“A battle has erupted between Apple Computer founder Steve Jobs and a group of local preservationists over the future of a 78-year old mansion on Jobs’ property. Jobs wants to move the 12,000-square foot house off his land and build a newer, smaller one. But local preservationists want him to restore the house, which is projected to cost about $10 million,” The Associated Press reports.
“Meanwhile, Dr. Timothy Chuter, a vascular surgeon at University of California, San Francisco wants to move the house to his eight-acre property nearby. He and at least 30 other people have expressed interest in the house, many prompted by an article in This Old House magazine,” AP reports. “Woodside’s planning commission granted Jobs a demolition permit in June, but the town council will hear an appeal next month lodged by three preservationists who hope the council will overturn the decision.”
“The house was built in 1926 for copper baron Daniel C. Jackling. It was designed by George Washington Smith, whose Pettigrew House in Palo Alto is on the National Register of Historic Places,” AP reports. “Jobs bought the house in 1984 for $2 million and lived in it as a bachelor for 10 years before marrying and moving to Palo Alto with his family. Jobs has publicly called the house ‘a dump’ and has criticized its construction and materials. The town is developing a historic preservation ordinance, but that could take at least a year.”
Full article here.
MacDailyNews Take: Let Jobs move the house. thereby preserving it, and then he can build something with good construction and materials. That would seem to be a simple, logical solution? Welcome to California! When it all gets worked out, we bet Jonathan Ive could design one heck of a house.
