The Auckland home of two of New Zealand’s theatre and television royalty is on the market after 27 years.
Actors, directors and multi-hyphenate all-rounders Jennifer Ward-Lealand and Michael Hurst bought their three-bedroom villa at 41 Livingstone Street in Westmere 27 years ago.
They can pinpoint exactly their move-in date, as Ward-Lealand gave birth in the home to their first child, son Jack, three weeks after they moved in.
The generous house on Livingstone Street has been at the heart of both their professional and extended family lives ever since.
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It was all thanks to an American television show being enticed to New Zealand in 1994 to make the most of new film studios in Henderson and the striking scenery of Te Henga Bethells Beach.
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When the couple bought the house in 1997, Hurst was in the midst of a six-year run portraying Iolaus in the series Hercules: The Legendary Journeys, best buddy with actor Kevin Sorbo who played Hercules. A subsequent spinoff of the show, Xena: Warrior Princess, made fellow Kiwi actor Lucy Lawless a global star.
For jobbing actors, Hurst’s telly gig was a great chance to buy their forever home.
“It was a ‘we were doing OK’. While I was in a good job, we just went, ‘let's do that’. It was still affordable,” Hurst said.
“In our business, we’re freelancers, you know, you never know when the next job’s coming, so it was a bit like take an opportunity while you’ve got it,” Ward-Lealand added.
Michael Hurst and Jennifer Ward-Lealand, actors, directors, teachers and more, have been central to the New Zealand theatre and television scene. Photo / Norrie Montgomery
Hurst, right, as Iolaus, the sidekick to Hercules in the 1990s TV series. Photo / Supplied
The home has been the centre of family life for three generations, as well as supporting the couple’s multiple professional hats. It has hosted rehearsals and parties with the who’s who of the country’s stars, board meetings for Actor’s Equity (Ward-Lealand is president) and numerous other industry groups.
“We’ve had many, many meetings in there. It’s been a very social and serviceable place,” Ward-Lealand said. The couple are reluctant to name drop, admitting that household name actors are just their friends, not stars.
As well as keeping up with fans at Hercules and Xena conventions, Iolaus (and a bunch of other Hercules roles) opened up Hurst’s career into television and film directing. For Ward-Lealand, a founder of the now-closed Watershed Theatre and a patron of the city’s Q Theatre, the house supported her study of te Reo (she is now a board member of Te Taura Whiri i Te Reo Māori - The Māori Language Commission). Both have King’s honours – his an ONZM, hers a CNZM – and shelves full of awards.
They have left their mark on the property.
“We were the first people who bought the house after it had a massive renovation, so it was kind of like a new house when we got into it,” Ward-Lealand told OneRoof. That part of the Westmere-Grey Lynn boundary was still far from the gentrified place it is now.
“There was no supermarket, no Farros, no bars up at the West Lynn. We loved it, we like being able to walk somewhere with no car.”
The living room has hosted parties, rehearsals and Actors Equity gatherings. Photo / Supplied
The couple added a family room and kitchen island. Photo / Supplied
Over time the couple tamed the wilderness of grass into a proper garden, carving it into three distinct areas and adding a swimming pool in 2006.
The previous owner, who left photos of the original house with the couple, had added a top floor to the house, wrapping it in verandahs, and updating wiring and weatherboards.
The first thing the couple did was knock together two small sitting rooms into the generous living room that spans over nine metres long. Now lined with bookshelves, equipped with a piano, the room has been a party room, a rehearsal space, and hosted countless meetings and gatherings.
Beside the kitchen, which they updated, Hurst and Ward-Lealand expanded the family room for quieter family moments. They rearranged the upper floor to fit a third bedroom and second bathroom so that each of their two boys (Cameron was born two years later) had their own room upstairs. Downstairs is a fourth bedroom, another family bathroom, and a second roomy office. Since the boys have left home, Hurst has commandeered the bedroom with the best views of the city.
“I’ve sat up there writing, learning lines. All the books up there are to do with Shakespeare and ancient Greece. I like to be surrounded by books. You’ve got a glimpse of the water, the tree tops.”
The couple also rearranged the kitchen, adding a convivial island for guests.
The hallway is home to memorabilia and the couple's art collection. Photo / Supplied
The upstairs rooms have views of the sea at Coxs Bay. Photo / Supplied
“People have exchanged philosophy over the years, one of us is cooking and everyone gravitates to the island. A lot of conversations have happened there, it’s where we have our ‘befores’ – the pre-dinner food,” Ward-Lealand said.
Later the family converted a part of the garage into a self-contained suite for Ward-Lealand’s overseas-based father and stepmother who would spend four months of the year with them. Since her father died in 2019, the couple continue to share their home with her stepmother.
They wisely added an attic storage area – Ward-Lealand confesses to a vast collection of theatre memorabilia, as well as more books – which the boys loved as a playroom when they were small.
But it was the grand living room which centres the house.
“I rehearsed my whole Marlene Dietrich cabaret there, and quite a bit of Rock Follies. Jackie Clarke and I did quite a bit of the music, we did play readings. I had my 40th birthday at a big long table in there, we’ve had Christmas carols with 50 or 60 people.”
Hurst added he uses the space for rehearsing. “I stomp around learning lines, because it’s a big room and I can move about.
“It’s a little bit of a salon, we’ve got musical friends who can come and we can work things up. We’ve had a lot of fun.”
But with the ample bedrooms and offices, the couple say there are plenty of retreat spots in the house for quiet moments. Both love their front verandah, year-round, protected from the street by the big hedge but always sunny (and useful, in a Victorian laundry-maid way, laughs Ward-Lealand, for drying the washing naturally).
“The hedge is so big, [it’s like] we’re in the middle of nowhere. The whole house feels like it sits in a green bowl,” said Ward-Lealand.
The couple are moving to an apartment, leaving their family house for the next family to enjoy.
" I think we’ll have to do a very special goodbye because, well, that’s the only house our children have ever known and really been filled with so many beautiful memories. “It’s been a well-loved and creative house.”
Ray White agent Angela Saunders, who is bringing the Livingstone Street property to auction on January 31, said that the property, on a large 680sqm site, was a rare find. “It’s a fantastic neighbourhood, with the scope to live in a nice big family home on a generous sunny section. It’s got extra space to grow into, it’s got the studio for extended family or a nanny,” she said. “It’s got loads going for it.”
She would not comment on the likely price for the home, which records show has a CV of $4.1 million.
- 41 Livingstone Street in Westmere, Auckland, will be auctioned on January 31
