Looking at things from a different perspective can upend your ideas, as happened with this superbly renovated Arts and Crafts home on large grounds with harbour views.
Current owners Cornelius and Jo lived in a villa two kilometres away when Cornelius pointed out this property was for sale.
Jo says: “I thought it was too grand, too large ... but one day we were walking around the coastline when Cornelius said, ‘that’s that house, up there’. It’s set one property back from the water but has a right-of-way down to the beach so I cheekily nipped up to the gate at the rear of this property.”
She started reconsidering as she admired the home opening out to the patio and a sparkling swimming pool, so they arranged a viewing.
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“It’s just magical as soon as you step inside, with a lovely calm feeling. The previous owners’ impressive renovation really opened up the layout, making the interior light and bright.”
They moved in with their three young-adult children in 2012.
This splendid 1920s home named Anderleigh was designed by prominent Arts and Crafts architect Gerald Jones. It was built for Alex Harvey, whose business manufacturing churns and tin cans spawned influential NZ industry AHI.
On approach, neatly clipped front greenery and an English-style front garden with manicured lawn and fountain impart a graceful air. The home, which teams brick construction with timber shingles and a steeply pitched roof, is set well back from the road on 1424sqm grounds.
“The previous owners’ impressive renovation really opened up the layout, making the interior light and bright,” one of the homeowner says.
Yachts, cruise ships, the port’s bustle and Auckland Museum’s night lights punctuate the outlook.
Jo says it’s functioned beautifully as a family home, with children lounging around the pool, rollicking parties and Cornelius’s beloved country music often playing.
The previous thorough, luxurious renovation has allowed them to focus on maintenance and smaller improvements, including resurfacing the gas-heated swimming pool and laying astroturf nearby.
There’s a single and a tandem garage plus off-street parking. An attractive front summerhouse’s one-bedroom, one-bathroom layout with kitchenette is ideal for boomeranging children. The front porch provides a view through the house to the harbour.
Jo says: “The house in front of us is low with a flat roof so we get a wonderful outlook. Swooping seagulls tell us exactly where the whitebait is and we can see the navy doing scuba training off inflatables.”
Yachts, cruise ships, the port’s bustle and Auckland Museum’s night lights punctuate their outlook.
The open-plan subtle French provincial chef’s kitchen has a scullery.
The 1920s Arts and Crafts home named Anderleigh sits on 1424sqm and was designed by architect Gerald Jones.
The foyer with original American oak staircase impresses. It showcases marble flooring used on this level along with parquet wooden flooring, all with underfloor central heating. The four ground-floor living areas, one incorporating dining, are warmed by three Oamaru stone fireplaces and are diverse in size, orientation and ambiance.
Jo’s particularly fond of one opening to a front patio, open-plan with the subtly French provincial chef’s kitchen with scullery. The rear of this level, which includes an office, laundry and powder room, opens up to the private rear grounds.
Upstairs, the master with sea views, its own bathroom and two walk-in wardrobes is one of four bedrooms, accompanied by another bathroom. Jo loves soaking up the sun from a lilo in the fenced swimming pool. Just below this is a gazebo with spa pool, vege gardens, a glasshouse and the walkway down to the water’s edge and a jetty.
The couple are moving south to be closer to children and grandchildren.
Bayleys agent Linda Simmons says: “What’s particularly special about this iconic Stanley Point property is the way it’s been opened up, creating a light-filled interior layout still oozing character but more in line with the way we live today.”
- 11 Stanley Point Road, in Stanley Point, North Shore, is for sale by expressions of interest
