By VICKI HOLDER
With all its toys and rooms for every mood, this gracious estate in Remuera reads like a Club Med brochure.
On this one big property, you can swim in a gas-heated swimming pool, dip in a bubbling spa pool, sweat it out in a Swedish sauna, meditate in a
meditation room, escape in the library/television room, play tennis on a floodlit Astroturf court or battle it out on the full-size billiard table in the grand entertainment room. In fact, there's not much you can't do here.
Built around 1910 for Mr J Robertson, founder of St Cuthbert's College, this elegant and well-proportioned home has weathered exceptionally well. Despite the changes in the area, it has steadfastly remained on the same, large, well-manicured piece of land. The trees have grown and a tall brick fence now gives even greater security.
To accommodate so many leisure activities, the house has to be big. It never feels overwhelming, however. Although there are a lot of rooms, they aren't huge, they're just comfortable - the perfect size for generous family living.
Good vibes and great entertaining possibilities attracted the owners, who have loved living here for 11 years. When they bought, construction had begun on an annexe linked to the main house by the recreational wing.
Designed by architect Stephen Smythe, it houses a separate entertainment space with a kitchen and a self-contained apartment above. Completing the annexe meant they had, in effect, two homes. An excellent casual entertaining area, complete with kitchen, extends through bifold doors to the pool courtyard. Upstairs, the teenage daughter has spacious independent living quarters.
Stephen has continued the sympathetic renovation work in the kitchen/living area of the main house to give a better indoor/outdoor flow. He had previously installed elegant bay windows with bifolds looking over the pool. Later, he added a skylight in the pitched roof to allow the light to pour into the living area. Seven-finger parquet gives a stunning yet practical floor surface against putty-coloured match-lined walls.
Sue Naylor has designed a new kitchen that looks across a granite island bench to the dining table. Rising to ceiling height, traditional cabinetry conceals pull-out, stainless-steel pantries and many ingenious storage solutions. For large dinner parties, there's an Ilve free-standing stove and the latest Bosch combination cooker.
Grand scale dining features in a separate room off the formal lounge, which opens from a grand entry foyer. Separated by double cavity doors, the two rooms are heated at either end by gas fires with marble surrounds. Sharing magnificent, ornate, glossy, pressed-steel ceilings with crystal chandeliers and old kauri floors, these rooms radiate cool sophistication in eggshell blue and icy mauve/pink tones. Both rooms open through french doors to the garden and have big arched windows.
Guests can retire to the billiard room, which includes a hidden bar for port and cigars, after their meal. An oak-panelled dado rail and swagged curtains around paisley romans give the room a gentlemen's club atmosphere.
Through a rogues gallery, a new bathroom features a sculptural, round basin on a stainless-steel pedestal. Chrome taps resemble dolphins leaping through the waves. Mirrors and granite shelving wrap around the room, ensuring lots of storage and display options.
As well as the broad, ornate, main timber staircase, there are maid's stairs that take a short-cut from the casual living area to four bedrooms and an office upstairs.
The main bedroom opens to a tiled veranda, which is fully glazed along the exterior wall so it can be used all year round. A bedside intercom enables you to call anywhere in the house. Through a fitted dressing room, the en suite features a toilet-cum-bidet and frosted glass bifolds.
Original Art Deco-style fireplaces in three upstairs bedrooms are in working order. As well as the main suite, one bedroom has an en suite and dressing room. The other two bedrooms and the study share a family bathroom, as well as a separate toilet and another shower room.
Many high quality improvements make this a modern old house whose continued longevity is assured.
Vital statistics
Address: 235 Remuera Rd, Remuera.
Features: Restored villa plus modern annexe on original estate; manicured gardens; floodlit tennis court; gas-heated swimming pool; spa pool; sauna; main residence - four bedrooms; five bathrooms; study; TV room; billiard room; security system; central vac; annexe - meditation room; pool room with kitchen; kitchen/living area; bedroom; bathroom.
Size: Land area 2833 sq m, floor area 850 sq m.
Tender: Closes at 4 pm on February 28 at 55a Remuera Road, Newmarket.
Agent: David Rainbow, Bayleys BRE, Newmarket. Ph 520 8888 bus; 025 923 364 mob.
By VICKI HOLDER
With all its toys and rooms for every mood, this gracious estate in Remuera reads like a Club Med brochure.
On this one big property, you can swim in a gas-heated swimming pool, dip in a bubbling spa pool, sweat it out in a Swedish sauna, meditate in a
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