page break

A House at Pinehaven

Architect: Charles Jearnley

The site, covered mostly with pine trees, with some native bush and a stream across the front, was bought with an excavation partly done. The owners extended this until they had a flat space almost large enough for the house and high enough to make the most of the view. The requirements were a simple, straightforward house, with the plan requirements as mentioned below. Both owners are keen trampers and enjoy sleeping out of doors, so required a verandah with French casements opening out from at least one, and preferably two bedrooms. Both botanists, they required a desk lighted suitably for using a microscope, mounting specimens etc, with space nearby for bookshelves. Storage for mounted specimens is in standardized boxes, which are held in frames under the window seat, at the dining end of the living room. The bookcase-desk fitting was used to form a division between living area and hall, screening the room from the front door, while not destroying the feeling of space. Further storage is provided by built-in cupboards beside the fireplace. Kitchen and living space were planned in one unit to give more sunlight in the working portion of the house. The space under the tank stand and also under the south-west corner of the house is used for bicycles, garden tools, firewood etc, although the firewood neatly stacked by the owner under the cantilevered portion of the verandah has quite a decorative effect. The construction is orthodox, with concrete foundation and wood frame weatherboarded, the weatherboards being rough sawn and the concrete unplastered. Interior linings are fibrous plaster painted, with electric lights recessed into ceiling. Windows are either top hung or else horizontally sliding, the large window to the living room being 16 feet long divided into four sashes, with the centre pair sliding to give an opening of 8 feet. The roof is of timber construction with trusses consisting of light members nailed together supporting purlins to take a corrugated aluminium roofing at 10 degrees pitch, the low ridge line being very useful in allowing sun to shine into the backyard. The eaves line follows the line of the verandah, giving an overhang of about 3 feet at the living room end, and preventing overheating in the summer.

page break

Photographs by Irene Koppel