Luxurious natural-home lifestyle
An award-winning beachfront home built to maximise views and minimise energy is for sale for the first time in the heart of Plimmerton.
The unique three-bedroom, three-bathroom house, at 10A Steyne Ave, is tucked away off the main street on a flat 670-square metre section with direct access to Plimmerton Beach.
It combines captivating views over Porirua Harbour to Whitireia Reserve with a luxurious passive-home lifestyle that’s energy-efficient.
It has two concrete floors that act as heat sinks, highly-specified double-glazing to optimise sunlight and warmth, solar water heating, natural venturi ventilation and a concrete-encased open fireplace that emits heat long after the embers have died.
“You light the fire in the morning and the concrete keeps the house warm during the day,” the vendor says.
“You can walk in here in the middle of winter at 5pm and the house feels naturally warm.”
He bought the property in 1981, when there was only a cottage on the site, and built this house in 2012.
Architect Richard Middleton won an award for the design, which the judges praised as a “timber and concrete house that stands proudly against the elements”.
The front door of the cedar-clad dwelling with a copper roof opens into an open interior with engineered oak floorboards throughout.
The large lounge has built-in bookcases and firewood storage on a marble hearth as well as three sets of sliding timber doors to decking or garden.
The kitchen and family/dining room flows to a deck overlooking the harbour on one side and to a “den” configured for home theatre on the other.
It’s wired for surround sound and includes a ceiling-mounted projector and a retractable motorised screen that’s discreetly built into an oak wall unit.
There also are in-ceiling or wall-mounted speakers in three other rooms that are connected to a networked audio system.
The entertainers’ kitchen has marble benchtops, three Bosch appliances underbench ovens, an induction cooktop, rangehood, dishwasher, refrigerator-freezer and booth seating.
Also on this level are a guest bedroom suite, a bathroom and a separate laundry. Oak stairs ascend to a landing with a propellor-like Aerotron ceiling fan that circulates heat around the house and views that sweep west across Plimmerton.
The main bedroom opens to a big covered deck looking out to Mana Island and has a walk-in wardrobe and ensuite; the north-facing third bedroom also has an ensuite and overlooks an historic homestead with a 100-year-old pear tree.
There’s also a carpeted double-garage with a workshop and rear door access to an enchanting potager with a new shed.
“The quality of design and construction would put this home among the top houses in Wellington,” Ben Atwill, of Bayleys, says.
“Everything has been thoughtfully and purposefully thought out and it is one of only a few houses in Wellington with direct beach access, so you can never be built out from.”