“What this place needs is a coffee bar” was a comment from a potential home buyer when he first visited Ellerslie village.
But that was 40 years ago, and despite the lack of cafes he and his wife bought a character villa nearby and spent four happy decades there.
Back then Ellerslie had its own mayor and the village now has a hall named after him which is well-used by community groups.
It also has more than enough cafes to keep the caffeine-addicted happy, several ethnic restaurants, an organic butcher, and a pie shop at which locals queue for the much-loved vegan pies.
Start your property search
The house the couple bought at 9 Amy Street is just minutes from the vibrant village.
Bayleys agent Claire Hutchinson, who is marketing this property, was just as captivated as they were when she first saw it, and not just because the 1595-square metre section in two titles presented a raft of options for buyers.
“I live locally so I often drove past the house twice a day. I love character homes so I was really excited to see the inside.”
It didn’t disappoint.
The spacious entry is accessed via a front door surrounded by ornate stained glass windows, and opens into a white-painted foyer with high ceilings and polished timber floors.
This wide hallway leads to the living areas – a kitchen with a fireplace, an adjoining large dining/family room with a woodstove surrounded by a bespoke exposed brick chimney and French doors to the garden, and a large formal lounge with a bay window.
There are three bedrooms and a family bathroom, and a charming turret room upstairs with wide views across to One Tree Hill.
North-west facing, the flat site on two titles offers a multitude of design opportunities.
The sought-after location lends itself to options from renovation of the existing house to multi-dwelling development.
The vendors believe the village is hard to beat.
They say there’s a strong sense of community and locals “look out for each other”.
Children are well-catered for with schools, sports clubs, parks and reserves, and the Ellerslie Racecourse and driving range are also part of the town’s fabric.
Ellerslie has a quirky recent history. In 2004 a meteorite crashed through the roof of the home of the Archer family in Ellerslie, landing in the living room.
The home owners heard an explosion and saw dust everywhere, but nobody was hurt. The event received global attention and an American collector offered the family $50,000 for the space rock.
However they turned the offer down and made the meteor available for public display in the Auckland Museum. And more of the area’s history can be found at the pedestrian overbridge that was the location of the opening scene of the New Zealand film Once Were Warriors.
In 2006 it was transformed with a ‘Bridge of Memories’ mosaic storyboard portraying different landmark buildings, houses (past and present), and images from the local schools.
9 & 9A Amy Street in Ellerslie will be sold at auction on July 14.
