Bridging the generations
All for one and one for all — that’s the story of house that became a family affair, writes Robyn Welsh
Behind a white picket fence and flowering roses, a well-kept house with two green-coloured front doors, has been home to three generations of Carole and Bill Evans’ family. Built on land subdivided from the neighbouring property in 1924, the house was later converted into two, two-bedroom flats (plus an additional bedroom). That was how it was when Carole and Bill bought it on January 28, 1982.
An ad for the sale of the house in the New
Zealand Herald that morning caught Carole’s eye. She convinced Bill that it would be worth the 37km trip from their Woodhill farm to see it.
By midday, they had bought their investment property. It was the perfect flat for their eldest daughter Wendy, who was nursing at nearby Auckland Hospital.
Everyone in the family embraced their decision. Wendy sold the car she no longer needed and put the money into the house. Her sister Carolyn put in some money too. So did the grandparents on behalf of the children. “It was a good start for the kids,” says Bill.
Carole and Bill travelled regularly from the farm to upgrade the kauri house. It still had its original scrim/kauri tongue-and-groove walls. Much later, they added the garage and rear deck.
By 1995, they were ready to leave the rural life, having sold their farm for a smaller lifestyle block in Whenuapai. “I never thought Bill would love the city,” says Carole.
But he does. “I love it. I’d get up early in the morning and walk around the Domain. It’s such a good place here and it’s only 0.9km to Queen St too.”
They moved upstairs into Flat 1 and at one stage Carole’s mother Dorothy lived with them until she went into care at the age of 99. Meanwhile,visiting family members came and went from Flat 2 downstairs.
Three years ago, Carole and Bill moved downstairs. At the same time, Carolyn, now the sole joint owner with her parents, moved into the re-decorated upstairs flat to support her parents.
For this couple, now in their 80s, the corner home in the heritage-protected Seafield View Rd neighbourhood has seen a lot of life.
From their lounge, they look out to the corner house opposite and its once-bustling shop.
“We’d hear the ding-dong of the shop bell across the road every time someone went in,” says Bill.
The corner house was home to artist Max Gimblett from 1941, when he was 6 years old, until he left for London for the second time in 1961/62.
His mother’s small shop was called the Thistle Dairy and, when she moved to Mt Eden, artist Don Binney took over the shop as his studio.
From his home in New York, Max writes: “When the Americans landed in New Zealand during the war, my father installed a second-hand caravan in the middle of the backyard and most weekends American soldiers and sailors stayed with us.”
Carole looked out to the corner house from her front room, where she worked as a seamstress until her final costume project last year for the Dolphin Theatre.
With Bill’s health in mind, the couple have moved to a retirement village in Point Chevalier, taking with them multi-generational memories.