Group Architects’ house has been granddaughter’s own home for 15 years

Mid-century Modern houses designed by Group Architects are among the most sought-after properties in the country, so it’s rare to find one for sale.

It’s even rarer to find one your own grandfather helped design, and end up living in it, but that’s what happened to Charlotte Penman.

“My partner and I had sold and had already looked at about 40 houses. We had only agreed on two in Sandringham, which we didn’t end up bidding for. And then my mum got a call from great-aunt Mary who had read about an article about a Group Architects house in Hauraki and the owners had mentioned they might be selling.

“We hadn’t been looking on the shore. I grew up in Devonport, and left there at 18, vowing never to come back. But mum dragged my over there, and we wandered down the long right-of-way driveway – I would never have been brave enough to do this on my own. There was classical music playing; all the doors were open; and it felt like this gorgeous oasis away from the city.

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“Mum knocked on the door. Mary Shanahan opened it and was very friendly and welcoming. She invited us in to look around. Mary and Jim had lived there for 33 years and yes, they were planning to sell.”

The next day, Penman took her partner to see it: “We both fell in love with it straight away, and formed a strong connection with the owners.” It helped that Penman already knew her grandfather Breton (Bret) Penman was one of the Group Architects’ founding members and this was, literally, the second house they designed, in 1950. Her great-grandfather Robert Penman was instrumental in helping fund the group and provided business premises.

The house features in several publications and is on the Auckland Council Historic Heritage Places list (along with the First House, which is next door). There is a photo in the Alexander Turnbull Library of Bret and the rest of the design team on the deck, which you can see here.

The family became the owners and are bringing up three children in the house. “Two of our children were actually born in the house,” Penman says. “And, in a strange coincidence, the midwife delivering them was Mary and Jim’s daughter-in-law.”

Penman says the family has loved the expansive feel of the house, notably the high timber ceilings which bring a “real warmth” to the house. “The pitched roof is almost like a warm hug. And we love the way the light plays in the house, especially in the winter. It’s just wonderful.”

Timber panelling and joinery – another characteristic of Group Architects homes – features extensively, and has been preserved. But the family has redone the kitchen, repositioning it back into its original position along a wall.

Author Julia Gately, in her book Group Architects – Towards a New Zealand Architecture says the house was mostly liked designed to a plan devised by Bill Wilson: “The Second House was similar to the first in several respects: the extensive use of timber, the shallow gabled roof, deep plan, open-plan living, three bedrooms for the ideal nuclear family, exposed rafters, raked ceiling with diagonally laid pine sarking, and plywood wall linings.

“Playing on its likeness to the gabled front and broad open porch of a whare or meeting house, the Group are said to have nicknamed their Second House ‘The Pakeha House’. Beyond the joke, there seems to be a connection to the whare. Wilson’s experience in teaching in a predominately Māori school at Ninety Mile Beach is relevant here. Further friends and family are consistent in recalling his interest and respect for the Māori culture and people. The Group then cited Māori precedents when discussing the first two houses with journalists.”

The land (1287m²) has been an added bonus for the families living there. Penman says the house opens right out to the garden, and they “embraced” their bolthole away from the city, slowing down and letting the kids run loose. “With all the windows and sliding doors, I could keep an eye on them while working in the kitchen.”

She does say the architecture shines when there’s minimal furniture to clutter it up. “It may be best suited a small family or a professional couple who love to work in the garden,” she says.

Either way, it is certain to attract architecture aficionados, and it has the added appeal of being close to several beaches – Takapuna beach is a 10-minute walk away.

The property is listed with Ryan Wolfe of Bayleys Takapuna, who is taking the property to auction on March 23, 2023 to ascertain its true market value. It has an CV of $2.65 million.