Architect Ken Crosson, who road tripped around the country in a 1960s Mark II Jaguar in the television show The New Zealand Home is known for his earthy and quirky style.
He is the master of the simple - but clever - bach.
Architect Ken Crosson has won numerous architectural awards locally and internationally and regularly features in media around the world. Photo / supplied
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He also has a thing for wheels. His Hut on Sleds - literally, a bach that can be wheeled back from the sand dunes - was a was a finalist in the World Architecture Awards. He and British television star George Clarke wheeled out a bathtub on to the deck of a spectacular (and another award-winning) bach on George Clarke's Amazing Spaces. He's won architecture awards, Home of the Year Awards and more.
Crosson Clarke Carnachan Architects Hut on Sleds won New Zealand Architecture Awards and was a finalist in the World Architecture Awards. Picture / Simon Devitt
So, what-on-earth possessed Ken to buy a rambling 1900s, city-fringe villa, with an ornate, traditional façade, 37 years ago?
Ray White agents Scott Wither and Chloe Wither are selling the house at 74 Ardmore Road, Ponsonby, by set date of sale closing August 5.
“I have asked myself that question a number of times over the years, actually,” he laughs - explaining that the once-grand villa had been a student flat when he first saw it, with sagging ceilings, peeling paint, no insulation and a lean-to kitchen, plus an outhouse laundry.
The front half of the villa retains many of the original features. Photo /supplied
“As a friend kindly commented, it was ‘the mother ship of cockroaches’,” he says.
Undeterred, Ken slowly brought the villa back to life, for his then-young family.
“It was the only home they ever knew,” he says, “a house of many memories.”
Early alterations included removing false ceilings, thereby reinstating the original high stud and turning the front bedroom into a lounge.
Essentially, though, the original part of the house has always remained largely the same and very much in character, he says, despite the service areas gradually becoming part of the house with a contemporary kitchen and bright modern bathrooms but as far as Ken was concerned, that was just a stop-gap, and the best was yet to come.
The steel and glass back wall - no mere back door - pivots into the garden. Photo / supplied
Three or four years ago, he decided to re-remodel the rear of the house - in very dramatic fashion.
He says he appreciates the fact that villas can be very effectively ‘knocked around’ and he’s dubbed the result of this recent work The Lightbox.
The most spectacular feature is inarguably the huge steel and glass wall - or giant door - that hinges into the yard, dissolving the line between the new kitchen and living room and garden. Basalt pavers indoors and out further blur the boundary. Within the wall, two pairs of French doors are set into the opening wall for more conventional access.
Steel cabinetry keeps the kitchen sleek, while frosted side windows keep the house private. Photo / supplied
Side walls of frosted glass on two sides maintain privacy from neighbours while admitting more soft daylight.
In the vast kitchen space, almost everything has been integrated into the powder-coated black steel self-closing doors, making the room sleek and streamlined and there’s also a handy scullery.
Continuing basalt paving on the patio and into the entrance to the house further blurs the line between indoors and out. Photo / supplied
Not surprisingly, this alteration picked up a number of awards in 2019. Ken’s very pleased with the results of his work but admits it’s a big property for one person.
He says his next move won’t involve going far.
“This spot is so handy for absolutely everything, and I walk practically everywhere,” he says.
“But if I do need to use the motorway, it’s a quick drive to the on-ramp.
The property is also in-zone for excellent schools and its excavated basement conversion garage (with spacious adjacent rumpus or media room) is a real bonus in a suburb that was developed long before wide-spread use of the motor car.
Agent Chloe Wither says "It’s the best of both worlds... classic villa meets cutting edge design. Ken’s steel and glass wall literally opens up the entire back of the house creating a seamless connection with the garden. It’s a masterpiece in its simplicity.
"The flexibility in the villa’s floor plan is also a reflection of Ken’s 37-year tenure, as the needs of his family have changed, so too has the way they have maximised living here."
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