Edith Macefield
Born
Doris Edith Wilson

(1921-08-21)August 21, 1921
North Bend, Oregon, U.S.
DiedJune 15, 2008(2008-06-15) (aged 86)
Seattle, Washington, U.S.
NationalityAmerican
Known forReal-estate holdout

Edith Macefield (August 21, 1921 – June 15, 2008) was a real estate holdout who received worldwide attention in 2006 when she turned down an offer of $1 million to sell her house to make way for a commercial development in the Ballard neighborhood of Seattle, Washington[1][2][3][4][5][6][7] (originally reported as a package worth $750,000).[8] Instead, the five-story project was built surrounding her 108-year-old farmhouse, where she died at age 86 in 2008.[9] In the process, she became something of a folk hero.[10]

After she died, Macefield willed her house to the new building's construction superintendent, Barry Martin, in gratitude for his friendship and caretaker role.[6][11] Martin told the Seattle Post-Intelligencer, "Two or three times she was basically going to sell and move, and then I know the last time she ended up falling and breaking some ribs, and that kind of took the gas out of her, and then it was just too much work."[12]

Early life

Macefield was born in Oregon in 1921 and learned French, German, and other languages. She joined the military and was sent to England, where she was later taken out of the service after officials discovered she was not 18 years old.[13] Macefield stayed in England where she took care of war orphans, and later moved back home, where she took care of her mother and worked at Washington Dental Service.

She was married four times, all in Europe.[N 1] She outlived her last three husbands and her only child (a son who died at 13 from spinal meningitis) by decades.[14]

House

1438 Northwest 46th Street
Macefield's house amid construction
General information
LocationSeattle, Washington, U.S.
Coordinates47°39′44″N 122°22′31″W / 47.662316°N 122.375358°W / 47.662316; -122.375358
Completed1900
Owner
  • Edith Macefield (until 2008)
  • Barry Martin (from 2008)
Technical details
Floor area1,050 square feet (98 m2)[14]
Other information
Number of rooms4 (attic, bathroom + 2 bedrooms)[14]

Macefield turned down a reported $1 million offer to sell her home in 2006 to make way for a commercial development in the Ballard neighborhood of Seattle.[1][2][3][4][5][6][7][8] In the process, she became something of a folk hero.[10] Instead, the five-story project was built surrounding her 108-year-old farmhouse, where she died at age 86 from pancreatic cancer.[15][9] The house is located at 1438 NW 46th St.

Legacy

As she intended, she died at her family home. She was buried in Evergreen Washelli Cemetery, Seattle, beside her mother, who had died in 1976 on the same couch as she did.[14]

On May 26, 2009, Disney publicists attached balloons to the roof of Macefield's house, as a promotional tie-in to their film, Up, in which an aging widower's home is similarly surrounded by looming development.[16] However, scriptwriting and production on Up began in 2004, two years before Macefield's refusal to sell to the property developers.[17]

In July 2009, Barry Martin sold the house to real estate investor Greg Pinneo for $310,000.[18] Pinneo intended to use the house as an office to run his real estate coaching firm Reach Returns.[19] However, on March 13, 2015, the house went through foreclosure auction and was subsequently put back on the market.[18] Pinneo had failed to pay back taxes on the house.[20]

The inaugural Macefield Music Festival was held October 5, 2013, in Ballard. The event included multiple musical genres, in several venues. The promoters said it "will be an affordable way to explore the current landscape of Seattle music while celebrating the steadfast attitude of the dearly departed Ms. Macefield."[21]

A 99% Invisible podcast titled "Holdout" (#130) discussed the story of Macefield.[22]

BBC Radio 4 broadcast a play, The Macefield Plot written by Daniel Thurman, on May 14, 2019, (repeated in June 2021). Directed by David Hunter, it starred Siân Phillips as Macefield and Stanley Townsend as Barry Martin.[23]

