The return of Phil Spencer, half of British property television’s most famous and enduring double act, to marvel at rich people’s architectural wonders that float above our beaches, lakes and nicer suburbs couldn’t be better timed.
The second series of New Zealand’s Best Homes with Phil Spencer arrives just as the government gives foreign one-percenters permission to buy $5 million-plus homes. Well, here’s a very glossy catalogue, complete with a giddy Spencer’s marvelling – “elegant” seems to be his go-to word this season – at the homes as they are presented to him by their architects while the unnamed owners are away. Or possibly out in their helicopters for the day having just dropped the cleaning staff home.
Not that any are actually for sale – here, the phrase “forever home” could spark its own drinking game – but it’s certainly good marketing for the high-end architects, some of whom featured in the first season.
Case in point, the first episode visits the Bay of Islands development at Ōmarino (translation of te reo: “Overseas Investment Act exempt”), which is still advertising itself as “the only land available to foreign buyers”. Stretching across hundreds of hectares of a former sheep and beef farm, Ōmarino is a reforested and now gated community, though your nearest neighbours are over the hill.
Maintaining his foreign summer wardrobe of sandals, shorts and various blue shirts, Spencer leaves the “Fold House” at Ōmarino, designed for Craig Heatley by Bossley Architecture, until last in the opening episode. But he’s back later in the series for another, earlier Heatley-Bay-of-Islands-Bossley house on Moturoa Island, right out the front window of the first place and a short chopper ride away.
First up, it’s down to the Coromandel for the “Panorama House” at Whitianga, possibly not the first place in the series that will have some thinking it’s a fine tribute to the mid-century Thunderbirds-ian school of design minus hydraulic palm trees. Future episodes inevitably have Spencer heading to the Southern Lakes. Mostly, though, it’s rich Aucklanders’ mega-baches. Oh, and quaint Point Wells, where people with too much taste for a place at nearby Omaha go (I am reliably informed). It’s all certainly a nice showcase for the architects, even if none have ever asked a client: “Do you really need this much house?”
What’s in episode one and how much are they worth?
Panorama House
Ferry Landing, Whitianga
Designed by Edwards White Architects, completed in 2022.
Eight-bedroom clifftop and treetop holiday home where grandparents can avoid rest of the family in rooms next to the bunker cum wine cellar. Comes with a classic MG MGA sports car to pick up guests from the Whitianga ferry a few minutes’ drive away.
What Spencer says: “What a spot!”
What the architects say: “This multi-generational holiday home is a considered response to the needs of its inhabitants and the spectacular site overlooking Maramaratotara and Mercury Bays. The challenge of the site’s steep terrain, established pōhutukawa and native vegetation, called for sensitivity during the design and construction process. The result is a floating cedar box atop a stone base embedded into the cliff face. It provides varying levels of enclosure, exposure to the natural elements and – importantly – strong connection to its beachside location.”
QV estimated value: $5.17 million
Pauanui Beach House
Pauanui
Designed by Julian Guthrie, completed in 2024
Big concrete house right on the water in the holiday town. A rebuild of a slightly bigger 1970s home.
What Spencer says: “It’s huge!”
What the architects say: “The brief required us to reimagine the existing structure, to create a generous multi-generational holiday home. The original two-level concrete structure was retained, forming the bones for the new design, which provides generous open plan living spaces capturing the ocean views.
“A rich palette of cast concrete and grey-oiled cedar defines the exterior, with materials flowing from inside to out to blur the boundaries between spaces. Fine-framed full height sliding glazed doors enhance the sense of continuity, with a dramatic cantilevered timber roof drawing the eye towards the horizon. On the west façade facing away from the coast, a vertical timber slatted screen filters the light and provides privacy from adjacent homes. The interior features sand toned stone, subtle mosaic and plaster textures, and greyed oak flooring and cabinetry to give a warm, minimalist feel that compliments [sic] a modern art collection.”
QV estimated value: $5.69 million
Fold House
Bay of Islands
Designed by Bossley Architects, completed in 2013.
Award-winning, sprawling, multiple-building house built on 350ha for rich-lister Craig Heatley as part of his exclusive Omarino development at Parekura Bay, in the Bay of Islands.
What Spencer says: “This place is built for a ton of people to have a ton of fun.”
What the architects say: “This generous seaside house is one of a series of our exploration of encampments and kiwi versions of walled gardens. The large footprint is divided into three separate buildings, creating an “open courtyard” which draws the space of the beach up the valley and into the overall composition of buildings.
“The iconic elements of this project are the beautiful roofs; folded planes composed of triangular facets which float casually over the rooms below. The ceilings are light coloured poplar plywood, creating soft shifts of light and space hovering over the rooms below. The modulation of the roofs reflects natural light with exciting effect and externally refers to the rolling hills of the landscape around the valley. As always, the focus of the design was on providing spaces that are comfortable even when they are large. The Auckland Award NZIA judges recognised this when they wrote that ‘... large though the component parts are, this project retains a very human scale’.”
QV estimate value: $11.1 million
New Zealand’s Best Homes with Phil Spencer, TVNZ 1, Sundays, 7.30pm.