After buying their inner-city townhouse back in 2013, Mike and Jacqui promptly filled it with friends – to help pay the mortgage, then went on to spend a number of very happy years at the expansive three-storey property.
It was designed by award-winning architect Pete Bossley and includes many attractive features, including a sunken lounge and cleverly split levels. High ceilings imbue a lovely sense of space, and the many windows throughout allow light to flood in.
Mike says that the home was incredibly versatile, lending itself to shared living, with three bathrooms, large bedrooms and a spacious open-plan kitchen, dining and living zone where the flatmates would cook, eat and relax.
A previous separate dining room was converted to a bedroom, making five in total, plus a home office, but apart from that the couple says they didn’t need to make any major changes.
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The deck is huge, and the garden quite literally merges into Harry Dansey Reserve – a green and leafy hidden gem, named after a former city councillor, which is full of native birdlife, yet barely anybody outside of the neighbourhood knows it’s there.
“It was like an extension of our own garden, which was a huge bonus, and we often had it all to ourselves. Sometimes it was hard to believe that we were only steps away from Ponsonby Road with all its shops and cafes – and just a short walk or bike ride to the CBD.”
These days Mike and Jacqui are living a quiet life across the harbour.
The deck is huge, and the garden quite literally merges into Harry Dansey Reserve, a green and leafy hidden gem next door.
50 Anglesea Street has five bedrooms, three bathrooms and a single garage, with a 2021 CV of $2.425m
“We have a couple of little kids now and we really like it over there,” he says, adding that he and Jacqui still miss their Anglesea Street home and the great times they had there.
“We have great memories of dress-up parties and slip-and-slide in the park, in our togs, using a big sheet of plastic and a hose. It was an easy house to live in – we used to use the garage as a games room!”
He says there was always a considerable queue of contenders whenever a room became free. Before putting the home on the market, Mike and Jacqui have given it a spruce-up with new paint and carpet and are very pleased with the result.
The home office has a lush, green outlook.
Big windows and easy indoor-outdoor flow allow a lot of natural light in to the spacious open-plan kitchen, dining and living zone.
50 Anglesea Street in Freemans Bay, Auckland, is on the market for sale by auction on November 6. The five-bedroom, three-bathroom property has a 2021 CV of $2.425 million and, according to OneRoof data, last changed hands in 2013 for $1.175m.
Jerry Chen, from Ray White, says that this is a timeless property which reflects Bossley’s vision and skills as an architect.
“He went on to design Te Papa, and I think you can actually see that the two buildings share some of those typical Bossley elements.
“The fact that this is one of his early homes, from 1980, when he was just starting out, makes it a very special piece of New Zealand architectural history.
“Pete Bossley’s unorthodox personal style and empathy to the natural environment is all on display here.”
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