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WHO LIVES THERE? 28
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At Auckland’s Takapuna beach, Pam Neville finds the answer to a frequently asked question P H O T O G R A P H S : P AT R I C K R E Y N O L D S NZ H&G
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I
t sits demurely enough behind solid plastered walls but you can’t fail to notice this big modern house. Size and style make it stand out but mostly it is its perfect position that grabs the attention – just far enough past the sandy sweep of Takapuna beach to avoid the madding crowds but so close that the sea laps the front lawn. Wandering beyond the beach in search of an ice cream, driving around looking for a park, rock-walking along the foreshore, swimming or sailing gently northwards – there are tantalising glimpses of the house from several angles. It’s perfectly natural (well, we at NZ House & Garden think so) to wonder who lives there. Once inside those garden walls, through doors of thick timber salvaged from the old Matiatia Wharf at Waiheke Island, the house is extremely private. The place is designed to discourage sightseeing.
T H E S E PA G E S :
The mission bell and the tower, the plaster, the porticos, flagstones, tiles and heavy timber all add to the Spanish Mission feel. But the Rows are not claiming complete authenticity.
P R E V I O U S PA G E S :
The mission bell and the tower, the plaster, the porticos, flagstones, tiles and heavy timber all add to the Spanish Mission feel. But the Rows are not claiming complete authenticity.
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The mission bell and the tower, the plaster, the porticos, flagstones, tiles and heavy timber all add to the Spanish Mission feel. But the Rows are not claiming complete authenticity. The mission bell and the tower, the plaster, the porticos,
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The mission bell and the tower, the plaster, the porticos, flagstones, tiles and heavy timber all add to the Spanish Mission feel. But the Rows are not claiming complete authenticity. The mission bell and the tower, the plaster, the porticos, flagstones, tiles and heavy timber all add to the Spanish Mission feel. But the Rows are not claiming complete authenticity.
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But Joan Row can understand people wanting to know more about her house. In fact she herself had her eye on it for nearly two years before finally buying it. Dennis Row brought his American wife and California-born children “home” four years ago. He’d gone to Berkeley University to complete a PhD in engineering and ended up staying for a career in computer software. “I was there for twenty-seven years and I’d been threatening to come back for the last twenty of them,” he says. The Rows landed on the North Shore, where Dennis’ 92-year-old father still lives, and noticed this house being built. It was completed, sold to new owners and then – a year later – it came on the market again. It seemed made-to-measure for San Franciscans-turned-Aucklanders.
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The mission bell and the tower, the plaster, the porticos, flagstones, tiles and heavy timber all add to the Spanish Mission feel. But the Rows are not claiming complete authenticity. The mission bell and the tower, the plaster, the porticos, flagstones, tiles and heavy timber all add to the Spanish Mission feel. But the Rows are not claiming complete authenticity.
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It is a large Spanish Mission-style family home, not dissimilar to some of the houses along the California coast, with a water frontage, a pool, a giant wine cellar and work-from-home space for Dennis who is now in venture capital. The mission bell and the tower, the plaster, porticos, flagstones, tiles and heavy timber all add to the Spanish Mission feel. But the Rows are not claiming complete authenticity. Joan wonders if Mediterranean might be a better description while Dennis suggests “a bit of old Spanish Mission with a bit of Miami Vice”. Anyway, says Joan, “It’s as close to Californian as you can get down here.” The house is on three levels and covers more than 500 square metres. The lower level
provides office and gymnasium space opening to the pool and a giant wine cellar. The ground floor houses the living, cooking and eating areas and opens to a partiallycovered balcony. Upstairs are four bedrooms including a master suite that opens to three separate balconies. Craftsmanship is the hallmark of the house. Furniture maker Tony Parker, whose company Tree Essence is based on Waiheke Island, designed and made most of the joinery and freestanding cabinetry using recycled timber. A kitchen bench of oak has the scrapes and scratches of long use (albeit recently applied), kauri wall racks hold plates and appliances are hidden behind timber doors with distressed paintwork.
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The mission bell and the tower, the plaster, the porticos, flagstones, tiles and heavy timber all add to the Spanish Mission feel. But the Rows are not claiming complete authenticity. The mission bell and the tower, the plaster, the porticos, flagstones, tiles and heavy timber all add to the Spanish Mission feel. But the Rows are not claiming complete authenticity.
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Tony added zinc panels to some of the cabinetry, wrought iron in others and Pacific touches such as tuatua shells as drawer knobs in bathroom joinery. The moulded plaster fireplace was designed and made by Gavin Riversmith of Ruby Fireplaces. Flagstones on the floor are hand cut. The hand-plastered stairs are inset with tiles. The wrought iron balustrade is echoed in other metal decorative features including the iron chandelier over the dining table which came with the family from California. The furniture Joan and Dennis brought from their San Francisco country club home fits perfectly – the armoire and the Appalachian hickory dining chairs, the wrought iron bedstead, even the purple chairs “from another era of our lives”. Outdoors, several courtyard-style spaces feature shell paths, palms, renga renga
and canna lilies, all within the protective plaster walls. The brick paving around the swimming pool leads to grass that stretches right to the water’s edge. The 1000 square metre section contains a house large by New Zealand standards but the feeling is of a family home. The openplan living space, visually divided by square plastered pillars reaching to dark timber beams, is cosy rather than cavernous. There is a casual atmosphere, a feeling that you can go bare-foot all year in this house. The Row family, including Ivy, fifteen, Andrew, twelve, and Trixy the United Statesborn australian terrier, are as happy as holidaymakers in their permanent beach lifestyle with the city pleasures of Takapuna just along the road. “It’s like being on vacation all the time,” says Joan. “You guys have got it all down here.”