Epsom - Together again

An historic house was taken to pieces and then reassembled at a new site.

163 Gillies Avenue, Epsom.

This home in Gillies Avenue has such an air of solidity and grandeur about it that it looks as though the suburb of Epsom has crowded in around it over the decades.

While it was built in 1895, the kauri villa was in fact moved to this site from nearby Dilworth Avenue in the 1980s, after being cut into seven major pieces and having its chimneys and fireplaces removed.

Over a period of months, the interior of the house was painstakingly stripped and all the pieces numbered for later reassembly.

It was built for Gerald O'Halloran snr, then chairman of the Dilworth Trust, which still oversees Dilworth School in Erin Street. In later life, the house was used for boarders at the school and then leased to the Remuera Rackets Club.

It was then sold to Graham and Sylvia Hamilton who moved it to its present site where it sits even more solidly on a concrete pad.

The scale and character of the house were what attracted the present owners. Claire says she and her husband made ``an emotional decision'' to buy it about two years ago.

``The first time we saw it, we just loved it,'' says Claire.
And you can see why. Many of the original features remain intact, and recent improvements such as creating better flow between rooms - and kitchen and bathroom updates - have been done sympathetically.

The stained glass and leadlights in the front door and the windows surrounding it hint at a theme repeated throughout the house.

The wide entrance hall with its rich kauri floors and ceilings confirms this is a house of some stature. At the end of the hall an imposing kauri staircase invites you upstairs.

To the left as you come in the front door is the elegant and spacious formal lounge, with open fire.

As with many of the rooms downstairs, the beautiful grain of the solid kauri beams and board and batten ceilings has not been painted out.

On the same side of the hall is an office and beyond that a formal dining room that opens to the rear of the house and a courtyard used for barbecues.

At the front of the house on the other side of the hallway is a billiard room that opens through double doors to a casual lounge, which in turn opens through double doors to the kitchen.

Claire says the roomy living spaces make for great entertaining.
``When we have parties here some people will be playing billiards, some kids will be in the next room watching TV and you'll find some people chatting in the lounge. It's a bit like a hotel.''

The country-style kitchen has wooden cabinets, stone benches, a rimu island bench and a massive Rangemaster cooker.

The lounge and the kitchen open out to a verandah, an in-ground swimming pool and a spa pool on the northern side of the house. The bricks used in the paving and walls surrounding the pool were recycled from the home's demolished chimneys.

Upstairs, via the wide staircase with shamrocks cut into the balustrade, there is a vast lobby with bedrooms and the main bathroom fanning off it.

The main bathroom is tiled and has a clawfoot bath. When they renovated this bathroom and the en suite, Claire says they tried to do it in a classical style and some of the tapware was imported from England.

The eastern end of the lobby opens out to a covered balcony, an ideal breakfasting spot.

The sunny master bedroom has windows and a window seat wrapping around the northeastern corner. It has a walk-in wardrobe that adjoins the tiled en suite.

A door opposite the main bathroom opens to reveal a staircase to a roomy attic, big enough for the previous owners to have relations staying up there.

With three of their four children having flown the nest, the couple are looking to downsize but stay in the same area.

``It's going to be difficult to let the house go, though,'' says Claire. ``We might be a bit like the couple we bought the house off _ the wife was very reluctant to sell; she could barely force herself to sign the paperwork.''

VITAL STATISTICS

BEDROOMS: 6+

BATHROOMS: 2

GARAGES: 2+

SIZE: Land 900sq m, house 439sq m.

PRICE: CV (2005) $1.62 million. Tenders close August 10.

INSPECT: Sat/Sun 12.45-1.30pm.

ON THE WEB: www.open2view.co.nz # 132097

CONTACT: Jon Whisker, Bayleys, ph 021 940 501, 520 8879 bus.

FEATURES: Largely original kauri villa on a grand scale with sympathetically refurbished bathrooms and kitchen. In-ground pool and spa pool, gas central heating, additional offstreet parking.