SCHOOL ZONES:
Balmoral School, Auckland Girls’ Grammar School, Mt Albert Grammar.
CONTACT:
Marc Collins, Custom Residential, 0274 485961.
AUCTION:
2.30pm July 19.
Stephane Gascoin and Mary Shaw planned to stay for only for a few years in the 1940s stucco house they bought as a do-up in Sandringham.
But the couple grew to love their changing neighbourhood so much they have ended up living in their house for eight years.
Their ParrishAve home is in a wide, straight street that runs off Sandringham Rd and leads into St Albans Ave, which runs off Dominion Rd and is close to Mt Eden's Valley Rd shops.
When they bought their house in 2007, Mary says there was a marked contrast between the larger villa-style homes in St Albans Ave and the more modest dwellings in Parrish Ave.
But over the 13 years they have witnessed the gradual gentrification of their end of the street, which is now close to a cluster of great cafes on Sandringham Rd, including the French cafe and wine bar Petit Bocal, a local favourite.
French-born Stephane, who trained as an architect in Paris before moving to New Zealand 13 years ago, was drawn to this house because of its architectural style.
"The house was built in one of the first styles to follow the Art Deco era and it has some obvious influences from that period including the mono pitched roof and the curved entrance way."
Mary, who had wanted to buy a villa, could see the potential to improve the house without changing it too much. "Stephane was never going to go for a conventional house. He is always looking for something a bit different," she says.
The house felt "old-fashioned" when they bought it, but they liked that previous owners had not mucked around with it. Like many homes of its era, it had been built to a convention that suited an English rather than a New Zealand climate. The main living faced the street and the house did not connect well with its lovely, level 615sq m section.
Image 1 of 10: Stroll to your favourite cafe from this stylishly modernised 1940s gem
"It also had the smallest bathroom and bedroom in the world," says Stephane.
Without changing the footprint of the house, he has carefully remodelled parts of its interior and designed a large, flexible back deck that makes the most of Auckland's outdoor living.
The previous front lounge, which opened to the left of the front entrance way, has been turned into the master bedroom, while two other bedrooms open off to the right.
At the rear of the house, an open plan living and dining space has been created off the modernised kitchen, which has a large porch opening off it. This area, which features original matai flooring that has been whitewashed, opens out through French doors to the west-facing deck.
An art work in itself, the deck is divided into different "rooms" and levels to accommodate al fresco dining and lounging in different spaces as the sun moves over it. Two chaise long-shaped daybeds have been built into the deck and divide its upper and lower levels.
Several fruit trees grow in the back garden, including oranges, lemons, feijoas and olives. A sheltered space behind the double garage is an ideal spot for a large vegetable garden.
The couple has enjoyed living here with Stephane's two boys Octave, 17, and Emile, 14, as well as being close to Mary's adult daughter, Anna, who lives nearby. The house is also conveniently close to Stephane's work, Hallion Design, in Grey Lynn. They are now looking to move to West Auckland to be closer to Mary's mother.