See also

Notes

  1. ↑ Her marriages were to Richard Tauber (Austrian), James Philip Denton (English), Leonardo Simon Genn (Welsh), and Gretoui [sic?] Anatoli Domilini (Italian, died 1984).[14]
  1. 1 2
    • Mulady, Kathy (June 16, 2008). "Edith Macefield, 1921-2008: Ballard woman held her ground as change closed in around her". Seattle Post-Intelligencer. Macefield's stubbornness was cheered by Ballard residents tired of watching the blue-collar neighborhood disappear under condominiums and trendy restaurants.
  2. 1 2
  3. 1 2
  4. 1 2
  5. 1 2 "Wash. Woman Defiant Despite Development". Associated Press. October 3, 2007. Archived from the original on May 6, 2016. Retrieved April 14, 2012.
  6. 1 2 3 Mulady, Kathy (October 3, 2007). "Old Ballard's new hero digs in as retail project envelops her home". Seattle Post-Intelligencer. Archived from the original on June 29, 2013. Retrieved April 14, 2012.
  7. 1 2 Hartman, Steve (October 12, 2007). "The Woman Who Wouldn't Sell: She's Standing In The Way Of Progress - So They're Building A Shopping Center Around Her". CBS Evening News.
  8. 1 2 Westneat, Danny (2006-02-08). "Big offer for tiny home leaves woman unmoved". Seattle Times. Archived from the original on February 21, 2006.
  9. 1 2 Mulady, Kathy (June 16, 2008). "Edith Macefield, 1921-2008: Ballard woman held her ground as change closed in around her". Seattle Post-Intelligencer. Macefield's stubbornness was cheered by Ballard residents tired of watching the blue-collar neighborhood disappear under condominiums and trendy restaurants.
  10. 1 2 Norris, Michele (June 20, 2008). "All Things Considered: Remembering Seattle's Edith Macefield". National Public Radio.
  11. ↑ "Edith Macefield's Seattle house goes 'Up' for auction". CBC News. April 20, 2015. Retrieved May 26, 2015. Martin was the construction foreman back in 2006 for the building project, but became close friends with Edith. His friendship soon transitioned into a caretaker role for the elderly woman.
  12. ↑ Cohen, Aubrey (March 10, 2009). "Ballard woman's last stand is still standing". Seattle Post-Intelligencer.
  13. ↑ Edith Macefield, 1921-2008: Ballard woman held her ground as change closed in around her, Mulady, Kathy, seattlepi.com
  14. ↑ "Searching for Edith Macefield", seattletimes.com; accessed February 18, 2016.
  15. ↑ Guzmán, Mónica (May 26, 2009). "Wind sabotages 'UP' balloon display over Macefield home". The Big Blog. SeattlePI.com. When publicists for Disney's "UP" announced they were going to tie balloons to late local hero Edith Macefield's house in Ballard as a promotional stunt, we thought hundreds, maybe even thousands of the colorful helium globs would reach into the sky, dwarfing the small bungalow below and putting the surrounding complex to shame ... Turns out the display had many more balloons when it was first set up at 9 a.m. Then the wind blew, pushing the balloons into the surrounding walls, where they began to pop.
  16. ↑ "Up Producer/Director". Moviehole. February 10, 2009. Retrieved January 1, 2020. How many people worked on the script, and for how long? .... Bob Peterson started in 2004.
  17. 1 2 Raftery, Isolde (March 13, 2015). "Auction Of Edith Macefield's Ballard House Was Mostly For Show". kuow.org. Retrieved May 26, 2015.
  18. ↑ "Washington: Little House Has New Owner and Purpose". Associated Press. July 8, 2009.
  19. ↑ King 5 News (February 4, 2015). "Edith Macefield's house may go up for auction". Retrieved May 26, 2015.{{cite news}}: CS1 maint: numeric names: authors list (link)
  20. ↑ Copeland, Kwab; Michael Stephens; Chris Harrison. "Macefield Music Festival". Archived from the original on October 5, 2013. Retrieved October 5, 2013.
  21. ↑ "Holdout", 99% Invisible, Retrieved February 18, 2016.
  22. ↑ "The Macefield Plot". BBC Radio 4. Retrieved June 10, 2021.
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