Takin’ a Bite Out of the Apple
Beach Preservationist Helps Defeat Computer CEO in Bid to
Save California Mansion

If you are going to take on a Goliath, pick Steve Jobs.

By Erik Bojnansky

The sound of popping champagne corks was heard often in the background as guests conversed and snacked on cheese, marinated olives, broccoli and baby carrots last Saturday night. Many preferred to hang out on the balcony, which offered views of towering South Pointe condos, construction cranes, the dark sandy beach and the occasional cruise liner moving slowly along Government Cut.

The location: Clotilde Luce’s Ocean Drive condominium. The occasion: a legal decision that so-far protects the Jackling house, built in 1926 for copper mine tycoon Daniel Jackling and designed by acclaimed architect George Washington Smith, from demolition. The location of the house: Woodside, Calif. The man who wanted to knock it down: Apple Computers tycoon Steve Jobs, who happened to own the 17,250-square-foot mansion.

Luce, a freelance writer and member of the Miami Beach Design Review Board, grew up in the 30-bedroom mansion in the 1960s. It was purchased by her father William, an engineer, during the pre-Silicon Valley days before Woodside became a community of rich computer entrepreneurs.

Jobs bought it in 1984 and posed in front of it for Newsweek. Then Jobs said the house was unsafe and sought to demolish it, to replace it with a new house, according to media reports. Mercury News columnist Patty Fisher accused Jobs of neglecting the house since 2000, “hoping it would fall down so he could build a smaller and spiffier house in its place. Jobs is good at making things smaller and spiffier.”

Howard Ellman, Jobs’ attorney, did not return phone calls from the SunPost by deadline.

By 2002, Luce began to hear from “civic-minded people” in Woodside who wanted to see the house saved. She helped set up the Friends of the Jackling house, an organization dedicated to stopping the old mansion’s demolition. Luce said the group has received donations for a legal fund from individuals in California, Washington state, Virginia, Connecticut, France, Portugal and Florida. (The group even has a Web site, friendsofthejacklinghouse.org, which includes court decisions and articles on the fight to preserve it.) Another unexpected benefit: the contacts she and other Beach preservationists developed with the National Historic Trust relating to a Miami Modern photo exhibit that toured in New York City in ‘02. The National Historic Trust would deem the Jackling House historic and that made it protected in relation to the 1970s California Environmental Quality Act, which protects structures that are historically and culturally significant.

George Washington Smith is considered among the best architects in California and the father of the Mediterranean Revival architectural style, Luce said. She feels the Jackling style is a fantastic example of a modern home designed properly. “It’s stupid to tear this down…,” she said. Later, she added that Charles Lindbergh, several presidents, including Nixon and Clinton, and even Shirley Temple have stayed at the Jackling house.

The Woodside Town Council saw things differently. By a narrow vote of 4 - 3 they OKed Jobs’ application in December 2004, stating that they feared the house would fall down.

“Are you trying to wear us down?” Councilwoman Carroll Ann Hodges, who voted against the demolition’s approval, asked Jobs at one point, according to The Almanac.

“I think the elements will wear the house down,” Jobs replied.

But Judge Marie Weiner of the Superior Court of California overruled the decision earlier this month, opining that Woodside’s findings that the house should be demolished “simply demonstrate the Town Council’s exaggerated efforts to find a means to the end that Jobs seeks.”

On Jan. 11 an appellate court unanimously upheld Weiner’s decision. Jobs’ attorney has filed an appeal for a rehearing with that court.

Although Luce insisted she was just one opponent of the house’s demolition, she has been quoted many times in California newspapers and even the Miami Herald. At the party, many guests praised Luce, including Miami Beach Commissioners (and mayoral candidates) Matti Bower and Saul Gross.

“I’m very proud of what she’s done,” said Bower, one of the earliest members of the Miami Design Preservation League. “It is not every day the people win over big corporations.”

Gross and his wife, Jane, both of whom are known for fighting to preserve historical structures, felt so strongly about protecting the Jackling that they contributed to its fund. “[We] want to protect structures around the country and not just in Miami Beach,” he said.

William Cary, a planner with the city of Miami Beach, especially regarding historic issues, said he was impressed that Luce was able to defend the Jackling house against “the president of Apple Computers." best legal efforts. “If you are going to take on a Goliath, pick Steve Jobs.”

“She did something that Bill Gates couldn’t do, which is beat Steve Jobs,” said Ocean Drive resident Don Worth. “She is a real asset to the community. I hope they reappoint her [to the Design Review Board.]”

Public relations agent Susan Grant Lewin said she hopes Luce will fight for the preservation of Dupont Plaza in downtown Miami. “When you have Clotilde Luce on your side, you know you are going to win.”

Comments? E-mail erik@miamisunpost.com.