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SEA CHANGE

The owners of this award-winning Dunedin home can’t get enough of the view – they’ve spotted whales and even icebergs

Whale-spotting is a favourite pastime from this spectacular beachfront Dunedin home.

Once upon a time, when asked where they lived, Judd de la Roche and Carol Williamson would answer: “In the ugliest house in Ocean View.” The reply would often be: “Oh, is that the one on Brighton Rd that looks like a mustard-coloured piece of cheese with a ski-slope roof?” It wasn’t an ideal advertisement for these two, who are not only partners in life, but in business – they own real estate company Living Corporation. But, that’s all in the past, as they now live in a new beachfront home that spans not only the “cheese house” site but also the one next door. The two 800sqm sections were amalgamated, allowing their house to extend across the ridgeline to take advantage of the full width of the site and the ocean views. The new build caught the eye of the Master Builders House of the Year judges, winning a couple of awards, and was a favourite during the 2021 Dunedin NZ House & Garden Tour.

Patience paid off for Judd and Carol. Plans were drawn up by Mason & Wales Architects in 2009, but they were just starting their business, so the project went on ice for nine years before the build started and a further two-and-a-half before their home was completed in 2019.

The house is all the better for the delay, says Judd. In those ensuing nine years new technologies and materials emerged and their home incorporates many, such as the aluminium composite panel that runs right around the roof. It wasn’t previously used in residential builds, he says. Plus, they believe that you don’t rush a forever home… and their builder, Carol’s son Zac Williams, owner of Third Little Pig Homes, was happy to wait.

“Zac looked after everything – the build, colour choices, materials, costs and finish. He was our everything,” says Carol.

One of his early tasks was to tidy up the garage that was previously on the site and would become part of their new home, so Carol and Judd could live in it during the build.

Then Zac worked with a structural engineer as the sprawling house – designed with the outlook in mind – features large windows and minimal solid walls, so a concealed structural steel framework was needed. This had to be secured to the home’s two large masonry chimneys.

Large expanses of glass, usually reserved for more temperate climates, may raise eyebrows, but Judd and Carol’s home has triple glazing and aluminium framing with thermal qualities. Inslab central heating keeps the house warm in winter and deep roof eaves on the northern and western sides prevent it overheating in summer. The pop-top roof design over the main living area lets in plenty of sun.

The glass, combined with cedar shiplap weatherboards, reinforced plaster, bluestone touches and the large chimneys

define the exterior. Topping it off are the long, low layers of horizontal roof line that mirror the ocean horizon.

“We gave the architects a very simple brief. They filled in the niceties; I think they did a truly extraordinary job. It is beautiful. There is nothing we would change,” Judd says.

Visitors are blown away by the wide ocean view that is revealed as they enter. “You only have to walk a few steps up the wide stairwell from the entrance before you are hit by the magnitude of the view. A lot of people don’t realise the sea is right there, as when you drive here you see the sand dunes but not the ocean blue. There are a lot of gasps,” Carol says.

Timber plays an important role in the interiors, with American oak in the kitchen and on the massive floor-to-ceiling internal sliding doors, and European oak wide-planked floorboards. Carol loves the master bedroom and main living area’s white tongueand-groove ceilings that add a beachy ambience. Driftwood also features, with naturally contorted pieces on side tables (there’s one at the end of a shower too).

Judd says the home has brought out Carol’s creative side and adds that they “clearly have a rabbit problem”, with a nod to the decorative bunnies dotted here and there.

They’re appropriate, Carol says, given her dad was a rabbit trapper.

The two enthuse over what Judd calls their “very special backyard,” where they can spot dolphins, whales, spoonbills and all sorts of other birdlife. “We have even seen floating icebergs from the Antarctic sheet on the horizon… back in the ugly house days,” Judd tells.

Carol talks of the ever-changing view and especially the sunrises. “I reckon I have more sunrises on my phone than anyone. They are amazingly stunning. We see it rise and then set and it’s just as brilliant. And every day the sea offers something different. Some days it’s soothing and peaceful and others strong and rough and it’s at our back door. We are forever grateful”.

Judd’s also a tad smitten with his Amazon Alexa voice service technology. “She knows from 200m down the road that I am coming home and turns on a sequence of lights. Minutes after I arrive, she says ‘It’s so good to have you home.’ She can even say ‘I have been waiting for this moment.’ It’s so flattering,” he says with a laugh.

Carol prefers to say: “Alexa, dismiss.”

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2022-01-01T08:00:00.0000000Z

2022-01-01T08:00:00.0000000Z

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