When Johnny Monte Moore was a child he lived and played in the streets and on the beach of New Brighton in Christchurch.
As a young adult he coveted the gracious old homestead next door, originally built in 1910 as a beach house for the Ballantyne family that established Ballantynes department store in 1854.
As luck would have it, 19 years ago Moore ended up buying the character property opposite Withell's Island Reserve and the Avon River. "I not only loved the house, I liked the fact it was quite a reasonable land size with an extra-large garage," he says. "And I love to surf and it's near the beach."
Moore, a property developer, undertook an extensive renovation following the Christchurch earthquakes and is now putting his home on the market.
Moore says he was fortunate the earthquake damage wasn't too great. "In the east of Canterbury there was a lot of damage to houses, but I was lucky this house was built so solidly – it has very strong bones. It stood up pretty well, but I have had to replace the brick chimneys, some of which were as big as a Mini car. They all had to come out."
The front of the house is defined by a high multi-gabled roofline, traditional bay window, arched porch columns and shingle accents typical of the era.
Other changes were all in keeping with the era. "I spent hours and hours working with EQC to ensure that features were able to be kept to original styling and not simply replaced with modern equivalents," Moore says. "I believe it may be the only property in the area of that vintage that has maintained its originality and history of a bygone era.
"The woodworking is all original – there is a lot of imported jarrah in the house, along with locally sourced materials. The wallpaper in the middle lounge dates back to the '40s or '50s, but that was the only wallpaper we were able to keep. I wanted to do something quite special, so I upped the budget and chose other period wallpapers that have a similar feel, with each room different."
Moore also replaced tiles, and introduced ceiling roses for the chandeliers that had been missing. "We needed to repair cracks in the ceilings following the earthquakes, so it provided an opportunity to add these."
Moore, who also owns two neighbouring properties, says he once lived next door to the house and had admired it for many years before he was able to purchase it.
Moore says the house was lived in by two sisters for more than 30 years, Sarah Helen Ballantyne (1865-1948) and Alice Jane Ballantyne (1872-1948), daughters of John and Sarah Ann Ballantyne.
Sarah and Alice were "known in New Brighton for their good works", Moore says. "And I believe at some stage a gynaecologist had rooms in the house."
There are four bedrooms on the upper level of the main house, and the former servants' quarters beside the garage have been transformed into a fully self-contained flat.
The house, which has a CV of $790,000 has been listed with Bayleys and is for sale by negotiation.
Two other houses formerly owned by members of the Ballantyne family are also for sale. One is an "as is, where is" homestead on 3910 square metres in Fendalton; the other is a huge, two-storey "as is, where is" house on 1389 square metres in Linwood.
The wallpaper in the 'middle' lounge dates back to the 1950s.
Moore says he spent many hours working with EQC to ensure as many original features as possible could be retained.