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It took just three steps inside before the owner of this 70s-built, Titirangi home knew she had to live there.
“Burnt out and exhausted”, Lauren* had been looking for a haven, and says that’s what she felt as soon as she stepped inside Ian Burrow-designed home.
“I’d been looking for something special, this definitely ticked all the boxes,” Lauren says. “It was like an instant retreat, a peaceful sanctuary, buried in the bush.”
That was three years ago, just as the pandemic was peaking. Now, sadly, her circumstances have changed, and she must “reluctantly” put the home on the market.
The thing she will miss the most is waking up in the morning to “absolutely stunning birdsong”.
Ray White/Supplied
This home on Atkinson Road in Titirangi, Waitakere City, is seeking a new owner.
“You literally look out and there’s a kauri tree in the garden. There’s kererū in the trees and it’s just really beautiful. It’s my dream. I travel a lot, internationally and domestically, so it’s always just a sanctuary to come home to.”
Surrounded by more than 1000m² of old-growth native bush, the home looks like a collection of interconnected turrets rather than a single house. The turret style was a signature feature of architect Ian Burrow’s unique designs. He is perhaps best known for the so called “Noddy” house on Auckland’s North Shore, which came up for auction last year.
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The entrance way is classic 70s chic, with heated, tiled floors, exposed beams and minimal fuss.
The kitchen and bathroom has been sensitively renovated before Lauren moved in. A focal point of the home, visitors step down from the entranceway into the kitchen/diner on their way to the living room. The diner has a pair of french doors that open onto a decking area, which lets light pour into the galley style kitchen.
“For me that kitchen is just a dream. It’s so beautifully designed. It’s so functional. It’s modern. It’s amazing. This house is so liveable and easy.
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The kitchen is the heart of the house, connecting the entrance way to the living room.
“The house is brilliantly designed. You step down into it. There’s a level, and then you go down into the lounge and then there’s a huge deck that’s surrounded by the bush.”
There’s a “lovely” round window, another signature of the times, favoured by Burrow, and contemporaries like Roger Walker and Sir Ian Athfield.
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The kitchen flows into the dining area, which opens onto its own decking area.
“It’s the most relaxing thing in the world to just lie here and stare out at it.”
There’s a bedroom near the entrance way, that could also be a study or second living room. Then two more bedrooms upstairs, accessed via a spiral staircase, like a mediaeval castle. The castle feeling is accentuated by the concrete block construction and (heated) tile floors. Space for an office or storage room is above the separate garage in front of the house.
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The living room features one of Burrow’s signature round windows.
“There’s a thing that happens people walk in the door and the house is very calming.”
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The living room opwns onto the green of a bush-surrounded deck.
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The master bedroom has cathedral ceilings and lost of space. The home has a further two bedrooms.
“It’s a really beautiful little community out here. Everybody takes such great care of each other. The neighbours are close, but you’re not in each other’s faces.”
The home will go up for auction , on August 9, at 4pm unless sold prior. The listing is with Charlotte Inglis and Lynn Lacu-Hauck for Ray White Titirangi.
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The bathroom was sensitively updated, keeping the period feel, while adding all the modern comforts.
Burrow’s homes seldom come on the market and when they do, it’s with some fanfare.
In 2017, his iconic Teardrop home on the waterfront came on the market with a 2014 RV of $1,625,000. A much larger home than the property in Titirangi, with ocean views and a pool, The agent expected it to fetch more than $2 million then.
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Burrow’s designs, like this one in Browns’ Bay, are always unique.
In 2018, two Burrow designed homes came on the market in Browns Bay and Orewa, with an RV of $1.39m and a CV of $2m respectively. Burrow’s remarkable hexagonal “Treehouse” house in Castor Bay came on the market in 2023. The five bed home, comprised of a series of hexagonal, interlinked pods, sold for $2,139,000.
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Ian Burrow’s “Treehouse”, made from Hexagonal pods.
Homes.co.nz estimates the property to sell for between $1.01m and $1.06m. The median for the area is about $1.14m. Over on Norman Rd, a three bed new build sitting on 458m² is on the market seeking offers over $1.1m.
Lauren can’t imagine who will live here next, but she knows it will be someone like her, who loves the period and style of the house.
Ray White/Supplied
The home at 153 Atkinson Road Titirangi, Waitakere City, goes to auction on August 9, at 4pmunless sold prior.
“It’s a very, very special house. I know probably everybody tells you that, but it is. I’m quite a spiritual person, and energy person,” says Lauren.
“I took three steps in, and I was like, ‘this is it’. And I think that’s what will happen to the buyer. They’ll know straightaway. And I’m so excited for whoever gets to have that.”
*Lauren asked that her last name not be use in this story, to maintain her privacy.
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