THE GRANDEST LADY

Enormous house transports you to a different time, writes ERIN REILLY

Anyone who’s ever strolled down Wellington’s Brougham St has probably stopped and stared at number 105. The house on the dominant corner section is simply enormous. If its walls could talk, they would certainly have some memorable stories to share across the breadth of a century.

Originally built around 1890 for a Mrs Catherine Gray and her five sons, this grand old house was designed by the important Wellington architectural firm Thomas Turnbull & Son. Set on a massive 905sq m of land, the home remains authentic to the times with minimal alterations over the years.

From the outside, she looks like she’s stepped straight off the pages of a Jane Austen novel. Inside, she transports you to a whole other time.

“My siblings and I had the most idyllic childhood in his house,” says one of the current owners, whose father bought the property in the early 1960s. “We’re a large family so we had several generations go through the house, and my grandmother lived with us too. The house is so huge; playing hide-and-seek was always a real challenge!”

If the home looks big from the outside, it feels even bigger inside. A large timber-lined entranceway sets the theme for the rest of the house. Downstairs an enormous lounge opens in one direction to the expansive garden outside and in another to a dining room cum ballroom, complete with a stage, servery and original red drapes.

“I imagine that the lady of the house would have had her breakfast served to her in the dining room while she gazed at the beautiful gardens outside.”

The gentlemen’s study still has a working fireplace along with two bells fixed to the walls — not functioning anymore — that were used to call the servants, a lifetime ago.

“There was also a big old telephone in there with a button that said ‘secret’ on it. When you pressed the button, if you picked up the phone anywhere else in the house you couldn’t hear what was going on. We children thought it was magic.”

A grand staircase takes you upstairs to an extra-wide hallway, five bedrooms, a sunroom and another kitchen, “although we never used the upstairs kitchen as such; instead, my sister and I studied for School C in there by using the painted walls as blackboards to write our notes on”.

Everywhere you look there’s something that’s a little unexpected. In the kitchen, right next to the back door, is a side door that was built specifically for deliverymen. Under the stairs is a Harry Potter-esque hidey-hole “which we used to play in for hours”. Even the glass in the windows has a certain quality about it that you just can’t replicate in modern construction.

Harking back to times of old, downstairs is what would have been the servants’ quarters once upon a time. Rooms come off rooms which come off more rooms. The Professionals agent Chris Yiavasis says the house gives new owners myriad opportunities to create virtually anything their hearts desire.

“There aren’t properties as big as this anywhere else in Wellington, so it’s an incredible opportunity for someone to come in and return this home back to her former glory,” he says.

And that’s the hope of the current owners too.

“This home has always had a presence. Her bones are so good and strong and beautiful. Our hope is that someone will come along and give her the love that she needs. And she deserves it — the Grand Lady deserves it.” Tender: Closes February 11 Contact: Chris Yiavasis, Redcoats (The Professionals), 021 499 350

“The house is so huge; playing hideand-seek [in it] was always a real challenge!”