Foragers Nest |
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The children have grown and gone, but the collections remain in this historic Devonport, Auckland family home.
Keeping up with the neighbours takes on a whole new meaning when you’ve lived in the same home for close to a quarter of a century. “Exactly who was it who renovated next door?” you ask each other. “Was it the young married couple? Or the family who moved in after them?”
Phyllis and Tony Banbrook may have trouble keeping track of the neighbours, but there is no such confusion when it comes to recounting the transformation of their own stately double-bay villa in Devonport.
 The distinctive double-bay villa.
When they bought the property in 1986 they had primary school-aged children. Since then, it has evolved to see them through the teenage years, proved the perfect venue for their daughter’s wedding and now they’re enjoying the extra space offered by their current status as empty nesters.
The family were devoted Devonportites long before they bought this place. They spent 13 years in a home just around the corner and had often admired the villa.
“We always said, ‘If that house ever comes on the market, we’ll buy it,’” says Tony. And that’s exactly what they did, acting quickly to gain the upper hand since other buyers had undoubtedly made themselves a similar promise.
The house – one of just a few double bays in the area – is remarkable even for historic Devonport. The destruction of the area’s property records in a fire years ago makes tracking its history difficult, but Phyllis estimates it was built in the early 1900s. It’s a house people notice and details of its history have been passed on. A visit to the local Lotto shop proved fruitful for Tony (sadly, no prize though) when the woman who served him mentioned that her mother had lived in the house from the mid 1920s to the mid 1970s and showed him a photo of the reserve behind the house.
The Banbrooks were eager to put their own stamp on the house and phase one of the renovations began a couple of years after the family moved in.
A granny flat added on in the 1940s was opened up to the rest of the house, providing bedrooms for the two children and a family room. That freed up a room for Tony’s study – a treasure trove of military memorabilia he’s collected over the years. The study is to the right of the front door and it’s a wonder guests ever manage to get any further into the house. There’s a story behind every artefact, from the Zulu spears to the mounted rainbow trout from Lake Taupo.
The children have grown and gone, but the collections remain.
The military interest is primarily Tony’s domain, but Phyllis is also an avid collector. Her love of design and textiles has helped ensure that any changes to the family home are in keeping with its heritage status. Her eye for detail and quality was honed by years spent working as an antiques dealer in Devonport’s Antique Centre.
These days her collecting is mostly personal. The kitchen boasts an impressive display of Crown Lynn and pressed glass. “People often ask me what I collect,” says Phyllis. “The answer is very simple – I collect what I like. I have to really like something before I buy it.”
The villa’s formal living area is lit by one of the home’s majestic bay windows; the kauri bookcase was discovered in Mt Eden; the Tunbridge ware boxes on the table are part of a collection Phyllis has been adding to for more than 40 years.
The joy the Banbrooks have derived from foraging over the years has been tempered somewhat by the rise of online trading at the expense of second-hand and antiques stores. Though there’s pleasure to be had from winning an auction on TradeMe, it simply doesn’t have the same romance. “That hands-on appeal has definitely been lost,” says Phyllis.
Not everything the couple has acquired over the years is on display, for reasons of practicality as much as space.
“I got tired of doing the housework,” says Phyllis with a laugh. “It all adds up to a lot of dusting.”
The study in Phyllis and Tony Banbrook’s Devonport villa is testament to the couple’s shared love of collecting; Tony’s particular sphere of interest is military memorabilia.
The house is the perfect backdrop for the couple’s collections, but it’s also ideal for another of their enthusiasms – entertaining. “We’ve had great parties here over the years,” says Phyllis. “It’s perfect for family gatherings.”
The formal living area is dominated by one of the two bays (the master bedroom is a mirror image of the room at the other end of the house). It’s an elegant room, with a pressed-tin ceiling and original leadlight windows, but guests have a habit of gravitating towards the kitchen island or the beautifully proportioned garden room.
The latter was partly inspired by a trip Phyllis took to the UK, where she visited several homes with orangeries. In winter, it’s the perfect, centrally heated spot from which to enjoy the garden; in summer, it opens the house up to the garden and the pool.
The most recent change to the house has seen the master bedroom redecorated with a chandelier and lavish silk drapes. With that done there’s a sense of completion after two decades of work and, having found that they are “rattling around” in their beautiful house, Phyllis and Tony have begun looking for somewhere smaller. No doubt their children have had a bit to say about that; though it’s a while since either has lived here, both had given their parents strict instructions that they were never to sell.
“We laugh at that,” says Tony. “When we first moved in, they said they wanted to go back to the old house. We used to live on a busy corner and they missed the sound of the traffic as they went to sleep. We have looked at other places but, so far, nothing quite measures up.”
Story: Hannah Dickson
Photographs: Jane Ussher
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