Posted on 03/17/2024 11:22:54 AM PDT by Morgana
A stunning 19th-century Seattle mansion, sold for $6 million, is set to be torn down because its last owners were the Moonies - members of the Unification Church.
Nestled on the shores of Lake Washington, the three-story Spanish Mission revival mansion was once home to the family of early pioneers of Seattle, including Rolland Denny, the son of the city's founder, Arthur Denny.
Later in the 1970s, it was purchased by the Unification Church when the religion was still in its infancy and served as a domicile for founders Sun Myung Moon, his wife, and their followers.
Leonard Garfield, the director of the Museum of History & Industry, described the house as 'one of the great private estates from one of Seattle's golden eras,' as reported by The Seattle Times.
However, the iconic estate cannot even be nominated as a historical landmark because the state Supreme Court has exempted religious entities from landmark designation unless their owners support or seek it.
Rolland and his wife Alice Kellogg commissioned Bebb & Mendel, Seattle's most prominent architectural firm at the time, to design and build the mansion.
After the construction was completed in 1907, the couple named their new home 'Loch Kelden', a fusion of 'loch' meaning lake in Scottish and the couple's names Kellogg and Denny.
With the sweeping views of Lake Washington and Mountain Rainier, the property served the ideal wilderness retreat space that was only accessible by boat.
Notably, the mansion's carriage house was not built for cars, but horses that Rolland would ride on the gravel Windermere Road.
In the early 1970s, Moon moved to the U.S. and began giving public speeches across the country.
Meanwhile, he tasked a small group of his followers with traveling around and purchasing property to establish the church in key cities.
(Excerpt) Read more at dailymail.co.uk ...
It's a shame that is a beautiful place.
All history must be destroyed.
Because it’s still considered “church” property and such property is exempted from historic status “unless the owners seek or request it”.
Byzantine bs is what it is.
It’s written unclearly, but I think the point is that it cannot be declared a historical landmark while owned by the Unification Church. The unnamed buyer plans to do a teardown. There may not be enough to have it declared a landmark building once ownership changes.
it’s only an elaborate excuse to tear down a historic estate and build a MUCH more profitable housing complex...on a historic site. just saying that doubles the price...”HISTORIC SITE”! kinda give you goosebumps.
Just a guess, but a religious exemption probably means Moon could not be FORCED to preserve the building, and that passes on to the new owners.
They would have to voluntarily return the mansion to Historic protection, which would reduce their property rights to near zero, so they won't agree.
Well it is Seattle after all ,LOL
I only read the excerpt and don’t care to read any more. More stupid liberal clap trap.
'As far as we know, all this is shrouded under several layers of intentional secrecy,' she said in an interview.
'All we can determine is that there is no schedule for its demolition that has been presented in any public forum. We're all essentially in the dark,' she said.
'I'm hoping that a little light shed on the subject might indeed inspire developers to save the place.'
They'll probably demolish it and put a mosque on the site.
-PJ
Big deal Seattle is mostly full of Loonies
Weird. Creepy. Strange. Ick.
They then throw a fit of biblical proportions if you turn that mirror back on them.
Poorly written, for sure.
But the bunched panties apparently come from the Moonies having sold it to an undisclosed buyer who have the right to tear it down, though they have taken no action toward that.
“I read it several times and still don’t understand why them being Moonies means the house must be torn down.”
Well, think about it. If white Americans had lived there, same thing, since whites, also, are being erased from American history.
I would think a demolition permit would be required.
If granted the city might theoretically buy the vacant lot at its market value.
The buyer might buy the house and lot for $5.99 million and get say $4.5 million for the vacant lot.
The buyer might not choose to play.
Perhaps the city could eminent domain the real property sales contract.
Los Angeles has quite a number of absurdly large modern houses.
Thanks, that makes sense
Picture of the unnamed buyer:
https://www.vatican.va/content/vatican/en.html
The Moonies are a "religious entity" so the building cannot be nominated as a historical landmark, which would prevent its being torn down.
The building CAN be torn down, not MUST BE torn down. The new owners bought it for the real estate, not the building.
FTFA: "However, the iconic estate cannot even be nominated as a historical landmark because the state Supreme Court has exempted religious entities from landmark designation unless their owners support or seek it."
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