Architect’s talent on show
Creatively and efficiently used spaces abound in this 70s bush- side home, writes Graham Hepburn
With her artist’s eye, Stella Brennan can appreciate the craft that architect John Goldwater brought to her Birkenhead home. Stella, who has just wrapped up her exhibition, Black Flags, at the Trish Clark Gallery, says the home she shares with husband David Perry and their two children shows how Goldwater uses spaces creatively and efficiently, while providing points of interest and intriguing sightlines.
Down a right of way, the single- storey concrete block and cedar home has modernist lines and backs on to a bush reserve with a stream running through the property.
From the driveway, the home presents a subdued facade — concealing its elevation and bush views — apart from the specially commissioned stained glass panel by the front door. This piece by Ben Hanly — son of painter Pat Hanly and photographer Gil Hanly, features a multicoloured arrangement of native flora and fauna.
Inside, the foyer has clever alcoves and a deliberately low- ceiling to provide contrast with the volume of the living areas and the bedrooms.
As Stella notes, “It’s all about compression and release.”
Built in 1973, the home still features its original tawa floors and rimu joinery, with subtle rimu beading highlighting the raked ceiling through the semi- open- plan kitchen- dining- living area at the centre of the home.
Sliding doors open the house’s long form up to the deck and the bush views.
Ira, 6, and Gus, 3, have their own bedroom wing with a bathroom and lounge preceding it. This living space has a stable door so the original owners could contain their children while still keeping an eye on them from the kitchen.
On the other side of the main living area, the master suite features another low- ceilinged passage past the en suite before opening out to a large bedroom with sliding doors out to the deck.
From here you can move through to an office space tucked behind the bedroom and then into the garage, which Stella uses as a workshop for artistic pursuits such as kintsugi, the Japanese art of repairing broken pottery with lacquer, commonly dusted or mixed with powdered gold.
In their 13 years here, Stella and David have renovated the house with the help of architect Gerrad Hall, who studied under John Goldwater.
Most of the focus went on the two bathrooms and the kitchen, which share similar tiling but they also upgraded the deck and steps down into the bush.
Stella says they were also careful to preserve the home’s timber features, which include wooden panelling rescued from the library in the University of Auckland’s ClockTower building.
From the deck, steps head down to the spa pool tucked below.
“It’s nice to sit out here in the spa pool and look up at the stars,” says Stella. From this level you head down into the regenerating bush.
“We have a half- acre ourselves plus the reserve, so it feels like quite a bit more,” says Stella.
A waterfall feeds the stream, which has glow worms along its banks. A colourful bridge arches across the stream to give the family access to the rest of their land and the adjoining bush.
“We used to put some planks across but they would always disappear when it flooded,” says Stella. “We had the bridge built by a specialist company; it’s not quite Monet’s bridge at Giverny but we like it.”
She and David hope their careful preservation of John Goldwater’s work will be appreciated by the new owners.