He wooed supermodel Naomi Campbell, featured Kylie Jenner and Heidi Klum on his magazine covers and hosted iconic shoe designer Jimmy Choo at home, but Remix founder and publisher, and DJ, Tim Phin is now quitting the city for the quiet beachside life.
Phin has listed the stylish Rose Road, Grey Lynn villa he’s only just finished renovating with project partner, digital designer Carl Thompson, after buying a waterfront property.
Ray White agent Heather Walton, who sold them a beachside house in Omaha, is marketing the Grey Lynn house with Ryan Teece.
“We want someone to fall in love with this house now, like we did. We’re getting something smaller in the city so we can spend more time at the beach, we love it up there,” Phin told OneRoof.
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Architects Chris Tate and Evelyn McNamara turned a modest cottage on Rose Road, Grey Lynn, into a stylish party house. Photo / Supplied
The pair bought the sweet square-fronted villa in 2014, intending to do a quick renovation and move on. OneRoof records show they paid $1.175 million, but the house now has a ratings valuation of $3.8m.
But when they brought on maverick architect Chris Tate (the clue is in his mantra ‘to make designs as daring as his imagination will go’) and paired him with architect Evelyn McNamara, the project took on a life of its own.
Tim Phin has hosted iconic shoe designer Jimmy Choo at the house, and Choo gifted an artwork. Photo / Norrie Montgomery
Phin is not afraid of daring himself. He’s picked up the phone to global names like designer Alexa Chung, ‘it girl’ Hailey Baldwin, singer Ellie Goulding as well as Jenner and Campbell, and persuaded them to appear in his magazine – for free.
The three-year project, mostly supervised by Thompson, took a typical old three-bedroom workers’ cottage and turned it into a sprawling four-bedroom, three-bathroom magazine-worthy home of 305sqm.
The cantilevered glass and steel box over hangs a fire pit room that can be closed off with sliding glass walls. Photo / Supplied
“It had to be a statement piece of modern design. It was all about entertaining,” Phin said.
“We’ve hosted events for Nespresso, Play Station. Jimmy Choo came for cocktails, and gave us an artwork.
“No Kardashians, but plenty of New Zealand supermodels and celebrities, I can’t name them of course,” he says.
The still-modest white cottage facade with lower ground floor double garage hides a striking black two-storeyed glass and steel box on the back that cantilevers over a swimming pool and fire pit.
The black kitchen was designed as the hub of the entertaining area. Photo / Supplied
Upstairs was all about entertaining, albeit with views of an unexpected pocket of Grey Lynn bush, not the Hollywood Hills; downstairs the fire pit area can be enclosed by sliding walls of glass to allow parties to continue even in Auckland’s rainy winters.
Phin and Thompson’s project brief specified a stylish kitchen to be the hub of the entertaining space, with room for work pads or party pads. They added four bedrooms for future family buyers, and electric vehicle charging in the garage (“for the Tesla”, explained Phin).
“This is the most sought-after house in Grey Lynn. We decided to make it the most entertaining house, the most liveable. We love it.”
The upper floor has unexpected views of a pocket of Grey Lynn bush. Photo / Supplied
Walton told OneRoof that with an auction scheduled for November 25, one-on-one viewing time slots were already filling up.
“We’re pre-qualifying viewers, the feedback is for more than $6m. Another house on Rose Road sold for just over $5m, and that was nearly two years ago.
“Grey Lynn is starting to rub shoulders with the prices of the beach suburbs of Westmere and Herne Bay.
“A lot of people are waiting for homes of this calibre, there are people who are waiting to move across from Remuera for the right property.”
