HOME IS WHERE THE ART IS
This sharp, stylish retreat was the result of a unique design collaboration between two major household names in fashion and architecture, writes LEIGH BRAMWELL.
When Christine and Ray Oxenham first viewed the house at 14 Rita Way at Omaha, they thought living on a spit with the ocean on one side and an estuary on the other would be very cool.
But the icing on the cake was the sharp design of the concrete house, which was created for famous New Zealand fashion designer Trelise Cooper and her husband Jack by Aucklandbased firm Fearon Hay Architects.
“We’d been looking for a year around Omaha and we were with an agent who had the key to this house, but it wasn’t on the market yet,” Christine recalls. “We walked in and just went ‘wow!’ We’d been looking for something different and this was it, so after a second viewing, we bought it.” The search for the right property had taken some time because the couple wanted privacy, and in the coastal settlement of Omaha, that was a big ask.
The Coopers had briefed their architects by showing them a selection of iconic North American and Japanese buildings that demonstrated the clean-lined style they wanted.
Given creative license, Jeffrey Fearon and Tim Hay came up with a 210-square metre sharply styled retreat on a huge concrete slab under three-metre-high ceilings throughout the building. The concept worked perfectly to give the home the privacy its second owners also wanted.
The internal design of the three-bedroom house hinges on one structural wall that separates sleeping quarters from communal areas. On one side the wall supports a pitched glass ceiling over the corridor that leads to the bedrooms.
“In one of the bedrooms the whole of one side faces the courtyard and pool and it totally opens up through glass sliding doors. Then there’s a 2.5-metre concrete tilt slab around it,” Christine says. “The main bedroom looks out to another courtyard on the other side so it’s also very private.”
The kitchen, made by ltalian company Antonia Astori, consists of three equally proportioned units with black granite tops, one of which serves as the dining table.
Christine and Ray found no need to make any but the most minor changes to the house, and it has worked beautifully for them and their family.
Both daughters were married here and at one of the weddings there were 85 people.
“So while it works really well for just the two of us, it’s also great for a crowd and for extended family.”
Agent Di Balich sees the upcoming auction of as a rare opportunity for someone with foresight and an appreciation of architecture to buy a Fearon Hay home with design influence from Trelise and Jack Cooper.
It’s no surprise to her that her vendors will miss the architecture of the house, and its unique location between ocean and estuary where they walk every day. The drawcard is to find a couple of acres in closer proximity to their children. Sale: Auction, July 11
Contact: Di Balich, Precision, 021 917 080