Edith's House

I triple-love this story and had to share...enjoy!


http://www.komonews.com/news/local/50177072.html

SEATTLE -- The little old Ballard house that became the symbol of one woman's unyielding principle has changed hands.

Edith Macefield's two-story, two-bedroom house has been sold to a Seattle-based firm Reach Returns, Inc. The sale closed on Tuesday, the firm said.

In recent years Macefield's humble home became a sought-after piece of property, mostly because she wanted to keep it humble and hers.

Amid a grid of high-priced development stood Macefield and her home, where she'd lived since 1966. A wind chime hung in the archway, dancing in the breeze, as kitten figurines sunbathed on the windowsill.

The 86 year old refused to sell her home even when developers surrounded her, literally, shading three of her home's four sides with the walls of a new, high-reaching building.

Even an offer of $1 million wasn't enough to buy out "Ol' Edith," as they called her. Her home had been assessed at $8,000 with the lot valued at $120,000.

"All she cared about was being here long enough for her to die," said Barry Martin, a construction superintendent Macefield befriended in her last days.

Ol' Edith stood until the end, but even she couldn't stand forever. In 2008 she succumbed to pancreatic cancer and died.

Macefield left her home to her new friend and caretaker, Martin, who'd helped her prepare meals, get to her doctor's appointments, do her grocery shopping in her last days. She told him to sell the home and use the money to send his kids to college.

But Martin inherited more than Macefield's home. He also earned the criticism of many who accused of him of manipulating Ol' Edith in order to gain control of her house. But Martin says it wasn't he who charmed Macefield; in fact, it was the other way around.

"There was something about her that kind of grabbed you and just didn't let go, and you wanted more," he said.

It was Martin who sold the home to Reach Returns, Inc. The firm plans to preserve the home's exterior but remodel the interior, then raise the home to the height of the surrounding commercial building.

Underneath the elevated home will be two levels of open space for the public called Credo Square, the firm said, and visitors can pay to etch their credo on to the square's tiles.

"The Edith Macefield story challenged many people to ask themselves the hard questions... what really matters...?, what do you stand for...?, what is your credo?" said Reach Returns co-founder Greg Pinneo in a statement. "The home needs to be elevated literally and philosophically. We believe that the depth of thought that this story initiated should live on."

And here are some more pictures & more story:

http://seattle-daily-photo.blogspot.com/2009/06/edith-little-house.html