An architect and his family were drawn to the sought-after location that’s known as ‘the Golden Mile’ between Takapuna and Milford, knowing they could transform the existing home there into somewhere special.
Architect Uche of Uche + Associates, his wife Patricia and two sons bought a somewhat tired ‘70s home here eight years ago, eventually reinventing 246C Hurstmere Road, Takapuna into the polished contemporary home it is today.
“We loved the location, very near Lake Pupuke and only a couple of minutes’ walk to the beach and to all the restaurants and shops in Takapuna. And it was in good school zones for our boys,” Uche says.
The family had moved up from Wellington about a decade ago, initially renting in Takapuna near this property while mulling over how much more expensive Auckland prices were.
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“We were thinking, ‘we’ll never be able to buy into this neighbourhood’.”
But then they found this well-located home with good bones but a lot of things they knew they could improve on.
“It had high cathedral ceilings which we liked but wasn’t insulated, was quite rundown and the floor plan was wrong. We lived in it for a couple of years before moving out while we did a really major job on it.”
This included insulating and re-lining the weatherboard and brick home, replacing all the windows and doors with double-glazed joinery and installing water-powered radiators.
The home has angles on two sides of it and they re-arranged internal walls for better flow and use of space to complement these.
They put in a new kitchen and new bathrooms and replaced upstairs’ westerly deck with a much larger one. They re-landscaped the grounds favouring the sub-tropical plants Patricia loves.
“Nowadays it feels very light, open and contemporary with a good sense of connection to the garden,” Uche says.
“In summer we’ll often swim every evening seeing the beach is just a couple of hundred metres away.”
The address is zoned for Takapuna Primary, Takapuna Normal Intermediate, Takapuna Grammar and Westlake Girls’ and Boys.
The two-storey home is set back from the road up a driveway and has an auto-gate securing rear open-air parking for two cars. Downstairs are two bedrooms, a smart bathroom, separate laundry and a second living area-office with polished concrete flooring.
This flows out to a deck alongside lawn and sub-tropical gardens.
Upstairs, oak floors now grace the living-dining-kitchen with quartzite benchtop and soaring ceiling above the dining area. This opens up widely to the big westerly deck overlooking the landscaped grounds, which is a great place to sit with friends.
Another smartly renovated bathroom services this floor where you’ll also find the master bedroom with walk-in-wardrobe.
The couple say they love this renovated home but couldn’t resist the opportunity to build anew when it arose, so they’re moving on.
Harcourts agent Chris Reade says, “This fully architecturally re-modelled home with lock-up-and-leave appeal, so close to the beach, cafes, shopping and the lake, is bound to be popular.”
246C Hurstmere Road, Takapuna will be sold at auction on July 22.
- Article sponsored by Harcourts
