Owners Noel and Suzanne have lived at their 5.8-hectare Coatesville estate for almost 24 years and call it their “slice of paradise”.
“We’d been looking at lifestyle properties for a while but it was really love at first sight with this one. It’s got real wow factor,” Noel says.
The gracious six-bedroom, four-bathroom residence is located at the end of a tree-lined driveway, positioned on a large platform of flat land at the highest point of the property.
It’s the generous proportions Suzanne loves.
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“When you come through the front door it’s quite palatial, with the marble-style tiled floor, the white walls and the dark carpet going up the stairs. All the rooms are big, there’s not a small room in the house. I come from a large family and I was always cramped in,” she says.
7 Lewis Lane in Coatesville, Rodney, Auckland, is for sale by way of deadline sale, closing October 4, and has a June 2021 RV of $5.05 million. According to OneRoof data, the property last changed hands in 2000 for $1.258m.
Coatesville is considered New Zealand’s most expensive suburb with the OneRoof-Valocity House Value Index for September showing an average property value of $3.475m. It is the playground of the rich and famous, holding the current record of the country’s third most expensive house ever sold at $32.5m for the former Dotcom mansion to the owners of ZURU Toys.
The design of 7 Lewis Lane was inspired by New England architecture, with a portico entrance flanked by rows of windows and classical columns. The pitched gable roof, shingles, and double chimney stacks capture an old-world charm, which is carried through to the home’s traditional footprint.
The home is not open plan, there is a formal dining room and formal lounge, a separate kitchen, family room and dining room. Photo / Supplied
The 5.8-hectare estate has a main house and separate self-contained accommodation, and the homeowner used to zoom around with his daughter on their quad bikes on the river flats. Photo / Supplied
“I really like the designated living areas. I’m not an open-plan person, I like to have separate rooms that you can enjoy for different reasons,” says Suzanne.
“We’ve got a formal dining room, a family room and another formal lounge and dining room at the front of the house. You don’t have to have anybody near your kitchen, you can make a big mess in there when you’re entertaining in the formal area.
“I also like the fact that the house has got a massive amount of storage, which I’ve found in new-builds to be almost non-existent.”
The couple also spent two years undertaking a major renovation, which was finished in 2017.
“It was really just about a total rebuild. We started off putting a portico on because the garaging is a wee way from the house and once we started we didn’t know when to stop,” laughs Suzanne. “We wanted to create something stately, but homely as well.”
Also on the ground floor are the spacious office, possible second office space and two powder rooms. The wide, curved staircase leads upstairs where the supersized master bedroom boasts a European-inspired ensuite, and five more bedrooms are serviced by two family bathrooms.
The inside flows out to the pool and park-like grounds and it’s the extraordinary seclusion that the couple also relish – absolutely no one looks in, which is relatively rare for Coatesville.
“The proximity is the other thing, to be located so close to Albany and yet have such wonderful peace and quiet, tranquillity and privacy,” says Noel.
The homeowners completed a major two-year renovation in 2017. Photo / Supplied
The six-bedroom, four-bathroom residence is located at the end of a tree-lined driveway, positioned on a large platform of flat land at the highest point of the property. Photo / Supplied
“About half of our boundary is the Rangitopuni Stream, so it adds another wonderful dimension when walking around the property. There’s always things changing or happening and in the summertime particularly it seems to attract a lot of birds because there’s Manuka growing around the riverbanks.”
The couple also enjoy visiting the land’s unique “picnic point” and “elves waterfall” that have been created by the stream’s flow.
There is so much space here to roam, explore and enjoy. “That’s probably why we feel we have to downsize after 24 years, it is getting a bit much for us. Someone with kids would really love it, the school bus stops at the end of Lewis Lane,” says Noel.
“When we were younger we used to have quad bikes and our little girl would race us with her little quad down on the river flats – it was just wonderful down there zooming around.”
Listing agent Ailsa McArthur, from Bayleys Coatesville, says that privacy and the land size are two big key drawcards here.
“The size of the main home with all the different living areas is really good and the sleepout is super invaluable. It’s fully kitted and it’s in a separate building, which is nice as it’s private from the main home,” she says.
“It could be land-banking because it’s a massive piece of land in Coatesville. When you’re there, you don’t see anything. You could be anywhere in New Zealand.”
