A writer's house that is also a literary museum. Frank Sargeson, the New Zealand writer, lived at 14 Esmonde Road in Takapuna from 1931 to 1981, and the small house built on the site in 1948 is now kept by the Frank Sargeson Trust. The house is a 20-by-20-foot cottage with a shed-style roof, built by his friend George Haydn and the firm of Haydn and Rollett at cost. Sargeson had found the first architect's plans too grand and too dear, so the plainer design is the point of the house, and the visit shows it.
Visits are booked by email through Auckland Libraries. The roof and internal fittings have recently been repaired, with help from the Regional Historic Heritage Grants Programme. Inside, the one-room bach layout is still easy to follow: the entrance is at the back, the bedroom opens into a living and kitchen area divided by a low cupboard, and there is an open fireplace at one end of the living room. The house sits on the North Shore, in Takapuna. For anyone who reads Sargeson, it is our pick on the North Shore.