An innovative home and income on a sunny, tree-filled site

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14 August 2022

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4 min read

This new build for a semi-retired couple embraces its Wellington seaside location.

The new owners of this leafy corner site in Wellington’s Eastbourne were keen to unlock some income potential as part of the build of their new home. Gerald Parsonson of Parsonson Architects says it would have been easy to pop in a couple of units side by side, but he had a better idea.

“We looked at the site, the trees and the way it was all laid out,” he says. “We thought if we located the main house down below, we could place a unit on the southwest corner and it would get all-day sun and lovely views of the harbour. We also popped up the bedrooms of the main house in the northwest corner, to get a view up to the hills beyond.”

Gerald says issues to deal with included privacy and complying with fire regulations for the two dwellings. “But it felt nice to do it this way rather than to do conjoined townhouses; otherwise that way one side never gets any light. It was a little more complicated but it has a lot of benefits. It has ended up as a really sunny studio, and the separated forms break down the size of the structure.”

That design also meant that most of the mature trees on the site could be saved including cabbage trees, totara and pōhutukawa. They make the property feel established and embedded in its Eastbourne surroundings. “This used to be mainly holiday houses for Wellingtonians,” says Gerald. “Now as a suburb, it’s really low-key. There are some beautiful bush-covered hill sites with lovely views, and a large plateau towards the sea.”

The home and income in Wellington’s Eastbourne designed by Gerald Parsonson of Parsonson Architects. Gerald says the clients were wonderful to work with. “We had a really good dialogue going.”

The boardwalk approach to the main front door passes underneath the upstairs apartment. There is a courtyard next to the front door. “As you walk down the restrained boardwalk, there is a sense of release as you get to the courtyard and go in the front door,” says Gerald.

The property is only a block back from the water, and the homeowners had been keeping an eye out for a suitable spot for a while.

“They were trying to find something in the area where they could build something from scratch. They lived close by in quite a large house at the foot of the hills and wanted something a bit smaller and with the potential for a home and income. They’d been watching for years and when the site came up they thought it was perfect.”

Gerald says there was an old neglected house here. “It was built in the early 1900s. It was just left, and was totally overgrown with trees hanging over the house. That was relocated.”

The new house follows the sun. Gerald says that was especially important to one of the new homeowners who tracks it around the house. “By facing the main living area north we could get the sun coming in, and we put a window seat there so they could sit in the window.”

Another aspect of the brief was a second living space. Next to the lounge area is a TV/den space with sliding doors. “So you can close it up and listen to music or watch something. But most of the time that's all open so there is that flexibility.”

In a space next to the kitchen there is capability to add a lift to the house if required in later years. Gerald says lifts are becoming more popular. “Particularly in Wellington, we often have quite steep sites. So that adds quite a bit of value for people.”

The built-in window seat is one of many options in the house for a sunny spot to sit. Sturdy timber shelving adds weight to the room, and the clients helped choose the mid-century furnishings.

The blue doors slide away to open the den to the lounge. “That flexible room was quite important, a room that they could close down to watch TV or be part of the living main living space.” The house also has a study/workroom.

An existing pōhutukawa tree is on the corner of the property. “The master bedroom looks through the pōhutukawa tree out to the street, which is quite pretty.”

“The house has a relationship to the beach. There are a lot of decks, there's an outdoor shower and you can walk straight into the bathroom from the outside.”

Colour plays a strong part in connecting the house to both bush and beach. “There are bush-clad hills in the background and we wanted to relate to that so we’ve got dark cladding which runs vertically.”

The pale blue exterior accent colour was the client’s choice. “It was green initially to relate to the hills,” says Gerald. “It was definitely a collaboration. We put up a few different colours and settled on this blue. They were quite open to really bright colour so we've used it on the gates and the letterboxes, just little splashes of colour going through.”

That goes for the interior, too. “We wanted natural materials, something that had the feeling of a cabin and not just a suburban house. The floors are a stained timber to get a rich, dark feel and the clients really liked the idea of using plywood offset with simple colours. The exterior blue we took inside onto different surfaces, and the indents in the cupboards and the interior joinery have got colour going on. But overall it’s quite calm with off-white and plywood. It's quite casual and relaxed. And that was the intent.”

“We used the battens on the stairwell wall to run the handrail through small circular cutouts. The idea just popped out of my head at one point. It can be tricky to know how to do your brackets for the handrails.”

The upstairs one-bedroom apartment shares its design style with the main house. There are glimpses of sea view from the kitchen sink.

With its water views and pops of colour, the rental apartment is always popular, says Gerald. “It’s like a little retreat up there.”

A cosy house was part of the brief. “It can get windy in Wellington so it was about having places to be in the sun and being able to close up one side and open up to another. It's a really warm house. It's very well insulated.”

Discover more projects by Parsonson Architects.