Want to live in a brand new 200-year-old house?
Fancy living in a Georgian manor with its gorgeous classical proportions, while also benefiting from 21st century features like double glazing and solar panels?
Christchurch fans of the period architecture can have the best of both worlds, with developers Brooksfield in the process of building a four-townhouse project in Allard St, St Albans.
Director Vinny Holloway says his company even engaged London architect Ben Pentreath for the plans, saying no-one locally could do it justice. ‘‘You need to be quite skilled in all of the elements to do with Georgian architecture. You can’t guess it.’’
Pentreath is best known for his involvement in the Prince Charles-endorsed planned community Poundbury in Dorset, England.
Holloway, along with co-director Oliver Hickman, have been building townhouses in Christchurch for four years, with a mix of modern and heritage-style developments.
The company has 185 homes under construction and expects to have built 450 to 500 houses in total by the end of this year.
Holloway vastly prefers the heritage-style homes. ‘‘In the past we’ve done quite a bit of modern, but 90% of what we’re doing now is the heritage style.’’
Holloway, a builder by training, says he doesn’t like most contemporary apartment construction. ‘‘To sum them up, I’d say they’re white and black plaster boxes. I don’t think they do our cities any justice. They have no style. No-one would want to live in them, they just have to, that’s the problem.’’
He believes that what makes heritage homes pleasing to the eye is ‘‘a mixture of things’’.
‘‘Its cladding – rustic brick or timber weatherboard – and also the symmetry, the placement of windows and the size. The beauty of the Georgian building is actually mathematical. It’s to do with perfect proportions, the golden ratio.’’
Georgian homes, from the period between 1714 and 1830, are known for their symmetry in building shape, as well as window and door placement. They typically have hip roofs, brick or stone construction.
Although designed to look old, the homes’ sash windows are double-glazed PVC, and the townhouses have other sustainable features such as stone benchtops, plant-based paints, and New Zealand wool carpets and insulation. They also have solar panels.
The company is working towards being carbon-neutral, Holloway says.
The yesteryear feel continues in the planting schemes.
‘‘We do plant a lot of natives but definitely focus on planting big box hedges or laurels, and a lot of layering of plants. To plant a nice garden makes a big difference on a townhouse,’’ Holloway says.
Allard Street prices are $669,000 to $675,000 – comparable to similarly-sized Christchurch townhouses from Williams Corporation, another large developer.