The current occupant and her siblings inherited this beautifully preserved 1920s home, on a 1120sqm north-west facing site, following the death of their parents and she vividly remembers moving in, in the mid-1950s, when she was in her teens.
“We were only the second owners and it’s stayed in our family ever since,” she says.
12 Lucerne Road in Remuera, Auckland City, is on the market for sale at auction on August 17. The four-bedroom, three-bathroom property has a rating valuation of $4.15 million and no record of when it last sold and for how much.
Trent Colyer from Ray White, Remuera is marketing the property, with colleague Steve Garcia.
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He says there’s always a huge ripple of excitement when a home of this quality comes up for sale after such a long time in the same hands, and 12 Lucerne Road in Remuera is proving no exception.
“I’ve seen how it’s brought out the emotion in people who have viewed it and I think that’s because it’s so rare to find such a lovely, simple and wonderfully original canvas to draw on,” he says.
When the house was built more than 100 years ago, much of the surrounding neighbourhood was fields and farms and other similarly handsome homes stood proud on enormous sections, many of which have been divided over the years since, as Remuera’s popularity has grown.
The four-bedroom, three-bathroom home has an RV of $4.15m and no record of how much it last sold for in the mid-1950s. Photo / Supplied
The current occupant says there was a pair of spinster sisters next door and another neighbour owned Milne and Choyce department store. He and her father used to have competitions to see who could grow the biggest tomato.
“Dad was quite a handyman, and did what he did very well. He removed quite a lot of the arts and crafts-style panelling in the hallway because it was very dark, and he sanded the woodwork he was retaining down to bare boards and French-polished it himself,” she says.
She says her father also stripped the exterior weatherboards right back and made such a good job that his paintwork lasted for decades.
The 1950s kitchen is large, crisp and very much in the style of its day, complete with Formica bench and linoleum tabletop. Warm, easy-care cork tile floorboards were added later. There’s a huge formal lounge adjacent, next to the formal dining room and elsewhere on the ground level is a separate laundry, home office, bathroom and powder room, along with a double bedroom and a hobby room – plus a conservatory.
Many of the original characters have been maintained over the past 100 years like the fireplace in the living room. Photo / Supplied
12 Lucerne Road was built in the 1920s when Remuera was just farmland and has so far only had owners. Photo / Supplied
The owner says that the carpet has been renewed in recent years and the wallpapers have changed.
“I still remember one wallpaper we used to have in the dining room. The pattern was bowls of fruit and it almost glowed. I really loved it,” she says.
The second storey is home to three further bedrooms and a boxroom which was originally for a maid, then along with the family bathroom is a lovely, bright sunroom. Many original, character leadlight windows, 1920s light fittings and fireplaces have been retained throughout the house.
The owner knows it’s highly likely that purchasers will renovate it extensively, bringing it into the 21st century but she’s philosophical about that and accepts it’s time for change.
