Tikun Olam-תקון עולם: Make the World a Better Place

Steve Jobs, who wishes to demolish the historic Jackling House in Woodside, CA, has filed papers asking the California State Supreme Court to accept an appeal of a lower court ruling which forbade him from doing so. In my last report on this case, I expressed the hope that Jobs would finally–after losing decisively in two lower court rulings–accept the will of the judiciary and agree to preserve Jackling House. There are several potential owners who’ve stepped forward and are willing to accept the house if it’s moved to another site, which would allow Jobs to build the new home he wants on

the current property. But Jobs persists in his wish to tear down the home which was built by famed California architect, George Washington Smith (who was responsible for the Spanish colonial revival style popular in southern California).

It is the mark of a very stubborn, very rich, and very petulant person–one used to getting his way in everything–to carry on with this case. The papers he has filed basically restate Jobs’ previous arguments which were solidly rejected by both the Superior Court and Court of Appeals (in a unanimous decision). As in the past, Uphold Our Heritage and its attorney, Doug Carstens, will oppose Jobs.

The intrepid Patty Fisher of the San Jose Mercury News wrote a nice human interest story about the House recently:

At the age of 89, Gladys Woodhams’ passion for preservation is still contagious.

Last week she called to tell me how delighted she was that a state appeals court had again foiled Apple CEO Steve Jobs’ plans to tear down his historic house in Woodside.

“I think it’s wonderful,” she said. “Just wonderful.”

After failing to get permission from the court to demolish the 17,000-square-foot mansion he bought in 1984, Jobs will have to find someone to dismantle the house and rebuild it somewhere else. Several people have expressed interest, and Woodhams would like him to hurry up and make a deal…

“If you have something worth moving and you have the money to do it, well, it’s worth the effort,” she said…

The problem with Silicon Valley, she says, is that people have too much money and too little respect for the past.

“Most of the money is in the hands of people who have bad taste,” she said. “And they don’t even know what they are spending it on.”

I can’t speak for the quality of Jobs’ taste, but he clearly has little or no respect for the past–at least the architectural past.