Classic style with European accent
MANUREWA 186 HILL RD
Many of the hundreds of thousands of visitors who have relished the Auckland Botanic Gardens, on the edge of Manurewa, have probably wondered about the surrounding neighbourhood, tucked between the parks and the start of the countryside leading to Clevedon and beyond.
A large part of the area was farm and orchards, and although the original buildings have long gone, the area retains a surprisingly rural, leafy atmosphere. Certainly Mary and Phil Kelly couldn’t believe what they’d stumbled upon when, 13 years ago, they found a 1100sq m section tucked next to a grove of totara up the road from the botanic gardens.
“We found this little slice of paradise. The previous owner had started a new house, but had to abandon it, so we bought the land,” says Mary. “Phil was thinking ahead to possible subdivision, so we removed the concrete pad they’d started and built a square house, leaving a good lawn to divide off. We knew what we wanted, I’m a bit of a Francophile at heart, so it had to have a classic look.”
The experienced couple — Phil was a builder, they’d owned a cabinet-making business, Mary adores gardening — designed the two-storeyed house to echo classic English and European style: a welcoming front porch, grand cedar doors, symmetrical windows, generous eaves and overhangs.
Despite Mary’s fondness for plaster, Phil wanted to go a more traditonal route, insisting on double brick, cavity with overhanging eaves. At the back of the house, the formal shape relaxes into more New Zealand-style wings, wrapped around a generous series of decks and raised beds.
When the family moved in, Luke was 15, sisters Emma and Hannah 13 and 11, so their parents designed the house in two zones — ground floor for living and entertaining, along with their master suite and office, leaving the upper floor for the kids’ three bedrooms and two bathrooms.
They have long gone, with families or living overseas. Along the way, the couple also acquired another piece of land from the neighbour, still with its fruit trees from when it was orchards, and turned it into “a bit of a good life”, says Mary, with chickens and productive gardens.
The chickens have been happily rehoused at a nearby children’s park, and Phil and Mary are preparing to make their own move, no longer needing such a large house. Their forward-thinking means that there are
loads of options for the next buyers — the house on its 921sq m section, or add one or two of the other sections if people want to create a city-fringe spread.
Mary is such a keen gardener that after she finished the French-style garden of clipped hedges, beds of scented gardenias, espaliered michelia trees, a striking magnolia, and hydrangeas, she slipped into the reserve next door to clear weeds and underplant around the stream.
Careful planning by Mary and Phil has created a gracious house, a perfect backdrop for their collection of antique furniture and china. From the entry lobby, the living rooms drop down a step, creating high ceilings.
The sunny north of the house has the kitchen, dining and living room. The kitchen is the couple’s own design in muted tongue-and-groove with a black granite counter, dining and living room. The family are big entertainers, hosting major birthday parties, engagements and all sorts of parties, so Mary insisted on an intetgrated fridge and freezer, two ovens, two DishDrawers and an island for serving and congregating.
The tile floor has underfloor heating, but the house is also well insulated. Off the casual rooms is the carpeted winter sitting room, complete with gracious silk curtains and a gas fire. There is also a guest bathroom and an office, before the couple’s private master wing starts.
Naturally, Phil has included plenty of meticulously designed cabinets and desks in all the bedrooms, Mary got her bath in their en suite and the room opens to the deck for the last of the evening sun.
Off the double garage, there’s also a well-fitted laundry and Phil’s dream workshop, complete with roller door to the back yard, with its good drying yard and vegetable patch.
The three kids’ rooms upstairs have two bathrooms (the girls shared the one with the tub), and a fourth bedroom that has always been used as a TV room.
The Kelly family loved the neighbourhood. The kids took the train into the city for school, but now there are buses to Strathallan in one direction, another to St Kent’s and into the city. The new shopping centre at Takinini has expanded options, but with the motorway so close it is easy to pop across to Botany, up to Sylvia Park or Manukau.
But the best bit is living so close to the Botanic Gardens, and on to Totara park. The couple love biking and walking the expanded trails, sharing the space with training athletes and families.
It’s been a fantastic home, Mary says, but they are now keen to try living further south and so will pass this place on to the next family, either keen builders for the small sections, or folks who want to spread out.