Historic 164-year old villa gets new lease on life

The vintage villa at 24 Essex Rd in Mount Eden was crying out for some TLC when interior designers Rachyl and Tony Abraham found it.

Named “Ellamore”, after the Scottish birthplace of the Grey family who built the home, the 164-year-old villa had been well loved by its elderly owners. But the Abrahams had other, far grander plans.

"We basically gutted it so it was four walls and extended it out the front so we could capture the beautiful westerly views," says Rachyl. "It was quite an extensive 18-month-long renovation."

They added rooms downstairs and extended the back, so it had a better entrance and also added a pool and a top level to the house.

"They've had all the great 16th, 18th parties, all the fun things. They're all off to Uni now, and we've been home on our own now for three years. So we're at that stage of saying, 'Well, we want another family to enjoy this home as much as we have'."

The Abrahams’ plan for the home focused on designing the space to grow with the family.

The location suited their plans perfectly. That the section is west-facing, on a cul-de-sac, within walking distance of primary schools, shops and cafés was an added bonus.

Treating herself and her family as clients during the renovation, she worked to a strict brief. They needed it to function as a “really awesome” family home, where everyone could have their own spaces and not be on top of one another.

At the same time, they wanted to be empathetic to the era of the house.

"We put in all the beautiful, big archways, and put in the herringbone flooring. We did all the beautiful, opulent things for the house that it deserves because of the type of house it was, and we were lucky because of the size of the site, we could do it all - it's not very often you get to do that."

"For our kids, it was great, because they could walk to primary school and catch buses to secondary school. [They could] have their mates over, play basketball, jump in the pool, use the pool house as they've got older [...] you're part of it, but you're not on top of them."

Rachyl says there are probably only five or six houses that sit on the ridge of Mount Eden and get these “beautiful views out to Manukau Harbour”.

"I can actually see the weather rolling in through my kitchen window, like 'quick, quick, get everything off the line!'. I'm going to be sad to say goodbye, we've had a lot of fun years in that house."

With a CV of $5,800,000, Ellamore is for sale by deadline, which closes on April 30.