Woodside: Report released on Steve Jobs' plan to demolish historic Jackling house Woodside: Report released on Steve Jobs' plan to demolish historic Jackling house (February 11, 2004)

** The public has 45 days to comment.

By Andrea Gemmet

Almanac Staff Writer

Anyone who has feelings one way or the other about Steve Jobs' plan to demolish the historic Jackling house in Woodside, now is your chance -- the 45-day public comment period began last week with the release of a draft environmental impact report.

The report, known as a focused EIR, examines the effects of demolition on the house that is considered a historic resource. It details the 1926 Spanish colonial revival-style house's historic significance, its deterioration due to neglect, and alternatives to demolishing it.

The property's owner, Mr. Jobs, of Apple Computer and Pixar fame, has been seeking permission to demolish the house since 2001. Under state law, the house's historic value requires an environmental impact report be certified by the town's Planning Commission before a demolition permit can be granted.

Perhaps unsurprisingly, the report concludes that there is no way to successfully mitigate the loss of "historic resources" caused by demolishing the house.

Besides demolition, five project alternatives were examined in the report: leaving it alone; restoring the house for $4.9 million; adding on and modifying parts of the interior to make it inhabitable for $9 million; moving it to another part of the property and rehabilitating it for $6.6 million; and moving it off-site, at an unknown cost.

The Woodside Planning Commission is scheduled to hold a public hearing on the draft EIR March 3, said Planning Director Hope Sullivan. Written responses to the public's comments will be included in the final EIR.

Doug Aikins, one of Mr. Job's attorneys, has said that there is nothing in state law to prevent the house from being torn down once the necessary environmental reviews are conducted.

The house, located at 460 Mountain Home Road, belonged to copper baron Daniel C. Jackling and was designed by noted architect George Washington Smith.

Michael Corbett, a senior architectural historian with URS Corp. who was hired by the town of Woodside to conduct a historical study of the estate, described the house as designed to resemble a medieval Spanish village, with interior and exterior stucco walls built 14 inches apart to give the appearance of thick adobe or stone walls while at the same time providing insulation. The 17,250-square-foot house was added on to in 1931, and includes 14 bedrooms and 13-1/2 bathrooms.

The house is eligible for the California Register of Historic Resources, according to Mr. Corbett and EIR consultants Carey & Co., because of its association with Mr. Jackling and because it is a significant example of the Spanish colonial revival style.

Mr. Jackling developed a method for extracting copper from low-grade ore and became the dominant figure in the American copper industry for about 40 years until his retirement in 1942. A society-page mainstay who married into the prominent San Francisco Spreckels clan, Mr. Jackling lived in the house until his death in 1956.

Although designs by Mr. Smith are highly prized, especially in the Santa Barbara area, the EIR concludes that the Jackling house is not significant for its association with the architect. The house's addition in 1931 by an unknown architect "substantially changed the subtle balance that existed in Smith's design, and transformed the house into something other than a clear example of Smith's work."

Under the California Environmental Quality Act (CEQA), a project that would have a significant, negative effect on a cultural or historic resource must propose an appropriate remedy. In CEQA-speak, they are "significant impacts" that must be "mitigated" to reduce the impacts to a "less-than-significant" level.

Despite Mr. Jobs' offer to provide photographic documentation of the home and to salvage various architectural features, such as tiles, light fixtures and the copper mailbox embossed with the name Jackling, those measures would not be enough to reduce the impacts of the house's demolition to a less-than-significant level, according to the report.

To view a copy of the report, contact the Woodside Planning Department at 851-6790.

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