We have the pleasure of marketing this exquisite 1910s spacious semi-detached 240sqm home occupies a prime city fringe location, within a short stroll to the CBD. This historic corner site property dates to 1915 and has been significantly modernised to offer the current home and office configuration.

Completed in 1915 - this historic enjoys a very interesting background and has witnessed significant changes throughout Thorndon, Wellington.

History of 194 Tinakori Road - written by Malcolm Fleming July 2017

The history of 194 Tinakori Road (194) is that the building and the attached 196 Tinakori Road (196) were designed by Architect, William Fielding, who has designed several well-known Wellington CBD buildings, including: The Evening Post building in Willis Street, Trades Hall in Cuba Street, and Plumbers Building in Wakefield Street.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/William_Fielding_(architect)

The Tinakori Road commission was to build a shop, offices and cool store (194), and a residence (196) for Bodley & Sons. Upon completion in 1915, Bodley & Sons ran their diary and milk delivery business from 194, with horses and carts located in the rear stables (now 3 Poplar Grove). To my knowledge, milk was delivered to houses from Wadestown in the north, to Karori in the south.

I purchased 194 Tinakori Road and 196 Tinakori Road in 1998 in partnership with Architect, Ralph Roberts and our respective wives. At the time 194 was one of three buildings that were spread across two Titles. 194 (the building) was split vertically into two flats, while 196 (the building) was split horizontally into two flats. At the rear of the two Lots was the old Stables that rather inconveniently straddled the 194 and 196 Titles.

Ralph designed the conversion of the rear Stables to a single townhouse, and in the process, we converted the two Titles into three Titles. The Stables was sold in 2001, with Ralph and Julia Roberts then purchasing 196 from the partnership, while I purchased 194 with Architect (now wife), Gina Jones. The ownership of the two buildings has remained unchanged since 2001.

Gina designed the conversion of 194 from a two-flat property into a home and business configuration, a process that included a full re-wiring and re-plumbing of the building, along with the removal of the clay tile roof and brick chimney. Upstairs became a two-bedroom apartment, while the ground floor became garaging and a three- bedroom office for our business, Accent Architects.  

The building’s colour scheme won a New Zealand Institute of Architects (NZIA) Award in 2002. That same year, we acquired a Resource Consent for Accent Architects to operate a small staff out of the bottom of 194, and found that the building’s high visibility and unique appearance was very beneficial.  

Architects had outgrown 194 and we relocated the business to the Woolstore Design Centre for six years, followed by an office on The Terrace for three years. In 2015, I moved out of the business and Gina made the decision to downsize the practice. The result was that we ended up going full-circle with Accent Architects once again back at 194.

This year, Gina has moved into a project management role, and is sharing premises with two other construction consultants in Victoria Street. With no need for 194 to provide an office, and my son now at University, we have made the decision to downsize to a smaller Wellington property, which more than likely, will be in Thorndon.

194 has worked incredibly well for us, both as a home for three, and for our business. The location is fabulous, we are 30 seconds onto the motorway (in either direction) and the commute to my office on The Terrace is a 15-minute walk. I still use the ground floor office in the evenings though it is an indulgence to have so much space, though I find the environment conducive to producing great work.

It has been a privilege to own a property like this. We took it from a very run down building to one that has some serious wow-factor attached to it. Visitors often describe the upstairs apartment as being like a New York apartment. I see the building as being more like a Manhattan Brownstone; it works on so many levels, while providing an incredible street presence, which an apartment can never do. Like a classic car, it is a building that conveys a suggestion that the owner is both an individual, and a connoisseur of fine things.