The Ugliest House in Ponsonby?

"The ugliest house in Ponsonby, maybe even Auckland" was how Edward the client described his place over the phone. I was intrigued. Upon arrival I agreed that his description was reasonably accurate. No?

The Ugliest House in Ponsonby

The design process was an interesting one, the property is heritage zoned ( residential 1 ) with height to boundary restrictions unfairly dictating the necessity for a gabled form. An interesting location in the valley of norfolk street with a dozen or so lovely georgian brick row houses lining up to one side and weatherboard villas to the other... with our ugly duckling awkwardly in-between. All very confusing.

We wanted the new kid to hopefully become friends with her two neighbors.

We decided on some classic turn of the century facadism " the architecture is the bit on the front" which our georgian neighbor understands. Raw finished smooth plastered block with deep reveals and steel crittal joinery with a gabled ...elegant?...shed tucked in behind. The idea is for the facade to be covered in ivy so we are hoping she will age well.

Construction of the new house is underway so I am looking forward to seeing it take shape. I hope that its ugliest house in ponsonby title will shift to another address. j.i.

Now why didn't I think of that...

Before and After Shots

Now these are interesting things, my favourites are the ones in the kitchen mags where the before shot almost always looks so much better than the after... Yeah we are going to take away your 1950s solid rimu doors with those the lovely stainless finger pull handles, and the cutting board that slides out from under the benchtop, all still going strong 60 years later. Well we are going to tear that out and throw it all in a skip and replace it with mdf and meltica with a laminate benchtop which will hopefully last up to 10 years. And doesn't it look brilliant!

So heres an attempt from me, a recently completed project. The before shot does appear to pay a slight homage to Robin Morrison which I'd like to think has more to do with my nostalgic car than the house itself.

The after shot, in Ponsonby heritage zone so we have to play along with the rules, had us reinstating the verandah and raising the house a little so we could have a bit of fun downstairs at the back. I will let you be the judge of which is better but the neighbors aren't complaining...this time. j.i.

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