- A waterfront property at 49 Hinemoa Street, Birkenhead Point, is back on the market.
- The site includes plans by Nat Cheshire for a home designed to blend with its surroundings.
- The current owners, Toby and Misako, are selling after pausing the build to focus on family.
A waterfront block bought three years ago for a little over $3 million is back on the market after the vendors abandoned their dream of building an architectural wonder there.
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The nearly 2700sqm property at 49 Hinemoa Street, overlooking Auckland’s Little Shoal Bay on Birkenhead Point, comes with plans for a stunning home designed by Nat Cheshire, of Cheshire Architects.
Cheshire, who is best known for his transformation of Auckland’s Britomart precinct and the creation of Waiheke Island’s iconic Tantalus Estate winery, was contacted by the previous owners to replace the old weatherboard home there with something new.
The designer’s renders show a transparent central living space with an enclosed kitchen. Drawing / Supplied
Several hundred thousand dollars have been spent on ground works and engineering. Photo / Supplied
The groundworks for Cheshire’s timber concept were completed, but the previous owners decided to sell up. The property stayed in the market for over a year until a young couple spied an opportunity to finish the project. They bought the site with Cheshire’s plans in 2022 for $3.15m.
However, the couple, Toby and Misako, couldn’t bring Cheshire’s concept to life either, and now they too are selling up.
OneRoof asked Cheshire about the designs and his inspiration. “I couldn’t believe it when I saw it. We wanted to make a house that sits silently on the site like it belonged to the trees,” he said.
“We reduced the envelope of the building to an elemental form, using a timber with a texture like bark.
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“The home had to span the emotional needs of the occupants. At its heart is a very broad, tall, distilled space, which is almost completely transparent and open to the tree canopy. To balance this, we wanted the kitchen to feel like it was a 200-year-old Sicilian farmhouse.”
Toby and Misako said they fell in love with the site when they first saw it three years ago. They had been hunting on and off for three or four years for their next house but were disappointed by what they found. So when they saw Cheshire’s plans, they jumped at the chance to do something different.
Toby said: “Every place we looked at required a major renovation. We thought, this is crazy, we should be building. We came across the site and fell in love with it. I had the vision of being able to take the ferry to work, and we thought the little native forest would be an incredible playground for the kids to grow up in.”
The site has bush and riparian rights to the water. Photo / Supplied
The couple worked with Cheshire to revise his original plans - adding another bedroom, a guest room, and an office - but two years ago, they put the build on hold to focus on their family. A shift across the harbour bridge to be closer to their children’s school means they have had to leave the project on the drawing board.
Toby said: “Some guy walked in off the road and said ‘this is interesting, but if two families haven’t been able to develop this, what’s wrong with it?’ There’s nothing wrong with it, though - it’s circumstantial.”
He added: “Nat does everything so thoroughly. The engineering is substantial, there are several hundred thousand dollars invested in the barrier wall and those piles go down between eight and 12 metres.
“It’s all ready to build. The floor steel is on site and ready to go. It’s all weather-protected.”
The building consent had expired, so buyers would need to apply for a new one, Toby said, adding: "It was going to be stunning. I'd rather see someone build something beautiful and live in it so it gets used.”
Bayleys agent Sonia Dufty, who is marketing the property, said it’s the best property she’s ever seen on the Point. She was not prepared to name the price.
“Hand on heart, 49 Hinemoa is the most glorious position. It’s one of those properties that needs to be seen to be fully appreciated. Every time I walk down that driveway, I hear angels singing - it’s that kind of emotive response. Now it’s time for another family to pick up the torch.”
Cheshire added: “I think the property is one of the great gems of the city.”
- 49 Hinemoa Street, Birkenhead Point, Auckland, is for sale by negotiation
