SCHOOL ZONES:
Whangarei Intermediate, Pompallier College
CONTACT:
Sue Maich-Hall, ph 021 793 833
"It is quirky, it's neat to live in. It's just like living in a piece of artwork."
Wellington architect Ian Athfield was best man at the wedding of the first owner of this home, on the fringe of Whangarei. His wedding gift was the plan for this delightful, quirky house.
That was in the 1970s and the house, in Athfield's distinctive style with its great number of spaces, pitched rooflines, solid plaster, slate and timber flooring, has stood the test of time. It has passed through the careful guardianship of a sequence of owners including a dentist, an anesthetist, a lawyer and, most recently, Lynne Roff, who lives here with two of her grandchildren.
The quirky design allows living spaces to be bedrooms and vice-versa. Utility areas such as kitchen, bathroom, toilets and laundries are functionally fixed, and verandas, decks and terraces feature on every level.
Lynne bought the house around 2007, moving there from Kaipara. When she first saw photos of the house she thought it looked rather different, odd even: "I thought, 'What the hell is that?'"
"From outside you look at it and it looks like a hobbit's house. It is really deceiving, it looks like it could be a little hut." Until she visited it and saw the generous floor spaces and different angles in person, as the house flows in the signature style of Athfield, who has been recorded as saying: "In a house, you should get a surprise every time you turn a corner and look up."
"You could almost get lost," says Lynne, "there are so many rooms on different levels."
"It grows like topsy, every single room -- it's neither bedroom nor lounge, it can be basically whatever you want it to be.
"He has pipes for the window in the laundry ... He thinks outside the square. He uses portal windows, you don't have to have casement windows.
"It is quirky, it's neat to live in. It's just like living in a piece of artwork."
Previous owners have made subtle changes to the design, covering one of the decks, and Lynne has reinstated a bath in one of the bathrooms. "Everything else is pretty much the same."
Image 1 of 2: 93 Hospital Road, Horahora
The original layout denoted two bedrooms but the design flexibility allows for up to four. The main living space is a large, open-plan area with the galley kitchen, dining area and family room.
Lynne's favourite sections of the home are her big bedroom, with its deck and views of the surrounding bush and out to the sea, and the end of the family room where there are two seats by the large window. "At night we will sit there, turn the lights off and watch the moon move across. It is like it has been built not just for the sun but to capture phases of the moon and the way the moon travels."
Lynne says it has been a gift to live in this distinctive home but it is time to move on. She hopes the next owner will also appreciate the quirkiness of the home and its bush surroundings.
