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17 Emily Place, Auckland City.
It is hard to believe that only 10 years ago apartments in inner city Auckland were scattered and hard to find: a few old shop apartments in upper Queen St and K-Road, the gracious buildings of Courtville and Westminster. The handful of
buildings clustered around Emily Place formed one of the few gracious neighbourhoods, with trees, quiet streets and low rise warehouses. This apartment, one of a pair, was built by a developer in land abutting the old Carlisle building, since renovated into smart apartments. The current owner, Peter, had run his law offices in a building opposite, and watched with interest when the building began.
"I raced over to make an offer while they were still building the first apartment," he recalls, "but they had already sold to a developer the first day on the market. But six months later it was back on the market and I snapped it up."
Peter then watched the second apartment go up, getting to know its careful owners as they supervised the building and added their own designer touches. The first couple sold the house after they started a family, and after the second owner transferred out of Auckland, Peter decided to buy number 17 as an investment. But an extended stay in Europe this northern summer has sewn other plans: Peter fancies a more relaxed life of an apartment on Lake Como and his investment is back on the market.
The four-storey apartment has been both a stylish inner city home for its first owners, and professional offices. The exterior repeats the period details of the street in modern plaster masonry and aluminium joinery. A New York loft atmosphere is created inside by the sand-blasted Victorian brick wall from the adjoining Carlisle building, with light flooding from a skylight over the stairwell. The ground floor entrance and double garage (with plenty of extra storage and even a small service yard at the back) leads up to the main residence. A pair of bedrooms on the first floor, joined by a stainless steel and tile bathroom (fitted out with Philippe Starck tapware) could also function as spacious offices: one has a view of Emily Place trees, the back room a view down between neighbouring buildings to newly scrubbed up Fort Street.
The main living is on the second floor. A large living and dining room are separated by a well detailed kitchen in stainless steel, granite and lacquer. Again, high ceilings, wood floors and tall windows create a gracious loft atmosphere. French doors to a tiny balcony make the space airy, while the back wall of windows capture fabulous sunsets and glimpses down the city. The top floor houses a large master suite, again with a luxuriously detailed bathroom and walk-through closet. This room opens to a large balcony, perfectly positioned for morning coffee and to watch the city wake up.
This section of the city is handy to Queen Street and Shortland Street offices, to High Street and the Chancery and the convenience of grocery shopping. A stroll up the hill gets you to the university and law courts, a bit further to the art galleries and theatres.