A grand Auckland home built in the 1900s for the American consul is on the market for sale after a stylish makeover.
The Arts and Crafts mansion of over 600sqm at 27 Liverpool Street, Epsom, had fallen on hard times, at one stage being carved into four flats. The current owner, who bought the house in 2010, said that the former owner had restored the grand old house, right down to the doorknobs, polished matai floors, four working fireplaces and Austrian crystal light fixtures in most rooms.
“He’d done a massive renovation, all we needed to do was the landscaping and extending the kitchen into a bigger family kitchen,” the owner said, adding that they’d managed to scoop the house for a bargain $2.65 million after the seller was caught by the GFC.
The property now has a CV of $6.9m.
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Records are sparse on how long the consul lived there, but the huge formal dining room – it comfortably fits a 22-seat dining table and a grand piano – and a formal living room, dubbed “the gentlemen’s room”, suggest a lifestyle of serious diplomatic entertaining.
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However, it’s been a family house for the current owners who moved in with a four-year-old and a two-year-old, with a baby on the way.
“That dining room gets used a lot, I like to play the piano, we do Sunday lunches there. The table can be broken down into a big square. We love to entertain,” the owner said.
“We think the house was designed in America, because all the formal rooms face south, not north. That gives us views all the way across to Manukau, the airport.”
The formal dining room at 27 Liverpool Street, Epsom, is big enough for a 22-seat dining table and grand piano. Photo / Supplied
The huge entertainers’ kitchen was added by the current owners. Photo / Supplied
Auckland Council heritage officers note that the house, one of the earliest in the area, sits on top of one of the few geologic formations visible in the city, striking striped layers of bedded tuff and volcanic hailstones from the nearby Three Kings volcano eruption. The wall is now planted and restored by the current owner, the house barely visible from the street.
The new kitchen wing off the former scullery was designed for entertaining, with a suite of Gaggenau appliances, a giant island of forma stone, and two walls of pantry storage. The casual dining room next door gets its own glittering wet bar while the family room opens to the north-facing deck and Tiger Turf lawns. The deck was restored and now opens to lawns surrounded by cypress trees, but the original south-facing porches off the formal rooms have views all the way to Pukekohe and Bombay Hills.
The house was designed in the northern hemisphere, so has south-facing porches to get views of Manukau and beyond. Photo / Supplied
The wine cellar holds 1200 bottles of wine, and has French wood floor tiles. Photo / Supplied
The owner was careful that new joinery details match the grandeur of the house’s originals. Double-glazed windows and matai floors in the kitchen were meticulously matched to the rest of the house (it also got a copper roof to match those on the bay window in the dining room) and the double height front door with leadlight windows got a glossy black piano glaze.
The owners’ most recent project was carving out a wine cellar for 1200 bottles on the lower ground floor, a project that took a digger, massive steel beams and concrete retaining to complete. The Eurocave conditioning units and shelves, oak walls and floors made from wooden Paris-style tiles can be admired through the glass floor of the entrance above.
The formal living room has been decorated as a gentlemen’s room. Photo / Supplied
The master bedroom has views to One Tree Hill. Photo / Supplied
The five bedrooms and three bathrooms upstairs have views to the south, or north to One Tree Hill. There’s a kitchenette for late night snacks and two of the rooms have working fireplaces. On the lower ground floor, as well as the wine cellar, there’s an office/rumpus room, double garage and plenty of storage.
Outside the current owners brought in the grand stone entrance stairs, restored the huge retaining wall that hides the house from the street, added a sweeping curved driveway and grand gates and pruned the huge pohutukawa tree to frame views to the south.
The family room opens out to the lawns and covered dining terrace. Photo / Supplied
Lawns for cricket and an outdoor dining area were upgraded by the current owners. Photo / Supplied
While the family planned to make this their forever home, growing cricket-mad sons have inspired a move to a lifestyle block in Karaka where the active boys can spread out.
Ray White agent Nick Lyus, who is marketing the property with Heather Walton for sale by negotiation, said that putting a price on the property was difficult.
“There is nothing directly comparable, you’re buying a piece of history, it’s a unique statement. There’s a bit of mystery which adds to its intrigue, but it’s a big statement.”
- 27 Liverpool Street, Epsom, is for sale by negotiation
