The Jackling House, built by California architect George Washington Smith in 1926 for mining guru Daniel C. Jackling, will be taken off of life support. Yesterday, the Woodside City Council decided, after years of fighting over the issue, that the 17,300 square-feet Woodside mansion can be torn down by its current owner, Steve Jobs.
After purchasing the house back in the '80s, Jobs lived in the massive estate for 10 years. Then, after "declaring it ugly," he wanted the relic gone in order to put up something more sleek. Of course. According to SFGate, Jobs claimed that "it would have cost $13 million to restore it and $8 million to build a new 6,000-square-foot home." Which he could afford either way.
Anyway, the lone holdout on the Council was architect and Woodside Mayor Peter Mason, who said, "It's an unfortunate thing that Mr. Jobs doesn't like the house ... It's really sad that we're going to continue to tear down historic resources in this town because they're old."