It was the enormous, lush gardens that first attracted the owners to their extraordinary Mount Eden property nearly 26 years ago and evolving them since has been an ongoing passion project, creative outlet and way to actively relax.
“It’s quite exotic and it’s got really strong bones to it,” one of them shares.
“The garden was originally planted back in the early 20th century. When we bought it, a woman from up north sent the real estate agent some photographs that were taken from the top of Mount Eden around 1918 or 1920.
“You could see this property and the trees that been planted 10 or 15 years beforehand.”
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The property is tucked away from the street and unfolds to offer a colossal 3435sqm of exquisitely landscaped grounds, along with a spacious and elegant, four-bedroom weatherboard family home.
The other owner agrees, “for me it was definitely the garden, because I love gardening, as well as the incredible privacy. Most people come down the driveway and into the house and are stunned by what they find.”
Through the gate, it’s almost impossible to believe that Mount Eden Village’s shops, eateries and transport are just a 10-minute stroll away, and the CBD just 30 minutes’ walk.
The house itself was built around 1910. While it had been renovated over time, the couple undertook their own transformation in 2006, opening up the spaces significantly while retaining elements of its classic character. The beautiful original mouldings are a real feature in the living and dining rooms and during the renovation, more were required.
“A fabulous craftsman made them and had to make the corners by hand,” one of the owners says.
“When he was up on the scaffolding, we joked that it was like being in the Sistine Chapel, Michelangelo bent over backwards making this beautiful, curved plaster go round the corners. The other builders in the house were so gobsmacked, all of them stopped to watch him.”
The house was built around 1910 and the beautiful original mouldings are a real feature in the living and dining rooms.
The 300sqm home sits on 3435sqm of land and has four bedrooms, two bathrooms and garaging for two vehicles.
Masses of gallery-style wall space is filled with their vast art collection, while a profusion of glass brings the outside in.
The lower level incorporates a well-appointed kitchen, a spacious living area and central dining room opening to covered verandas. Two generous bedrooms, a bathroom and a study/rumpus room flow out to the solar heated pool, west-facing deck and barbecue area.
“We swim pretty much through from October to the end of April. We’ve been doing a few winter swims actually, just to see if we can,” she laughs.
“It can get up to 30 degrees but we cap it at 28 so it doesn’t get too hot. Often, I would come home from work at three in the morning and jump straight into the pool,” he adds.
Upstairs, a skylight-lit stairway leads to a separate study or living area, the master suite, another bedroom and the main bathroom, offering ample space for remote work or family relaxing.
As the couple both work extremely long hours, their property has offered beautiful respite and a place to recharge and reset over the years.
“It’s like a park, a real sanctuary, it’s kept us sane,” he says.
Mount Eden’s volcanic soil, ‘liquid gold,’ has meant their fully irrigated gardens have thrived – vege beds, fruit trees and natives planted for the local tui, kereru, kingfishers and piwakwaka.
A landscape designer also suggested they go for a ‘Great Dixter’ look (a famous wild gardener’s garden in England filled with a mix all of all sorts of weird and wonderful varieties) around the house. So it’s filled with perennials and annuals bursting with colour and texture.
A landscape designer suggested they go for a ‘Great Dixter’ look around the house so it’s filled with perennials and annuals bursting with colour and texture.
Thanks to the great big wide verandas and voluminous interior spaces it’s also been a terrific party house so entertaining can be done in all weather.
“We’ve hosted after-funeral gathering and fundraisers, charity events, birthday parties, everything but weddings, although people have asked – that’s something for the next owners,” he says.
“We did a charity garden show once and had 1600 people through in a weekend, all picnicking in various parts of the garden, it was fabulous.”
They say they’ll really miss their beloved family home, the green and the structures of the trees against the night sky, and of course the pool, which is bathed in the scent of fragrant jasmine as it blooms around the outside.
“It’s too big for us now, we’ve got a grandson in London and travel for five to six months of the year. It’s not a lock-and-leave, that’s for sure, but it’s a glorious place for a family,” he says.
Salesperson Louise De Martin, from New Zealand Sotheby’s International Realty, says this is a true legacy property.
“It can be a family home for generations to come. The current family have had it for over 25 years and adored it, now it’s being passed over to its next custodians.
“It’s one of only a handful of properties of this size in Mount Eden and in the triple grammar zone. At nearly 3500sqm it is huge and is pretty much level.
“Essentially the people who purchase this will recognise how unique, special and rare it is to be able to acquire a property of this size and beauty in this location.”
- Sponsored by NZ Sotheby’s International Realty
