Houzz Tour: Historic House Updated for More Efficiency and Light
A New Zealand family’s compact Auckland home is stripped back, reorganized and expanded
When people describe the “before” of their house renovation, they often pick apart the work done — or not done — by the previous owners. But when Auckland, New Zealand, architect Chris Holmes of CAAHT Studio Architects was called in to restore a historic home in the city’s Herne Bay neighborhood, the owners had had the house for more than 20 years.
For most of that time, they had rented it out while they were overseas, so they were ready to give it some serious love when they returned. To Holmes’ delight, the couple didn’t want a “fashionable look of the season,” but something enduring, with what they called a “solid aesthetic.” The result is warm and compact and exactly suited to the family’s creative lifestyle.
For most of that time, they had rented it out while they were overseas, so they were ready to give it some serious love when they returned. To Holmes’ delight, the couple didn’t want a “fashionable look of the season,” but something enduring, with what they called a “solid aesthetic.” The result is warm and compact and exactly suited to the family’s creative lifestyle.
BEFORE: Inside, however, Holmes had carte blanche. The house had been remodeled sometime in the 1980s, when pretty much all of its original features had been stripped out. The traditional four rooms and hallway layout had been rearranged with angled walls, odd loft spaces and a confusing flow of rooms, as seen here.
AFTER: Holmes played with several ways of reorganizing the space, but he kept returning to the classic Victorian configuration of a central hallway with rooms on either side, shown here.
“It’s hard to beat that for efficiency,” Holmes says. “But we could play a little, adding quirky features like the hallway tapering upward to meet the volume of the rear addition, to make a subtle transition.”
“It’s hard to beat that for efficiency,” Holmes says. “But we could play a little, adding quirky features like the hallway tapering upward to meet the volume of the rear addition, to make a subtle transition.”
The back of the home faces west, ideal for afternoons, but it was overlooked by neighbors on the sunny northern side. Holmes decided to add only a small window on the living room side, but put in a generous skylight to direct the sun into the new addition. He calls the skylight “a moment of surprise.”
The house is simply arranged, in two boxes: the original home and the new shallow-gabled section. Holmes pinched the point where the two meet to signal a break between old and new, and dropped the ceiling so you can see the geometry of the old house. The home was stripped back to its fragile bones to add modern framing, insulation and finishes.
At either side of the pinch, he inserted slim side windows, which provide cross-ventilation as well as an interesting play of light. The owners wanted solid walls for both privacy and to create places to hang their art, so Holmes says finding the circular domed skylight from Adlux was the “aha” moment for how to interrupt the raftered ceiling to bring in light.
The geometry also changes to raked ceilings of stained wood, in contrast with the painted finishes in the old house. The owners, who collaborated closely with Holmes throughout the process, favored timeless wood and concrete in their palette. The old floors weren’t sound enough to keep, so new oak was installed. For the kitchen island, after a lot of discussion, the owners settled on a copper plinth with an aged patina under a hand-troweled concrete countertop with waterfall edge.
With nothing from the old house retained, Holmes and the owners had a lot of discussion about which material would bring warmth to the crisp white throughout the house. The solution was Futura from Plytech, a European birch plywood overlaid with high-pressure laminate.
With nothing from the old house retained, Holmes and the owners had a lot of discussion about which material would bring warmth to the crisp white throughout the house. The solution was Futura from Plytech, a European birch plywood overlaid with high-pressure laminate.
Holmes likes to design all the woodwork to ensure it’s integrated throughout the house. The owners were keen to hide the clutter of domesticity, so a wall of cabinets conceals appliances, the pantry and more.
There were hours of debate about whether to include a dining table, but in the end everyone preferred a large island counter, uninterrupted by a sink or cooktop. It was one of the riskier calls for the house, but friends love it, and it easily seats eight people for dinner parties.
The working counter is brushed stainless steel and all the cabinets have soft-close Blum fittings, with LED lighting on the cabinet tops to provide elegant ambient lighting. The owners found the pendant lights in a vintage shop in Sydney and had them refurbished.
There were hours of debate about whether to include a dining table, but in the end everyone preferred a large island counter, uninterrupted by a sink or cooktop. It was one of the riskier calls for the house, but friends love it, and it easily seats eight people for dinner parties.
The working counter is brushed stainless steel and all the cabinets have soft-close Blum fittings, with LED lighting on the cabinet tops to provide elegant ambient lighting. The owners found the pendant lights in a vintage shop in Sydney and had them refurbished.
The kitchen and living room open to a new back deck, which frames and controls views to the garden. The south side is sheltered from the neighbors by a slatted wall, and a retractable awning provides shelter from the elements. With their new connection to the backyard, the owners have delighted in landscaping it, with the help of landscape architect Xanthe White.
The home’s cabinetmaker, Haute Design, has a boat-building background and was used to super-precise specifications. The study behind the living room can be closed off by a slim pocket door, so that if one of the owners is working in the evening they can keep a casual connection with people in the kitchen and living room.
More pocket doors open the study to the hallway, on the same level as the original house.
The woodwork in the floating cabinetry is immaculately detailed.
The owners wanted the house to be as efficient as an apartment, so they were happy to have just two bedrooms. The master bedroom at the front of the house has been pared back to a wall of storage and a bed. It’s the only room that was retained from the original floor plan.
Holmes and the owners wanted to honor the only surviving vestige of the old house, a brick fireplace. Now lined with glass shelves, it’s a quirky reminder of the home’s working-class roots. A solar tube skylight above the shower floods the compact en suite bathroom with light.
The fireplace is visible to passersby in the hallway.
The son’s bedroom is in a reinstated room off the veranda. Holmes opted for clean-lined trims for a modern feel.
In the second bathroom, another solar tube brings in light, while a wall of storage hides a compact laundry area.
The garden design features a series of layered spaces, using the natural slope of the land. Curving beds of low-maintenance plants, ground covers and a rock garden make the space appear much deeper. The owners retained the original shed for storage and as additional screening from the neighbors. The garden, an enticing oasis, is visible as soon as you enter the home.
Builder: James Watt, Watt Building
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Builder: James Watt, Watt Building
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Houzz at a Glance
Who lives here: A creative couple and their teenage son
Location: Auckland, New Zealand
Size: About 970 square feet (90 square meters); two bedrooms, two bathrooms and an office
Architect: Chris Holmes of CAAHT Studio Architects
The front of the home — more modest than many in the neighborhood — was left as close as possible to the original, in keeping with strict historic zoning rules.