A house in Ballard, often compared to the infamous house in Disney's "Up" movie, was auctioned Friday, but it didn't attract buyers, according to King 5 News.
Edith Macefield's former home became famous when in 2006, she refused a $1M offer from developers to leave it, according to Buzzfeed. Similar to the movie produced and released by Pixar Animation Studios and Walt Disney Pictures, the house is a lone old family-house amidst several vertical developments in the area.
"I don't want to move. I don't need the money. Money doesn't mean anything," she told the Seattle Post-Intelligencer in October 2007, reports ABC News. "My mother died here on this very couch." She shared her story of coming to America from England so that she could take good care of her ailing mother that time, says Buzzfeed. Edith added, "She made me promise I would let her die at home and not in some facility, and I kept that promise." Edith said with conviction, "and this is where I want to die. Right in my own home. On this couch."
This maybe likened to the character of Carl Fredricksen, who insisted on not going to a nursing facility and instead went on an adventure to fulfill his promise to his wife of going to Paradise Falls. He brought his house with him tied with lots of balloons because Carl just like Edith, did not want to lose the house.
However, Edith's journey in life stopped in 2008. She succumbed to pancreatic cancer at age 86, ABC News adds. Without an heir or family, she passed on the ownership of the house to the Seattle P.I., Barry Martin, who became her friend.
In 2009, Martin reportedly sold the house to a company named Reach Returns but it was not able to pay the home loan and Macefield's house just went to foreclosure. Its debt amassed to $185,956.04, as of Dec. 4, 2014, and is auctioned at the starting bid price of a little over $216K, according to Northwest Trustee Services, which is conducting the foreclosure, notes ABC News.
The auction took place at the King County Administration Building, but "The winning bidder would have had to also pay off a first mortgage on the home, bringing the final price tag to more than $500,000," King 5 News explains, and for potential buyers, it's not worth buying anymore.
Thought the house may just be demolished in the months ahead, the Ballard community still remembers Edith, the woman who refused to give up her home.
Yearly, a Macefield Music Festival is being held by the locals, according to ABC News. It is a music festival that was "inspired by her independent spirit."
