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Steve Jobs Wins Permission To Raze Historic Pile

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Jobs’ Woodside mansion in its glory days. Photo by Friends Of The Jackling House.

After a long legal battle, Steve Jobs has been granted permission to tear down his crumbling mansion in the posh Silicon Valley town of Woodside, California.

At a hearing of the Woodside town council on Tuesday night, councilors voted 6 to 1 to approve a demolition permit allowing Jobs to tear down his neglected, 14-bedroom Jackling mansion.

“It’s an unfortunate thing that Mr. Jobs doesn’t like the house,” Woodside’s Mayor Peter Mason told the Palo Alto Daily News. “It’s really sad that we’re going to continue to tear down historic resources in this town because they’re old.”

The mayor, who is also an architect, cast the sole dissenting vote.  

Jobs bought the mansion in 1984 and lived there for a decade with barely any furniture until he got married and started raising a family. He currently lives with his wife and children in Palo Alto. The 17,000-square-foot mansion has remained empty and neglected since.

In 2004, the Woodside town council granted a demolition permit, but it was blocked by a local preservationist group called Friends Of The Jackling House, which claimed the mansion is a national treasure. The mansion was built in 1925 for copper millionaire Daniel C. Jackling by architect George Washington Smith.

At one point, Jobs offered to give the mansion for free to anyone who would haul it away.

Jobs plans to build a smaller, greener mansion in its place — probably a huge glass cube.

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About the author

Leander Kahney

Leander Kahney is the editor of Cult of Mac, and author of three books about technology culture: Inside Steve’s Brain, the New York Times bestseller about Steve Jobs; Cult of Mac; and Cult of iPod. Leander has written for Wired, MacWeek, Scientific American, and The Guardian in London. Follow Leander on Twitter @lkahney and Facebook.

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6 comments

    It’s probably going to be the most advanced and green home ever built.

    Hopefully, architectural salvage will be permitted.

    i grew up in santa cruz, california but i live in tokyo now. from that perspective i can see how the young US and especially the younger california are desperate for any semblance of history. 50 years old is historic?! over here it takes 500 or 5,000 years old to be considered historic. also, the space is so limited, they don’t mind tearing down anything when it’s not useful or relevant anymore.

    [...] The pictures are poignant and lovely, and are possibly the last that will be taken of the mansion. On Tuesday, the Woodside town council approved a demolition permit. [...]

    [...] The pictures are poignant and lovely, and are possibly the last that will be taken of the mansion. On Tuesday, the Woodside town council approved a demolition permit. [...]

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