Home front, 40 years on
The much-loved bones of this 19th century villa include a Victorian parlour with marble fireplace, writes Catherine Smith
When you’ve combed nearly every property for sale in Auckland — with three kids in tow — you probably have the right to stay put when you find the perfect home. Certainly Di and John Brew think so — they’ve been in their Birkenhead villa since moving to Auckland nearly 40 years ago.
“When we moved, we wanted to get our daughter into Epsom Girls, so I think I looked at something like 270 houses,” says Di.
“I had a sister in Chatswood and she had a friend who had the house next door to this, who knew it was for sale. We walked in and just loved the bones of the house.”
Epsom and its neighbouring suburbs were abandoned in favour of the late 19th century villa on the north side of the bridge.
Maritime Tce offers a mix of old villas interspersed with bungalows and mid-century houses. There’s kauri bush on one side and Shoal Bay at the bottom of the road, with its views of the harbour bridge and city lights.
The house had much of its original details still intact, including wide-plank kauri floors that have been refinished to a silky pale polish.
The Brews don’t know much about the first owner/builders of the house, although an elderly man told them he’d played there as a boy in 1913.
Earlier owners had installed formal double doors between the study at the front of the house and the living room, clearly a Victorian parlour room with bay window, marble fireplace and high ceilings.
The front study, lined with bookshelves, overlooks the wide veranda, front yard and street.
Over the years Di has worked her way around the property, planting a mix of tropical and shade plants under the huge tree in front, and restoring the native bush in the back yard.
The couple recently replaced the old pool in the backyard with a square of lawn that lets out to a gate and into bush.
Di’s utility yard at the side of the house is paved in concrete for a clothesline, and has stacks of composting and gardening stuff (there’s also a potting shed for tools on the other side of the yard).
She reckons she spent the first two years clearing tradescantia and ginger out of the bush, before planting ferns and shade plants, which have self-seeded by the dozens.
Son Matt, who was 11 when they moved in, is a registered architect and has helped redesign the house by blending modern design cues with traditional villa strengths.
The old family bathroom was converted 12 years ago — using dark tile and custom oak cabinetry — into a modern en suite for the master bedroom at the front of the house,.
The kitchen, at the back, is a mix of stainless steel, blue mosaic walls and clean-edged cabinetry.
A window seat and wood burner in the casual living area make this a cosy winter spot, although the wood burner is rarely used as John and Di find central heating keeps the insulated house warm.
Bifold windows and french doors open the room to the decks and gardens all summer.
The bush views are what attacted the family all those years ago, along with a handy arrangement of decks upstairs, and terraces under pergolas downstairs.
Matt updated the laundry and a family bathroom on the ground floor, where three bedrooms open through french doors to the garden terrace. There’s also a family/rumpus room downstairs.
But, much as John and Di love the place, such a big house is no longer practical — they’re moving a mere 30m down the road so Di can continue to have her gardens and bush views.