b'This carefully renovated historic home retainsits original character and meets the needs ofa modern family. While walking around the inner-city Auckland suburb of Parnell a few years ago, Rosemarie and Matthew Dunning discovered a charming heritage-listed home. When it was up for sale a year later, they jumped at the chance to own it.Known as Emerald Villa, the two-storey house was built in 1857 for a well-to-do member of the colonial bureaucracy. A fusion of traditional Georgian architecture and newly emerging Victorian elements, it features prominent gables. As a particularly well-preserved example of this transitional style, the home has special historical value and has a Category 1 listing by the Historic Places Trust.Before the Dunnings bought the house four years ago, it had been owned by the same family for 50 years and theyd done virtually nothing to it, says Rosemarie. RightRosemarie designed low fencing and planting to maintain the important relationship between the house, painted Resene Pearl Lusta, and the street.wordsDeirdre ColemanAboveThe rear of the house with the new living room wing to the right. picturesMark Smith50'