When she was house-hunting in Auckland in the 1980s, Julie Sipthorpe came across an unusual house in the suburb of Massey to which she felt an instant connection.
It was love at first sight and she had an immediate gut feeling that she could happily bring up her children there.
“It was the light-filled, optimistic character, the proportions and the gentle spirit of this special house that compelled me,” she says.
“I bought the property at 275 Don Buck Road in 1986 and to this day, I look forward to coming home every day.”
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275 Don Buck Road, Massey has four bedrooms, two bathrooms and a single garage. Photo / Supplied
The modernist house Julie had found was designed by renowned architect Henry Kulka, a Czech-born New Zealander who was a key figure in the development of Raumplan architecture in central Europe between 1919 and 1938.
Raumplan is described as architecture not conceived in plans, but in contiguous, continual spaces.
Julie’s 200sqm house is typical of Kulka’s work in the 1960s: an understated but elegant cubic exterior clad in oil stained weatherboards to blend into nature, with oversized white-rimmed windows to let in the light.
Inside, the central living areas are lined with timbers alongside crisp, white plaster surfaces, and the feeling is warm, gentle and clean.
The house was designed by renowned architect Henry Kulka, a Czech-born New Zealander. Photo / Supplied
There are big living areas with a delicious adjoining sunroom with a wall of floor to ceiling windows drawing in the view.
The kitchen is open and modern with ample glass-fronted cupboards, there are four bedrooms, and a separate living area downstairs with a bedroom, kitchenette and bathroom.
Situated on 1040sqm at the top of the hill, the house looks out over extensive views of the North Shore, right around to the city centre and Ringette Island.
Situated at the top of the hill, the house looks out over extensive views of the North Shore. Photo / Supplied
When Julie first came here the sloping section was underdeveloped with a few struggling fruit trees, a couple of natives, a bottle brush and some camellias out the front.
But over 35 years the garden has gradually been developed and is now terraced into a series of garden rooms and outdoor living spaces and decks.
There are well established fruit trees, magnolias, rhododendrons and a beautiful old kowhai right outside the kitchen window which is visited annually by tui and wood pigeon.
The garden was gradually developed into a series of garden rooms and outdoor living spaces and decks. Photo / Supplied
In spring there is a cacophony of colour with daffodils, freesia and a myriad of perennials for the bees.
“My children were brought up here and it’s a delight to watch my grandchildren look for bugs, chase butterflies, fossick for fruit and climb trees just like my children used to do way back,” Julie says. “And now there are extensive vegetable gardens which provide fresh fruit and vegetables all year round.”
275 Don Buck Road in Massey, Waitakere City, Auckland will be sold at auction on February 24. Shona Jurlina of Bayleys is marketing the property.
