THEIR PLACE GEMMA EYLES
PHOTOS: MARTIN DE RUYTER/STUFF // WORDS: JOANNA DAVIS
Gemma and Jeremy Eyles live in one of the most photographed homes in Nelson, and they’ve decorated and filled it with collections that reflect their vibrant personalities. The couple, a banker and bookstore manager, have lived in the 156-year-old home in the city’s historic South St area for six years, moving from Auckland after finding traffic and stress were worsening Gemma’s recovery from a debilitating accident.
GEMMA: e were in uckland or years.
enting, we’d had to mo e around a bit because people kept selling, but we e entually bought a unit by a railway line in llerslie and mo ed there.
It looked out o er t ellington. ecause
I’d had an accident I got hit by a by a car as a pedestrian right outside work and become an ious, being there was really calming and wonder ul.
e lo ed uckland, but with the an iety I realised I didn’t want to be in traffic. I had a big ob at estpac. It was a lot.
It was getting to the point where I was getting a bit set off by things like getting stuck in traffic. It was really panicky and aw ul. You ust start to think, this big city is getting a bit reaky.
I grew up in angaweka, a tiny wee town in central orth Island. e li ed in an old bank. y dad had an anti ue shop. ad and I are basically the same person. eremy’s uncle was born in
elson and his amily came in on the third ship. e applied or his ob and got it. It’s a better place to be, less stress. e’re still small town people really. e actually bought a three bedroom house in tawhai, elson. he whole time we were li ing there we were parking outside o this house.
I was on a day off and this place came up on rade e. I don’t e en know why I was looking. I said to my dad, hat do you think e said It might be your only chance to own something truly special. hen we bought, it was an anti ue shop in the first two rooms. It was musty, all the curtains were red el et, ugly as heck but good. It had sponge y s salmon pink carpet throughout. he rest o the house had been taste ully done. he building was built in the s, but the ront is rom the s. he light switches, archways are ery s. here’s only one internal door, to the bathroom. (Upstairs) the bedrooms are offset. You can’t
see into the other one, so we’ve put up curtains. The historical side appealed to us. It’s been a silversmith’s, teashop, Airbnb, secondhand bookshop. There was a full antique shop, upstairs as well.
Every now and then we get a parcel of tea arrive. From the instant we moved here we were welcomed by the residents of South St next door.
Nelson people don’t know that Nile St West exists. You can’t come through because of the cathedral.
I’d said to Jeremy, “When we buy this I’ll do a shop. I did for a while vintage china and stu . I opened on Sundays.
I collect china. I started collecting the 1950s Crown Lynn lolly pink colour glaze when I was at home a er my accident.
I had to spend a lot of time at home. I found a pink cup online and it sparked a massive hunt.
It gave me something to do, and a connection with people, which was good because I might have slunk away. Some of the china is hard to nd, such as the hotel jugs from hotels that closed in the 50s, 60s and 70s. I’ve found them in the weirdest places. They’ve all got lots of history. I’m a bit obsessed.
It’s a fantastic back up plan to not having a job. You could do so many things with this front room.
But we’re quite partial to having a table here. We like to people watch.