Style Insider: A Christchurch townhouse pays homage to Sir Miles Warren’s architecture.

A piece of mid-century architectural history is just perfect for this homeowner

If Juliet Mannering’s townhouse were a poem, it would be a haiku. Simple, evocative, every syllable carefully chosen. Like the traditional Japanese verse, this understated abode follows a clear structural form and is recognisable as the work of a master architect, Sir Miles Warren. Juliet’s Merivale, Christchurch townhouse is one in a row of four built in the late 1970s and has everything she needs in 90sqm.

“I have a huge respect for Sir Miles Warren and feel very fortunate to be living in one of his dwellings. I’ve always had a love for his architecture. There’s a simplicity and honesty to his buildings,” says Juliet. “Everything is well-considered from the layout to the way he used natural light.”

In summer, her living room is a cool retreat from the sun-baked courtyard and in winter low sun streams in towards the kitchen at the rear. The stairwell, with its floating treads, connects the two levels with a shaft of light and the upstairs room opens onto a small balcony overlooking the garden.

“His mode for living is as applicable now as it was in the 1970s. He was ahead of his time,” says Juliet. The interior is classic Warren, monochromatic black and white with the warmth of wood. “That’s what I’m comfortable with. I don’t like bringing in much colour because I tire of it.”

Besides, her books bring uncontrived colour to the living space. The bookshelf itself, which lines one wall, is an adaptation of one that was in Sir Miles’ own office. Juliet has given hers a modern industrial twist by incorporating steel with the timber.

Juliet has kept the faith with any changes, from bookshelf to bathroom. Blair Paterson of CoLab Architecture, another devotee of simplicity, got her tick of approval for the bathroom revamp.

Juliet’s house only contains things she loves. She fossicks through a bowl of cones and shells on the coffee table, a vase is filled with feathers not flowers and a tea tray is laid with tiny pots of cacti. “My treasures are the little things.”

‘There’s a simplicity and honesty to his buildings’

THIS PAGE (clockwise from top left) In Juliet Mannering’s Christchurch townhouse, each alteration has included a nod to architect Sir Miles Warren; the bathroom renovation is a 21st century take on modernism using mosaic tiles common at the time. The spare bedroom doubles as an office. The long narrow table is an old Irish white pine “coffin table”. Juliet calls her books her friends and designed a bookcase for them based on one in Sir Miles Warren’s office. OPPOSITE (from left) Juliet on the open-tread staircase. The kitchen has the monochromatic style of the original house.