“Steve Jobs’ quest to demolish a Woodside mansion has hit another snag, cheering preservationists who consider the home built for a copper magnate a historical treasure,” Kim Vo reports for The San Jose Mercury News. “San Mateo County Superior Court Judge Marie Weiner has tentatively ruled that the town improperly granted Jobs, chief executive of Apple Computer and Pixar, a demolition permit last year. Jobs’ attorney, Howard Ellman, said he is likely to appeal the decision.”
“Jobs, who bought the 17,000-square foot home in 1984 but hasn’t lived there in more than a decade, has said he wants to build a new, smaller home on the property that would be more suitable for his family. They currently live in Palo Alto,” Vo reports. “His efforts to demolish the existing home have drawn ire from preservationists, who say the house is historical and deserves protection. Architect George Washington Smith, who gave Santa Barbara its distinctive look, designed the Spanish Colonial Revival home for Daniel Jackling, who formed the Utah Copper Co.”
Vo reports, “The Jackling house sits at the end of a narrow, tree-lined road, behind locked gates. The home — surrounded by hills and oaks and olive trees — is built in the Spanish style with adobe-style walls, red tiles and wrought-iron balconies. Jobs is not a fan, as he told the Woodside town council in December 2004. ‘I’ve worked with some of the best architects. I’m a lucky guy,’ he said then. ‘But I don’t think it’s a historic building.’ The town made Jobs offer to give the house away to anyone willing and able to move and restore it. He had to advertise the freebie for a year; no demolition permit would be issued before this month. About 100 people inquired about it after features appeared on TV’s ‘This Old House’ and in the New York Times and local papers, Ellman said. Only one person had the means to actually take on the project, which would cost at least $7.5 million, according to town estimates. But that man’s investor was killed in an accident and it’s uncertain if he will still pursue the house, Ellman said. He would not comment if Jobs now plans to sell the property.”
Full article here.
Why not just make sure nobody’s in there, stick an Xbox in the dump, and let it do its thing?
[Preemptory disclaimer for the humor impaired: We do not condone or promote arson. Arson is a crime. Do not burn down houses or anything else with Xboxes or by any other method.]
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SuzieMacFan,
You need to look above that post and see where the Prius owner lashed out at someone who enjoyed riding 4-wheelers. He actually started the tirade with his crude remarks that I actually copied and pasted exactly as he had typed and replaced his views with mine.
As far as worshiping the Prius owners, big deal his car gets 40 miles to the gallon. How far does he drive it to work? I drive my 15 mpg truck 2 blocks in the winter and walk when weather permits. I am no more polluting than he is and I actually probably care and do more for the environment than someone that talks a big game and has their nose stuck so high up in the air that they would drown if it rained.
So maybe you need to get off of your high horse as well and read all of the comments before you type ad realize who started what and why. I was only defending my opinion and others against the Prius “a-hole”.
It’s a shame really, I really enjoyed your comments about the house and completely agreed with you.
I can tell you — as someone somewhat associated with California historic preservationist societies and someone with an affinity for many types of American achitecture — that there is nothing architecturally significant about this house. In terms of architectural style and infrastructure, it is run-of-the-mill 1920s Spanish-style residential architecture. There are literally thousands of these homes (of varying sizes) in urban Los Angeles alone.
Yesterday is over. History schmistory. It’s his house, and he should be able to do with it as he pleases.
There’s been some valid comments regarding ownership rights, and some fud as well. I certainly don’t like the Supreme Courts recent ruling on Eminant Domain, which allows private property to be essentially stolen out from under people just so another private developer can put up pricier condos (and the local government can reap more in property taxes). But that’s clearly not the case here, and if this property does have some substantial worth to the community, then efforts to preserve it against the owner’s will are legitimate.
Now whether that “substantial worth” exists is another question entirely. Some are confusing ‘historic importance’ with ‘architectural importance’ – they’re not the same, but can be equal in weight. There have been many Frank Lloyd Wright buildings, very recent in age, that were demolished in the 20th Century for the sake of ‘property rights’ or ‘progress’, and no one who’s seen his work can claim that was a good trade. On the other hand, Justified’s statements really made an impression on me – that these Spanish -style homes are a dime-a-dozen in this area – but in the end it’s probably better to let the parties (Jobs & the local preservationist society) duke it out, in the courts if necessary, if only to ensure that this becomes a settled question for the future.
As for all this environmental fireworks … whaa? How did that come up? I will say that I used to live in the Rockies, did my share of 4Wheelin, rock climbin, river raftin, & so forth … and while total shutdowns of these areas is an overreaction, sometimes the Users of the Wilderness do serious damage. I’ve seen some pretty tore up areas thanks to snowmobiles (winter) & ATVs (summer). and I definitely think banning 2-stroke engines would be a good thing (dirty as hell). So, if it takes a New Yorker to at least bring some renewed awareness to the fact that ‘Treading Lightly’ is a legitimate goal, not to be ignored for sure, well … I can live with that. After all – the great outdoors are a heritage of all Americans, especially the ones who haven’t been born yet. We’re all just caretakers in that regard.
Odyssey,
I agree with you about “treading lightly”. Unfortunately there are always a few idiots that ruin it for everyone else. It only takes one person to show out and cause everyone else to loose the priveledges that they enjoy and do not abuse.
Take care