The Edith Macefield house is a property located in the Ballard neighborhood in Seattle, Washington, USA. Edith’s house became a ‘real estate holdout’ property in 2006 when she refused $1 million to sell her home to make way for a five-story commercial development.
The History of Edith Macefield House
Edith Macefield was born in Oregon in 1921, where she grew up and joined the military. After enrolling in the military she was then sent to England where she was taken out of service after officials discovered she was still under 18 years of age.
After being dismissed from the military Edith stayed in England where she helped look after war orphans and would later marry an Englishman. She would go on to marry four times, and have one child, who died at the age of thirteen from spinal meningitis.
Edith Macefield in her later years.
In 1952, Edith purchased the property at 1438 Northwest 46th Street for $3,750 and soon moved in with her mother Alice. Alice lived with Edith until 1976 when she passed away on the couch in the living room of the property.
Edith lived a fairly normal life in her later years, she worked as a store manager at Spic ‘N’ Span Cleaners and spent her spare time playing golf, writing, and playing the saxophone.
It wasn’t until 2006, after more than half a century at the property, that Edit Macefield became somewhat of a celebrity. Developers wanted to use the land her house was on to build a five-story commercial project, however, Edith refused to be moved. She reportedly turned down an offer of $1 million for the house and became somewhat of a folk hero in the process.
In the end, the developers had to build the five-story commercial project around her home. Leaving her with a house surrounded by walls on three sides.
Edith died in the house two years later, at the age of eighty-six, on the very same sofa her mother had died on thirty-two years earlier. She was later buried next to her mother at Evergreen Washelli Cemetary in Seattle.
The Edith Macefield House After Her Death
Possibly the strangest part of the Edith Macefield House story is the relationship between Edith Macefield and Barry Martin. Barry was the foreman working on the construction that was taking place around Edith’s home.
In 2006, as construction began around Edith’s home, Barry introduced himself to Edith as the foreman who was building towering walls just a few feet from her property. Barry said, “She was going to be a real close neighbor and I’ve learned over time that you want to keep your neighbors happy”.
Barry Martin helped Edith Macefield as construction began around her home.
After some time Edith and Barry struck up a friendship, Barry helped take Edith to hair appointments, doctor’s appointments, and other general chores. Eventually, Barry was even making her breakfast, lunch, and dinner, while checking in on her numerous times each day.
After Edith died, she left what has become known as the ‘Edith Macefield House’ to Barry in her will. He sold the house for $310,000 in 2009 to real estate investor Greg Pinneo who intended to use the house as an office. Barry said the money went on helping his kids through college and getting through the global recession that was happening at that time.
The Edith Macefiled House went back on the market in 2015 after Pinneo failed to pay taxes on the house. Today the house remains empty and is currently boarded up.
Was The Edith Macefield House The Inspiration For ‘UP’?
In 2009, Disney publicists attached balloons to the Edith Macefield House to help promote their new movie ‘Up‘. For those who haven’t yet seen the movie, it is about an aging widow whose property is surrounded by development who then ties balloons to the house and floats away.
While this story (minus the floating away bit) is similar to the real-life Edith Macefield story, production on Up began in 2004, two years before Edith’s real estate holdout.
So the truth is, while the Edith Macefield house is believed by many to be the inspiration behind the movie, that’s simply not true, since the movie was being worked on long before Edith reportedly turned down a million dollars!
