Mansion for a knockdown price

THE billionaire co-founder of the computer giant Apple is offering one of his homes for free to anyone who can afford to dismantle the 35-room mansion and remove it from his San Francisco estate.

When Steve Jobs bought the sprawling house two decades ago, he planned to tear down the building he describes as "an abomination" and to redevelop the land, but he had not reckoned on the strength of feeling among conservationists, who lobbied to save the 17,000sq ft red tile and stucco mansion, arguing it should be protected as a listed building.

The computer mogul finally struck a deal with planning officials, who ruled he could demolish the building, but only if he first tried to entice someone to relocate it.

So far, more than 100 people have applied in the hope of securing it.

The mansion, designed in 1926 by the architect George Washington Smith, who was considered the leading US exponent of the Hispanic and Mediterranean revival of the 1920s, has 11 bedrooms, 13 bathrooms, period public rooms and a pipe organ.

Situated at the end of a stone-lined cul-de-sac on six acres of woodland, it boasts wood-beamed ceilings and a system of copper gutters and pipes befitting its original owner, Daniel Jackling, a copper and mining magnate.

Mr Jobs, who lived in it for ten years before moving to Palo Alto in 1993, asked: "Why should I invest a lot of money to keep it protected when I want to tear it down?" He also said the house was far too large for his family of five.

"It was never really a very interesting house to start with," he told planning commissioners. "So I think I could build something far, far nicer and far more historically interesting down the road."

Of the house’s original owner, Mr Jobs said: "He was a very wealthy man. Unfortunately, he didn’t have very good taste."

Planning commissioners ruled the house was historically significant and demolishing it would create a "significant unmitigated impact". They agreed to make Mr Jobs wait 12 months for his demolition permit, during which time he will have to pay for a marketing campaign to entice a bidder.

Howard Ellman, Mr Jobs’s lawyer, confirmed his client was looking for bidders and said: "Steve is perfectly prepared to co-operate with anyone who wants to take the house, and let it go for nothing. He thinks it does not have any value."

However, taking the house to bits and transporting it elsewhere will not be cheap or easy, warned Howard Kelly, a professional house mover. He estimated that dismantling the building would cost at least $500,000 (260,000), while relocating and re-assembling it would take at least $2 million.

"It's a toughie," he said. "It just isn’t sensible. God pity the guy who is going to put that back together."