Historic Thorndon home plus modernist flat

AHISTORIC Thorndon home on 1054 square metres of flat, leafy land is for sale for the first time in 60 years.

The three-bedroom house, at 26 Burnell Ave, has had only two owners since it was built in the early-mid 1930s.

The sale includes two single garages a modernist flat on its own title, at 26A Burnell Ave, which has its own garage and dates to 1959-60.

Just as extraordinary is the property’s architectural legacy: the 210sqm house was designed by Gray Young and renovated in 1972-73 by Cedric Firth while the 70sqm Gatehouse flat was one of Ernst Plischke’s last projects before he returned to Austria.

The sunny, secluded property is at the end of a quiet cul-de-sac, where the two storey, weatherboard-and-iron-roof house sits amid mature trees and garden, including a giant karaka that’s believed to be more than 80 years old.

The house last sold for £10,250 – which was high enough in 1958 for the auction to make headlines (among the bidders was a milkman who wanted the garages for his trucks).

All the bedrooms are upstairs and the

Nikki Baddeley, phone 021 205 1491 Charles Morley-Hall, phone 021 666 600

By appointment. living room downstairs. The formal lounge is to the left of the front door and has an open fireplace, leadlight bay window and built-in speakers, bookshelves and cabinetry.

There’s a gas fireplace in the dining and family room, which has a window seat, corner electric heater, bookshelves and servery to the kitchen, with its electric range, six-burner gas hob and dishwasher.

There are two separate toilets on this floor, including a powder room and wine cellar under the stairs.

The main bedroom overlooks the front garden and has built-in cupboards, wardrobes, desk, drawers, side tables and headboard.

The other bedrooms also have built-in storage and as well as two upstairs bathrooms (each with a bath and one with a shower), there’s a darkroom-cumkitchenette.

Other features include extensive storage, attic space and a large shed.

The stylish, self-contained onebedroom flat was fully refurbished last year, with Stuart Gardyne, of Architecture +, undertaking a sympathetic modernisation of the kitchen and bathroom (colours have been kept as close as possible to the original palette).

‘‘You just don’t expect to find two such incredible properties of this significance on over 1000 square metres of inner-city land,’’ Nikki Baddeley, of Just Paterson Real Estate, says.

‘‘It’s amazingly sunny and private, would suit extended families or running a business from home, and is a unique opportunity.’’

Tenders close on March 16.