Over the years, it's been modified quite a bit, with some rooms added and others opened up. However, the modifications have all been totally in keeping with the original style so it still presents in the same butterfly fashion, but with a bit more substance.
Grand and distinguished as it is, that's not what attracted Tracey and her late husband Mike when they bought Ngahere 10 years ago. With three teenage boys, they were instantly attracted by the space and the opportunity to create separate quarters for teenagers and adults, while sharing the common family room.
The previous owners had lived there for 30 years raising their family, and the decor featured orange carpet, bright red high-gloss walls, and even bars on the downstairs windows as a safety measure. Tracey and Mike put their own stamp on the house to fulfill its potential.
Over the next five years, the bars went, as did the bright carpet and the high-gloss walls. In came neutral wallpaper, paint and carpet - with a touch of dramatic navy blue in the dining room.
The kitchen was completely renovated; an en suite bathroom was added under the eaves in the master bedroom. Tracey and Mike created a real home for their family.
A major feature of that home was the boys' space upstairs - with the addition of a new bedroom, the three boys were gathered around the large home theatre room, with their own bathroom and their own space. But unless you knew, you'd never spot that one bedroom was a recent addition - even the casement windows look original.
"There's no point doing it if you aren't going to do it properly," says Tracey. "That's the reason we bought the house, because the boys could be totally separate."
Even outside, there are separate spaces for adults and teenagers. Tracey and Mike moved the swimming pool so it now occupies the space immediately outside the family living and formal dining rooms.
Where it used to be is the old summer house, and a separate bedroom and en suite bathroom at the back of the garage. Younger family members now treat this outdoor area as their own, and on hot summer nights can entertain friends here while the adults claim the pool courtyard.
This is a big house, on big grounds. It could all be a bit overwhelming, but it's not. Perhaps because of the many rooms, the wood, the many fireplaces, the original stained-glass windows, the separation of the garden into distinct areas and rooms, it feels comfortable and familiar - even if somewhat grand.
"It's got soul," Tracey explains. "It's not a house, it's a home. It's warm and it feels as if you've come home."
The three boys are now grown, and last year Mike died, leaving Tracey alone in a large family home that just a couple of years ago had eight people living it (Tracey's sister-in-law and niece and the oldest son's girlfriend were staying).
It is now, Tracey says, time to move on to the next stage of her life and see what that holds in store. It has been a great 10 years in Ngahere, but this home needs a family, she says. "It's wasted on one person."
