SCHOOL ZONES:
Bayswater Primary, Belmont Intermediate, Takapuna Grammar.
CONTACT:
Lynda Betts, Bayleys, ph 021 278 3024.
FEATURES:
Original 1950s ranch-style home with close water views of Ngataringa Bay and the city beyond. The house is in excellent condition although ripe for redevelopment.
Some homes intrigue because of their difference. Others because they look like they've never changed; they simply look "right", both for their era and for their situation. Such is 18 Birkley Rd, tucked close to the end of its cul-de-sac, and so close to the water that the children whogrew up here remember Ngataringa Bay as their own personal backyard.
Sue and Phil Ashton were two of those children. Emigrating from England in 1958 with their parents, Bunty and Rae, and their Nana, Sue was 10 and remembers it as "paradise". "It's a place where we would have endless fun, both on our own just pottering around or with Mum and Dad."
The house at that time had only three bedrooms and, with three children and three adults, was a fairly tight fit, but the situation made up for everything. Over the years one of the larger bedrooms had a corner hived off it to make an extra child's bedroom, but all except one of the smaller of the two bedrooms have built-in cupboards, and the ample storage elsewhere in the house meant it never felt cluttered then and doesn't look it today.
Phil was a bit younger than Sue but remembers those early days clearly. "We were all packed in as tightly as we had been back home in the UK but, because we spent so much time outside, we never even noticed it. It was built as a spec house and when Mum and Dad bought it, it wasn't quite finished. We'd arrived as a family of Baby Boomer immigrant children but our younger siblings were all born here."
Over the 53 years Rae and Bunty owned and lived in the house, nothing much changed. They divided the bedroom, and added a sun porch where they napped in their later years, but, apart from that, this is an original Californian ranch-style home of its era. Almost as popular in New Zealand as in the US (where four out of five new homes in the 1950s and 60s were ranch-style in one form or another), all are known for their simplicity of line, their open-plan living and their unpretentious connection to their neighbours. This one is no exception. Like all ranchers, it has all the mod cons of its era: attached garaging, large windows carefully orientated to the views, links to outdoor living and, according to advertisements of the time, a "labour saving" kitchen layout.
This kitchen, where Bunty spent many hours feeding her family, overlooks the bay and links easily both to the well proportioned living-dining room in one direction, and the bedrooms and bathrooms at the other. It is easy to discern the roots of the modern home with its kitchen as hub and heart in this layout, although this kitchen, fresh and well-cared-for as it is, does not pretend to be the cathedral of cuisine as so many of its modern counterparts do.
The four bedrooms and bathroom to the south of this are equally well cared for and an en suite could easily be added by extending into the garage.
Phil and Sue are sad to see such a much-loved home leave the family but, unfortunately, it doesn't suit the circumstances of any of the siblings.
"Mum and Dad lived here until they passed away in their 90s and I was glad to be able to spend the last of those two years with them here," remarks Sue. "I will always remember them napping in the sun on the window seats with their cat, Jed, nearby. It would be lovely if whoever buys it has a family like we were and even better if they love cats and would be able to keep poor old Jed. He would find it hard to move, just like we do."
