Film-making couple Thomas Burstyn and Barbara Sumner have put their stylish Napier home on the market for sale for $1.549 million.
The duo made the Oscar long list in 2011 for their documentary This Way of Life, and have been involved in numerous high-profile movies and TV shows.
Burstyn shot the 1990s crime comedy Where The Money Is with Paul Newman and more recently was the cinematographer for the blockbuster Netflix series Cowboy Bebop, while Sumner has just published her latest historical novel The Gallows Bird.
They fell in love with their three-bedroom villa at 6 Finnis Lane, in Hospital Hill, eight years ago, snapping it up for just over $500,000 before the listing had gone live.
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They had been living on Waiheke Island but Sumner’s chronic seasickness saw an end to that, and they saw the opportunity to make a change – and take on a renovation challenge.
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The villa was in a “terrible” condition when they bought it, Sumner told OneRoof. They didn’t even bother with a builder’s report because they planned a full renovation.
The balcony was being held together by two nails and had to be roped off so it wouldn’t collapse; layers of newspaper and old egg cartons had been stuffed in the ceiling as DIY insulation; and there was a gaping hole in the floor of one of the bedrooms, covered up by a bed and some carpet.
The house also smelled bad. “Somebody had installed the laundry incorrectly,” Sumner said, explaining that there wasn’t a single council record of any alterations and DIY projects carried out over the years.
The couple enlisted the help of a master builder, Jarrod Williams, who spent six months transforming the home in 2016.
The Finnis Lane villa, in Hospital Hill, Napier underwent a massive six-month renovation. Photo / Supplied
The villa has been the perfect home for the couple's large book collection. Photo / Supplied
The inside of the house was stripped back to its frames and only the original staircase and external walls remained.
The wooden floors were sanded back and bleached, and large chunks of concrete in the kitchen floor thought to have been where the copper once stood were also polished to retain the house’s unique character.
The couple had planned for the villa to be their forever home so no expense was spared to ensure they had the UPVC windows, high-quality insulation and central heating throughout the house.
However, the mammoth renovation was not without its hiccups. One of the contractors stumbled across a case of bones while ripping up the courtyard.
Sumner was worried the bones were human and dated back to when the nearby McCardy Lodge on Bracken Street was run as a maternity home.
The bedroom makes the most of the light. Photo / Supplied
She handed the case over to police, who turned up on their doorstep the next day with shovels and started digging up the area. Thankfully, the bones weren’t human but the remains of sheep and had likely been left there by soldiers camping on the site during some early battles.
Despite the initial setbacks, Sumner said they had been lucky in their choice of home. The neighbourhood was shrouded in history and the neighbours were welcoming and busting with ideas.
Living nearby were two writers, including the late Peter Wells. They all used to meet for lunches and discuss what they were working on.
“We had no idea, we just got lucky,” Sumner told OneRoof.
“The people who have been here have been here a long time and the best neighbours you could ever wish for. It’s a wonderful little place to live. There’s a little peek at the sea.”
The home also had wonderful light, she added.
“One of the things I love about this house is there are different areas to where you can be so there’s a partially enclosed deck and that’s fantastic in the mornings until about 2pm and then the sun moves.”
The covered outdoor area off the kitchen has earned the name the “martini deck” because it captured the evening sun and was the perfect place for the tipple.
Sumner said it had been a “fabulous” place to live, but a change of plans meant the couple were selling their much-loved home to move closer to family in Wellington.
“We made it into our forever home but unfortunately it’s our forever home that we unfortunately have to sell now.”
New Zealand Sotheby’s International listing agent Neal Andersen said the couple had done a “beautiful” job transforming the house.
“The result is a contemporary home, but with all the character charm still attached. It’s a great family home because you’ve got multiple entertaining areas,” he said.
“All the doors in the house – all the doors opening out and even the internal doors – are all oversized. So you get this cathedral sense of space.”
- 6 Finnis Lane, in Hospital Hill, Napier is for sale with an asking price of $1.549m
