NeXT
Veteran Member
It's over.
**SOURCE**
Too bad. Regardless, ten years of neglect on the palce really ran it down.
Apple CEO Steve Jobs' 10-year battle with preservationists over the Jackling House ended this week, with the wrecking ball finally falling on the decades-old mansion in Woodside.
Woodside officials issued final demolition permits last week, Town Manager Susan George said Tuesday, and the tear-down of the 14-bedroom, 17,250-square-foot Spanish Colonial Revival home built in 1925 is under way.
"The site has been prepared for demolition, and I think they actually physically started the demolition process (Monday)," George said.
Jobs, who bought the house in the early 1980s, lived there for about a decade and then rented it out. The mansion has been vacant for more than 10 years and the Apple CEO wants to replace it with a smaller, modern home. He first asked Woodside officials for permission to knock it down in 2001.
Since then, a group calling itself Uphold Our Heritage has fought for the Jackling House's preservation, pointing to the mansion's historical significance and claiming Jobs intentionally let it fall into disrepair. The group won a lawsuit in 2006 that claimed the town had relied on inadequate environmental documents in approving permits for demolition.
Jobs, however, returned in 2008 with a beefed-up application. The Woodside Town Council approved the request again, and in March 2010, San Mateo County Superior Court Judge Marie Weiner upheld the council's decision.
In an interview with The Associated Press,
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Uphold Our Heritage's attorney, Doug Carstens, called the home's razing a "shame." Carstens did not return calls for further comment to The Daily News.
Over the past couple of years, there have been proposals to move the house elsewhere. The town council approved a deal in 2009 under which Palo Alto angel investor Gordon Smythe would have dismantled, stored and at some point rebuilt the house on another property, but it fell apart amid the ongoing litigation.
Last year, Woodside couple Jason and Magalli Yoho said they were interested in moving the house to their property. The Yohos and Jobs "never were able to find mutually acceptable terms for an agreement," said Town Manager George.
George said the demolition of the Jackling House will "close 11 years of history" for the town.
"No matter what you think about the house, it's nice to get something wrapped up," she said.
**SOURCE**
Too bad. Regardless, ten years of neglect on the palce really ran it down.