The good life calling: Old telephone exchange cottage is small-town charmer

When school teacher Deborah Lean viewed the former Akaroa Telephone Exchange, she knew it was the house for her - she just had to jump through a hoop to get it.

The owners at the time, who had bought the property in 1990, had relocated the 1950s era building from the old Akaroa Council complex at Rue Jolie, across town to its new site overlooking the hills and the ocean.

As part of the sale process they wanted to meet Lean first - to make sure she would be a good caretaker of the building which had played such an important role in the local community.

“I had to have afternoon tea with them before I was allowed to buy it. The house was very much a passion project for them,” says Lean.

“They were just lovely. They actually left me a little photo album of the house being moved.

“I think they liked that I was buying the home to live in, it wasn't for a holiday home.”

Lean had long wanted to live in Akaroa - the place she spent many happy childhood days. “I grew up in Ōtautahi and we used to come for holidays at French Farm. I had wanted to live on Banks Peninsula since I was a child. When I was a kid I used to cry when I had to go home.”

So, it was love at first sight for Lean when she viewed the cottage. “When I walked in I looked out and saw what the view was. I thought, ‘oh this place is a haven’. It’s very quiet and there's birdlife everywhere. It’s off the beaten track in Akaroa and is very sheltered. I thought, ‘yes I can look at the ocean every day.’”

The cottage had served as the local telephone exchange for the tight-knit community from about 1950 until 1987 when the system was replaced by an automatic exchange.

When Lean bought it though, she says the place looked very different, and she set about renovating it.

“I took down a wall because I was used to apartment living and so I wanted an open plan area, and it really does suit that because I think that's originally what it was.”

“I just cleared everything out and took it back to a really simple layout - no frills and a plain colour scheme.”

The home has a wrap-around veranda meaning there is “always somewhere to sit and admire the view,” says Lean.

The telephone exchange had been an integral part of the Akaroa community, and many people had passed through the building when it was still in operation, including a former colleague of Lean’s.

“I used to work at the local school and I worked with a woman whose first job was in the telephone exchange. She brought in photos of herself at work there in the 70s and it's clearly recognisable as my house.”

Nowadays the building is very much a sunny, cosy two bedroom, one bathroom home with a large loft space above the garage for extra accommodation. The 708m² section, with views across the harbour to French Farm and Children’s Bay is dotted with fruit trees which yield bumper crops of apricots, apples and peaches.

Lean is reluctantly selling the home to move back to Ōtautahi for study and work, and says it took her nearly a year to make the decision to put the house on the market.

She thinks it would suit a family with young children - and no, the prospective buyers wouldn’t need to have a sit-down meeting with her first. “No one would want to have me sit there with a tear running down my face, saying ‘look after it!’”

“I would love the people who bought it just to really enjoy it,” she says. “I feel very lucky to have been able to live here for 7 years. My 10 year-old-self would be thrilled by what I did.”

12 Fleur Lane, Akaroa is listed with Bayleys agents Phillipa Linton and Chris Mangels and is being sold by auction (unless sold prior) on February 12, 2026. It has a 2022 CV of $730,000. According to Trade Me data, the current median Homes Estimate in Akaroa is $945,000 and the area has seen a 6.7% capital growth in the past 12 months.