My Food Bag co-founder Theresa Gattung is selling her architect-designed Auckland home to move a few blocks away – to a house with a bigger swimming pool.
This self-described “obsessive swimmer” told OneRoof that it is only the lure of a house with its own full-length lap pool that is drawing her away from her home of five years at 3 Livingstone Street, in Westmere.
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“I realised during lock down when I couldn’t swim, that I just have to. It was terrible,” she said, adding that a friend spotted the new pool for her.
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The three-bedroom house at 3 Livingstone Street, in Westmere, is being brought to auction by Bayleys agent Edward Pack on November 4. .
It was designed for the previous owners by top architect Andrew Patterson. Gattung has commissioned him to design her a new home at Waihi Beach, replacing her old bach of 20 years.
“I absolutely love Andrew. I’m a tall person, he’s a tall person, the owner he built this for was tall so there’s a really good sense of scale, it feels expansive but it fits into the landscape," she said.
My Food Bag co-founder Theresa Gattung in the art-filled home designed by architect Andrew Patterson. Photo / Sara Orme
“I like houses with presence and street appeal, the combination of striking design but also totally private. It’s a wonderful design for the site, the way the views to Cox’s Bay are framed, the sun and trees all around.”
Since leaving her role as the first woman CEO Telecom in 2007, Gattung is best known as the co-founder, with Cecelia Robinson and Nadia Lim, of My Food Bag in 2013.
Gattung swears she is not a cook (“that’s why I knew My Food Bag would be a success, for people just like me,”) but she tells OneRoof that she will miss her Livingstone Street kitchen, saying the stainless-steel kitchen island makes the host feel part of the action.
Patterson's design opens the house to the private garden and pool with sliding walls of glass. Photo / supplied
She said the house has plenty of walls for her art, storage for books (she chaired the New Zealand Advisory Group for the Frankfurt Book Fair) and closets galore in the master bedroom for her countless shoes (“I do actually wear them") and New Zealand designer-heavy wardrobe (other gigs included promoting New Zealand wools and Trelise Cooper fashions internationally). She added air-conditioning for summer cooling.
She described the upper story principal bedroom balcony wrapped in timber battens, as her “outdoor room” with views above the tree tops to Cox’s Bay and Herne Bay. Downstairs walls of glass slide away for completely open summer living.
The open plan living room includes plenty of well-conceived storage and walls for Gattung's art collection. Photo / supplied
“It is at its most magnificent in the summer, we had a huge gathering for my nephew’s 30th and it really was indoor-outdoor.”
Gattung is now the chair of Tend, a primary healthcare app, that has just been launched by Cecelia and James Robinson.
My Food Bag, in which Gattung has an almost 11 percent stake, is 70 percent owned by private company investor Waterman Fund. Earlier this month it announced it has appointed PWC to investigate options" for a potential sale of the business and share market debut.
A favourite spot in the house is the timber-wrapped outdoor room off the master bedroom which has views across the trees to Cox's Bay. Photo / supplied
Gattung said she was excited her new house and the plans for her new bach.
“I want to spend more time at the beach. My mother is living next door, I have sisters in Rotorua, Hamilton and Auckland so the beach is our tūrangawaewae."
She added: “This house has such a lovely ambience; it will appeal to people in so many different situations.”
