Idyllic urban retreat
An idyllic, private setting, a superb address and an elegant home set in glorious grounds are a good start to this exceptional property.
Built in the late 1920s when detailing included solid brass door plates and handles, and leadlight and bevelled glass, this substantial family home has been fortunate in its owners.
For the past 40 years they have not only maintained and enhanced the original features but also called on the renowned Canterbury architect, the late Don Donnithorne, to seamlessly extend the home in 1981.
Today it offers five bedrooms, three bathrooms, four living areas and a separate formal dining room.
Two of the four living areas open to the botanical grounds, which include a heated in-ground swimming pool with a generous poolside entertaining area and a tennis court.
Outdoor living is very much a feature here, with numerous entertaining areas, from the terrace with its wisteria-clad pergola to the shady garden room extending off the main grounds.
The vast lawn is dotted with specimen trees, including a magnificent copper beech and generations-old horizontal elm tailor made to have a swing hanging from it.
There is more than 3000 square metres of land here at the end of a long driveway with a gated entry, making it a true, and rare, urban estate.
Almost every room has views to the grounds and its north-west aspect means that, unusually for a house of this era, it is full of sun and light.
Some properties were built as houses and some as homes, and this Strowan property, in its parklike grounds is definitely in the latter category.
The combination of timber, tile and slate roofing, wellproportioned rooms and a very English-styled garden is somewhat irresistible. The classic lines, craftsmanship and extensive use of native timber that made this home such an attractive proposition when it was first built are the same features that make it desirable as a contemporary home, but with benefits.
Those benefits include grounds that only foresight, planning and time can create, and contemporary additions such as the laundry, heat pumps, gas fire, insulation, double garaging and extensive off-street parking.
From the portico the home opens into a generous foyer where the native timber panelling has been painted a soft white to enhance the feeling of light and space.
This, and the neutral-toned carpet, makes for some easy interior decorating choices for the new owners.
They will also appreciate the large family-sized kitchen with its generous cabinetry, that overlooks the open-plan family living and dining area, all of which open to the grounds.
Dinner parties and family celebrations call for the formal dining area to do its bit, which it does in considerable style.
The multiple living areas give everyone their own space and when you combine these connected spaces, you have space to spare for entertaining and family living, all flowing easily to the gardens, pool and tennis court.
With bathrooms upstairs and down, this is an easy home to live in.
Upstairs the five bedrooms include a master with ensuite, while four additional bedrooms share a family bathroom.
Solid, substantial and gloriously aspected, this property is an unexpected and delightful collection of living spaces inside and out.
If relaxing under the specimen trees, admiring your velvet green lawns, or wandering the perimeter admiring the plantings is your thing, then this is very much your home.
Likewise, if the thought of