A striking home designed by one of New Zealand's leading architects has hit the market for sale.
The four-bedroom property at 44 Mainston Road, in Remuera, is known as the Fire Pitt House but the listing agent has dubbed it the All Black House - and not just because of its prop-like shape and colour.
Ray White's Ross Hawkins said the local rugby fields can be accessed directly from the back gate. More notable is the fact the property attracted attention from an ex-All Black the last time it hit the market.
Hawkins, who sold the property to the current owners 11 years ago, told OneRoof it was an impressive home designed by Auckland-based architect Chris Tate.
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It was one of the first residential builds to use the Symonite cladding system, which is a powder-coated aluminium that is used on a lot of commercial buildings around Auckland.
Hawkins said it’s something Tate and other architects were now commonly using in their designs because it gave a modern slick black look while being low maintenance.
The home’s unique features include a sunken fire pit in the deck and a 13.5m infinity pool jammed hard against the boundary. A central atrium contains the stairwell allowing natural light to shine in from the domed skylight.
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“It’s quite a clever design for the site in that it’s not a large site, but it managed to create a lot of living space with the indoor-outdoor connection.”
The home overlooks College Rifles Park and its astroturf fields can be accessed from a gate at the back of the property.
“The kids can just open the gate and go through and kick a ball around. If they want to become Dan Carter that’s a great place to do it.”
The bi-folding frameless glass at the northern end of the lounge helps the home flow seamlessly from inside to out. Photo / Supplied
The sunken firepit in the deck is a unique feature of the home. Photo / Supplied
Hawkins said it was low maintenance making it a great lock-and-leave property. The neighbouring rugby fields also meant there was plenty of play area for the kids.
He said among those interested in the property last time around was Kirwan, who went on to use the same architect for future builds.
“John Kirwan almost purchased it, but he managed to purchase a site in Mission Bay and grabbed Chris Tate and took him to Mission Bay to design his house down there.”
The property is now back on the market because the owners are moving to Westmere, he said.
The home last changed hands in 2012 for $1.26 million, OneRoof records show, and has a current RV of $2.125m.
Tate is well known for pushing boundaries to create unique designs.
His work is favoured by Kirwan who became good friends with him when he built his impressive white home, which has a floating appearance, just over 10 years ago. The property was put on the market last year with Kirwan telling OneRoof at the time that he loved the design and how it made the most of the sea views.
More recently Tate was also involved in the design of Kirwan’s Waihi Beach bach, which featured in Choice TV show The Bach That JK Built in 2021.
The triangular ‘tent house’ that Tate designed for himself to go on a small bush site on Waiheke Island has won several awards including being shortlisted for a prize in Berlin’s World Architecture Festival 2017.
- 44 Mainston Road, in Remuera, Auckland, goes to auction on November 15
