A Heartwarming story of the old lady who wouldn't give in to the big corporations.
In the corner between Northwest 46th Street and 15th Avenue, in Ballard, Seattle, wedged between a Trader Joe's and an LA Fitness, lies a little cottage. Surrounded by towering concrete walls on three sides, the hundred-year-old house belonged to late Edith Macefield, a stubborn old woman, who famously turned down $1 million in 2006 refusing to sell her home to make way for a commercial complex. In doing so, she became something of a folk hero cheered by Ballard residents who were tired of watching the blue-collar neighborhood disappear under condominiums and trendy restaurants. The publicity surrounding her case was so widespread that it forced the developers to build the five-storey building around her 108-year-old farmhouse. Macefield’s iconic house became inspiration for the 2009 Pixar movie Up.
"I don't want to move. I don't need the money. Money doesn't mean anything," she was quoted saying to the Seattle P-I.
She continued living in the little old house she bought in the 1950s until her death in 2008, even after concrete walls rose around her. When cranes towered over her roof, Macefield simply turned up the television or her favorite opera music a little louder. "I went through World War II, the noise doesn't bother me," she said.
Twice or thrice she came very near to selling her home and moving, but the last time she did, Macefield ended up falling and breaking some ribs. After that it became too much hassle to move. In fact, Macefield didn’t oppose progress at all. She simply thought she was too old to move.
During the construction, Macefield made an unlikely friendship with Barry Martin, the senior superintendent of the construction project engulfing her home. Martin spent two years nursing the elderly Macefield, whose health was declining. He fed her, stayed long nights with her, listened to her unbelievable stories about being a spy in World War II, about escaping from a concentration camp, about hobnobbing with Jean Harlow and Charlie Chaplin. He cleaned her house, bathed her, took her to doctor's appointments, ran her errands.
When she died of pancreatic cancer in June 2008, Macefield left behind the house to who else but Barry Martin. He later sold the house to Greg Pinneo for $310,000 who turned it into an office to run his real estate coaching firm. In October 2012, the house underwent a remodeling project – new windows were installed, and the attic was expanded to make room for a bedroom and bathroom. The owner now plans to raise the house and construct a community event space below.
Still from the movie Up
Edith Macefield Story
[youtube height=”500″ width=”800″]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=me8hXW9ww8s[/youtube]
Edith Macefield UP! House Tour HD
[youtube height=”500″ width=”800″]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JNMxpu7nobE[/youtube]
UPDATE: The property has been sold and future plans for the house are unclear. -Paul Thomas, "The No B.S. Broker"
Edith Macefield made global headlines for her refusal to give in to the developer next door, even refusing a $1,000,000 offer- and became a cult hero for sticking to her guns. A friend of Edith’s inherited the house when she died, then sold it to a real estate coaching firm called Reach Returns (now called the Cor Company). Reach Returns announced a scheme to raise the house thirty feet in the air, solicited investments and rebuilt the walls of the house. Eventually the scheme collapsed, investors lost a lot of money and the lender took the house back via foreclosure. After intense reviews by several prospective and experienced buyers, it became apparent that the house itself cannot be used in place in an economically viable manner due to Seattle's building codes.
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Source: Wikipedia, Komonews, Seattlepi, NYTimes
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