Devonport church conversions finally completed after five hard years

Stuff first visited Lesley Harris right at the outset of her incredibly ambitious plan to restore and convert two deconsecrated churches in Devonport, Auckland.

Back in 2017, the plan was just a gleam in her eye – the former St Augustine’s Anglican church in Calliope Rd, which was actually two former churches, already had an Historic Place Category 2 listing, and she had just bought it through a tender for $1.32 million.

Since then, much of the village has followed her progress, as she completed, first the rear church, because it was in danger of falling down, and then worked on the brick one at front. Both buildings, which can be bought together or separately, have been listed just one week and have already had 6700 Trade Me views.

“My agent, Kara Barnston of Unlimited Potential, said she has never seen anything like it,” Harris says. “It has gone ballistic. People are so fascinated, and always have been by this sort of thing.

“It is very unusual, and I do think I have done a bloody good job. I did say [years ago] that I had never seen a good church conversion, and I wanted to be the first.

“Everyone has a story to tell about the building. And I have had huge support from the community, because it was always about doing the right thing by the building. I always said, ‘you work with the heritage first’.”

Now, Harris, and her husband Wayne Kelly, have finally finished everything they want to do, she says it’s time for a change. “It has been exhausting,” she admits. “We’ve had some very tough times in the past couple of years, and I feel I have five years of fighting for the buildings, dealing with council. But we got there in the end, and we have saved an incredibly important heritage-listed building.”

However, Harris, media director of First Home Buyers Club, has another adventure planned, building ultra high-end, rammed-earth, European-style spec houses. And following that, she would love to do more “heavy repurposing”. She has the track record and skill set to do both, having the ability to “navigate and be resilient”.

In the meantime, however, there are two former churches claiming attention. Harris has gained resource consent for subdivision and is just waiting the final sign-off, should buyers wish to purchase separately.

Both homes have generated more than $120,000 in Airbnb fees since completion.

The rear church has been completely converted into a house, with a designer kitchen and an upper-level bedroom commanding a view across the entire harbour.

The double-skinned brick church building in front has been left as a large, open-plan living space, so the exposed rafters and high rose windows can be appreciated. There are two bedrooms and a study, or it could accommodate four bedrooms and two bathrooms.

Harris has used it as a home, gallery and design studio. “We lived in it as a huge open space, because I didn’t want to close it off, which might not have been what someone else would want to do,” she says.

Key restoration work included bell tower strengthening, and the replacement of every window in the front building, including leadlights – replacing like for like. The front church building also has its original rose window, beautiful exposed trusses and native timber floors. And Harris admits they doubled their huge budget on both buildings.

And then there were the special moments, including Harris and Kelly’s wedding in the church. There were discoveries, also, which included finding a piece of wood with the signatures of the original builders, and managing to track down the family members.

Harris says there were a couple of plaques in the churchyard, one for a baby that had died. “We managed to find the mother in Canberra and were able to get the plaque back to her.”

Kara Barnston of Unlimited Potential has listed the property at 95A Calliope Road, Devonport for sale with a deadline of July 19, 2021.