The tiny house (pictured above) in Seattle is wedged against taller and bigger structures, but for the many pilgrimage and ardent supporters who have come to know what the house has always stood for, it will stand ever so lofty and tower imposingly over the surrounding buildings.
But, in what could be dubbed as the "downfall of the 'Up' house", this tiny home, which has stood the test of time since its circa 1900 construction, is now on the brink of a possible demolition upon its sale, via an auction, says the New York Daily News.
The home's claim to fame is that its long-time and resolute owner Edith Macefield held her ground, so to speak, and refused the $1 million offer of a developer in exchange for the property. That was in 2006 and the developer has since been able to build a retail and office center around the Ballad neighborhood property, the Daily Mail reported.
An old defiant homeowner, a big company who wants to buy the property for development, and construction circumventing the home -- all these sound pretty much like good components for a movie plot, don't you think?
And, as you might have guessed, Disney Pixar's 2009 animated film "Up" revolves around the same storyline.
One key difference is that unlike the gruff owner of the "Up" house -- Mr. Carl Fredrickson, who decided to fly his home, with the help of balloons, to Paradise Falls in South America after being forced to retirement in some nursing home -- Mrs. Macefield went on to live in her house up until she succumbed to pancreatic cancer in 2008.
Interestingly, the lady owner entrusted the home to one Barry Martin -- a construction superintendent of the infill around her home, who she got along with very well. In 2009, he sold the home to a real estate investor who had bigger plans for the property. The proposed project was never realized and the investor defaulted the mortgage resulting to foreclosure, the Daily Mail notes.
The tiny home is now being auctioned off by the investment management company in North Carolina, which took over the property after the mortgage default, and they are taking bids until April 20, according to the NY Times.
Meanwhile, the New York Daily News cited that the home may not necessarily go to the highest bidder, as potential buyers "also need to give a guarantee that the home or something will remain on the plot to honor Macefield's memory."
Some people believe that Mrs. Macefield stuck to her guns to defy corporate America, or to stand up against modernization. She and her tiny home have left a lasting legacy to the people of Seattle that even prompted some locals to ink a tattoo of the house on them, name a cocktail after her at a bar, and inspire the conception of the Macefield music festival, says the Daily Mail.
The film "Up" is such a huge hit at the box office around the globe that it raked in more than $700 million and took home the Academy Award for the best animated movie in 2010, as noted by Reuters.
