AVENUE OF OPPORTUNITIES
A sunny-side renovation is still working its charm 30 years on, discovers ROBYN WELSH
Built more than a century ago in the 1910s, this return veranda villa has time on its side and history in its neighbourhood. It sits on the east side of Albany Rd, one of Herne Bay’s famous Avenues streets of villas that were built by shipwrights working en masse to the developers’ plans street by street. Here and now, the villas’ famous adornments and fretwork are the heritage front face of this wider neighbourhood south of the Jervois Rd ridge top. Behind the scenes, down side paths and past clipped hedges, additions and alterations that are the timeline of such homes, bask in morning or late afternoon sun depending on the side of street they are on. Many such alterations to the solid kauri originals took place from the early 1980s when keen location-savvy buyers renovated down, up and out, adding garages where needed to properties built when horses were the pioneering mode of transport. About 1990, two siblings bought this 518 sq m flat property, capitalising on extensive renovations completed by the previous owners who had bought it as a do-up. Their integrated extensions included the new rear deck-side kitchen and casual living area, the upstairs bedroom and the conversion of the original garage into a studio/sleepout. The appeal was obvious to this wider family. “A key factor in the original purchase was the fact that there are two separate areas which can be hard to find in villas,” says one of the owners. “In addition, the upstairs room provided an excellent sewing room or office over the years and, of course, the separate studio, another area.” Elsewhere, there was abundant original charm, including the fireplace in the front lounge that was untouched in the original renovations, but more recently upgraded and converted to gas. That street-side front lounge opens out to the sunny northfacing veranda down the side of the house, where a tall boundary hedge screens the
“It’s a home that is perfect as is, or for someone who wants to take it back to the original or modernise with a cathedral extension or a pool.”
neighbouring house. The front of the house is symmetrical villa charm from the picket fence and brick path to the veranda balusters and bullnose veranda roofline. This family’s gentle updates have included redecorating the interior and the reconfiguration of the laundry and bathroom to create an en suite for the master bedroom on the ground floor. Additional modern amenities include the air conditioning system and double-glazing around the entire exterior.
This home has been cherished for its sunshine, tranquillity and birdlife attracted to the hedges. “That kitchen deck area is just glorious and it is so sunny,” says one of the owners. “It’s a home that is perfect as is, or for someone who wants to take it back to the original or modernise with a cathedral extension or a pool,” says Blair Haddow of Bayleys. Sale: Auction June 3 Contact: Blair Haddow, Bayleys, 021 544 555