Paradise in heart of city
With its apartment, pool and private garden this property is a hard one to leave, discovers Donna Fleming
For many people, being able to buy a large, beautifully renovated home just a short stroll from popular Ponsonby Rd would be way beyond their budget. For Emma Harding and Jonny Wyles it became possible thanks to the fact that the property they fell in love with had a selfcontained apartment, which made the perfect holiday rental.
“It’s such a lovely home, and we wouldn’t have been able to afford it if it wasn’t for the apartment,” says Emma. “We rent it out as an Airbnb for $ 160 a night, which helps to offset a lot of our mortgage.
“Thanks to that, we’ve been able to enjoy living in a really amazing house.”
Emma and Jonny bought the home in 2008. They’d been renting in the area and were keen to buy a home close to everything Ponsonby Road had to offer. Once they’d viewed the Picton St house, nothing else they looked at seemed remotely comparable.
“We just kept coming back here and we knew this was the house for us.”
As well as the apartment, other features that appealed included a spacious double garage, a swimming pool and private tropical garden. Previous owners had done a superb job of renovating the house, adding contemporary touches with an industrial edge that perfectly complement the home’s traditional style. Emma and Jonny needed to do very little work, other than adding a woodburning fire, radiators and extra insulation, and keeping it well maintained.
The house is on an elevated site, and set back from the road with the double garage at the front of the property. The apartment is on the lowest level, and has a spacious living area with kitchenette, bathroom and a bedroom that easily accommodates a super- kingsize bed. There’s access to a patio that guests have appreciated using.
“You could also have this as a home office, or accommodation for a nanny or extended family if you didn’t want to rent it out,” says Emma. She adds that the apartment is spacious enough that there have been occasions when she and Jonny and their daughters Pippi and Lulu have stayed there while renting out the main house.
That has four large bedrooms off a central hallway, including a master that feels like it belongs in a boutique hotel. There’s a striking slipper bath in the bedroom, and an en suite and dressing room tucked behind an elegant curved wall. French doors open out to a private courtyard that can only be accessed from the bedroom.
The family bathroom was cleverly designed so that half of it, containing the bath and double shower, is a wet area. Across the hall, a roomy laundry has plenty of storage space.
At the back of the house is a large open plan living/ dining/ kitchen area that is light and bright thanks to abundant use of glass. A huge horizontal glass panel that extends from the interior to the exterior is not only an eye- catching architectural feature, but also provides shelter on the terrace outside.
The concrete floor is heated, and there is further use of concrete with partial concrete walls and a solid concrete island in the kitchen.
Emma says it has been a fantastic party house, especially in summer when several sets of bi- fold doors to the garden can be opened up. “We got married here and had 145 guests.” There is one more level, accessed via stairs next to the kitchen. This upper floor houses another living area and a study nook with a glass balustrade overlooking the living room. Emma can work here while keeping an eye on the girls playing down below or in the garden. This upper lounge has a north- facing deck that looks out on to the majestic plane trees that line Picton St. “It is like being in a tree house,” says Emma. In contrast, the trees in the back garden are mostly palms and other tropical varieties, giving the area a resort feel.
“It is so quiet and peaceful out here, you’d never know how close you are to the city and all the restaurants and cafes on Ponsonby Rd.”
Emma says it’s very hard to part with the house, but the family has decided to try rural living.
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