What the doctor ordered
Home delivered on family’s ‘must haves’, writes Sandra Goodwin
Julie Hartland assembled a lengthy list of “must haves” when seeking an Auckland home to relocate to from Christchurch — then began to wonder if such a place existed. Julie, a doctor, says: “My husband had been visiting Auckland a fair bit for work and we talked about moving to Auckland. And although we weren’t quite earthquake refuges the earthquakes certainly shook us into taking action.”
That was in 2011 when their youngest of three children was about to go to intermediate school, so the Hartlands confined their search to within Remuera Intermediate’s zone.
Julie says: “Location was very important with us wanting to be in that zone and be handy to trains for our son to go to Kings and our elder daughter to St Cuths.
“We’d always lived in Christchurch so we wanted a self-contained area, preferably a whole selfcontained flat, for our family and friends to stay in when they came up to visit.
“On top of all that we’re a sporty family so wanted somewhere good to go running nearby and enough space for a cricket pitch for our son.”
After a lengthy search Julie’s husband spotted the sign outside this property, a street away from the Maungakiekie Rd entrance to Cornwall Park.
Julie says: “He rung the agent who left a trolley of groceries in the local supermarket to rush over and show him around.
“It absolutely ticked all the boxes and he even managed to confirm there was room for the cricket pitch.
“It’s been a great, spacious family home, good for entertaining and extremely handy to everything.”
The two-storey 1970s home sits above a selfcontained basement flat and is made of Summerhill stone bricks, which have been painted.
Darren McKenzie, of Paysage Landscaping, designed predominantly subtropical landscaping. This complements the separate double garage, the in-ground swimming pool and side deck.
The main home’s front door on one side of the house opens into a large foyer introducing a ground level mainly devoted to living.
The Hartlands replaced the kitchen, including granite bench tops, double ovens and a wine fridge.
The north-west facing hub opens to outdoor entertaining with a cabana alongside the pool.
There are speakers inside and outdoors and an astro-turf sports pitch bounded by nets. They fully insulated the home and added two heat pumps they’ve mainly used for cooling.
This level also has a lounge opening to the side deck, a large study, a bathroom and laundry.
Up the top of the wide staircase an angled window frames a special view. “I call it my secret window,” says Julie. “You see One Tree Hill’s obelisk through it, at night illuminated in green with a red tip on top.”
This level has four bedrooms, two opening to a balcony, and a family bathroom. The master has an en suite and walk-in-wardrobe.
The basement’s self-contained accommodation has an open-plan lounge-kitchen, two good-sized bedrooms and a bathroom-laundry.
The Hartlands’ son already lives independently and, now their daughters are about to leave home to study and travel, this home will be unnecessarily large, so their parents intend to downsize.