now lives around the corner from his great-grandfather's original land, his childhood home was 1.41ha, tended by three gardeners.
Fortunately, the Spencers' modernisation is seamless, but this grand house still shows it is from the era of servants. There is a magnificent entry lobby and a curving staircase to the main bedrooms upstairs, but also, off the kitchen, is a smaller set of staff stairs.
The kitchen was remodelled from the butler's pantry and scullery, other access reworked to provide internal access to the double garage and the commodious storage loft above. A proper laundry was put in, the below-stairs laundry reworked as a handy wine cellar and office/bathroom for the gardener.
But the biggest change was the Spencers' reworking of the backyard. When they installed the heated swimming pool and spa, they had the excavated soil used to build a series of terraces to connect the house with the beautiful garden. Divided into charming "rooms" with hedges and brick paving to frame the huge old trees and focus the eye on the sculpture, the garden is a delight for small grandchildren and their grown-ups.
The family's favourite addition was a garden pavilion, carefully matched to the house, beside the pool. With a bathroom, a small kitchenette opened up with french doors, it was a magnet for the kids and their friends during pool parties. The terraces were perfect for their daughter's wedding, the lawns holding the great marquee.
Inside the house, Catherine's decorating eye and the couple's collection of paintings and antiques perfectly complement the high ceilings, generous sash windows and french doors of Chilwell's architecture. The house has four working fireplaces, the biggest a feature of the double-ended sitting room. Catherine has carefully selected paint colours, light fittings and window dressing to keep the house timeless, but not stuck in traditional. The kitchen has been changed a few times, but the cabinetry is carefully matched to the profile of the magnificent original butler's cupboards. A ground-floor study, one of two, frames the view of the magnificent trees (tui and wood pigeons are common visitors) while the dining room is big enough for huge dinner parties.
Image 1 of 6: It's a fresh, modern era for a Chilwell-designed home that still reflects a period of grandeur
The house was ahead of its time. At every turn, upstairs and down, there is built-in storage , some cedar-lined in the tradition of the times. The master bedroom has an adjoining dressing room for Martin (also billed as a nursery), plus a full-sized bathroom with original shower stall and panelling.
On the opposite corner, the next largest bedroom, also with an en suite, was much contested by the children as they grew up, while a back bedroom is lined with bookshelves to make a library. There are smaller quarters for what would have been servants' rooms, once used for the family's nanny, now a small study and guest bath. The biggest bedrooms have balconies with views across the valley to the sea.
With two of Martin and Catherine's children living overseas, they are moving to an apartment, so handing on custodianship of a grand property.
