Arrowtown Essex House

Butel Park, to the West of Arrowtown is a residential development intended to comprise houses that reflect the historic Arrowtown Character, identified as being a simple architectural vernacular sitting on large sections completed with extensive gardens and deciduous trees, and not dominated by garage doors. Like many developments in the Wakatipu, the area is subject to design controls and a design approval process, in regard to form, roof shape and pitch, and material controls. This home features two gabled forms, strongly articulated with protruding walls and eaves at the cedar-clad gable ends. A flat roofed link includes the bathrooms, and provides good separation between the living room and the bedrooms. Both wings open onto a central North facing courtyard. PRESS HOME&ENTERTAINING JUNE/JULY 2006 Text by Margo Berryman Photography by Paul McCredie A couple returning from Australia wanted to think local with their new home outside Arrowtown. Architect Justin Wright helped them tune in to their surroundings. “FIRST impressions are of a house in harmony with its geography, built to maximise the sun’s movement and the ever changing vistas that look out over the Millbrook Golf Resort, with the magnificent Remarkables mountain range in the far distance. Inside there is serious wow factor. “We really do feel like we are living in a rural bliss here, so it was important to ensure the views were brought into the house by framing them correctly, “ Hemingway says. “Houses around here often feature windows that are too low and which cut off the sky. Justin drew in the visual impact of the landscape, directing the views as vertical slices rather than horizontal panoramas.” It is a modest form spiced with dramatic touches and a zealous attention to detail”