2 Hilltop Ln. M J W Davis House. Warren & Mahoney.
Hello 1961. This has to be one of Christchurch’s nicest houses and departed from the trademark steep pitch Warren & Mahoney gables in response to the Hill site. Split levels separate living and sleeping areas using king-size double chimneys and a central staircase to great effect.
September 16th, 2008 at 9:17 pm
This house has a great plan that is still used as a precedent for some of the latest houses at W&M. The house was up for sale last summer and we had to go and have a look. At the ‘open home’ every room we went into seemed to have dodgy characters with shifty eyes skulking around taking surreptitious photos.
The living areas and kitchen look out to the view towards the north. Behind the living and kitchen sit a small sitting area on the east side and a dining area to the west. The cleverness in the plan is that these spaces turn your attention from the windows to the north to small partly enclosed courtyards on the east and west.
The fireplaces are very cool. From my recollection (we didn’t take any photos!) they have large square pieces of marble sitting on concrete lintels. You walk up steps between the space formed by the chimneys towards the front door. If you turn left or right you are led down corridors which have great timber window joinery with large negative details. Then to the bedrooms which have great original joinery details. Back down the corridors to the front door which lead out under the porte cochere which in turn leads to the separate flat. The walls of the flat are lined with timber battens.
The only let down with the house was the kitchen which was not original and a bit ordinary. However, the original drawings are available if the owner wanted to restore what is a fantastically original and important W&M house.
September 17th, 2008 at 9:39 am
Was there a trampoline in the original plans?
June 5th, 2012 at 9:09 pm
This was my Godfathers’ house, designed by him. I still vividly remember spending weekends up there in the early 60′s (my parents lived in the smog of Merivale !) It had a solar heated horizon pool & underfloor heating. The pool heating was somewhat rudimentary – a series of pipes on the roof to heat the water. So sad to hear it has been lost.