History haunts Jobs’ plans for mansion / Preservationists don’t want house moved

For several years, Jobs and the town have been in a tussle over his property rights and the protection of what some consider an architectural gem. Jobs’ wealth and celebrity have intensified the clash and raised the stakes. But even with Jobs’ status, the dispute is one any homeowner can understand: Do you have a right to do what you want with your own property?

The town’s Planning Commission granted the demolition permit in June, but the matter comes to a head on Nov. 9, when the Town Council is scheduled to hear an appeal lodged by three people who hope the council will overturn the decision.

Jobs would rather not spend an estimated $10 million to restore the house, as preservationists are suggesting. Instead, he wants to build a newer, smaller one.

The house in Woodside sits hidden in the woods on a private lane off Mountain Home Road and was built in 1926 for copper baron Daniel C. Jackling. It was designed by George Washington Smith, who created the red-tile-and- stucco look of Santa Barbara and neighboring Montecito and whose Pettigrew House in Palo Alto is on the National Register of Historic Places. Smith homes in Santa Barbara and Montecito sell for tens of millions of dollars

Drexler House (Woodside), 1913 — Oracle chief Larry Ellison had to dismantle and save the house designed by Hearst Castle architect Julia Morgan to construct his Japanese village. By paying a $50,000 deposit to Woodside and agreeing to dismantle, store and relocate the original parts of the house, Ellison won permission to proceed.

Check out the photos. What a mess.



  1. Mike Voice says:

    From the article:

    The house in Woodside sits hidden in the woods on a private lane…

    and

    The home eventually was found to qualify for the California Register of Historic Resources. The act takes cultural and historic values into consideration, and demolition would amount to a loss so significant that it would have to be mitigated…

    The house is hidden-away from public view. How does it qualify as a “significant loss”, when the general public does not interact with the building at all?

    Why aren’t copies of the plans and photos of the building enough? Why can’t it be moved?

    I would fight for preservation of something special like Frank Lloyd Wright’s “Falling Water”
    http://www.paconserve.org/index-fw1.asp
    or the Carson Mansion
    http://www.eurekaheritage.org/the_carson_mansion.htm

    but the few pictures of the place in question don’t give me the feeling of it being a “significant” building.

  2. sailcat46 says:

    Falling Water-Yes.
    Job’s house-Get me a bulldozer


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