They don’t build them like this any more. Most Saturday’s I frequent Estate Sales looking for Worlds Fair items. This weekend I was intrigued by a posting of a sale at a mansion on Lake Washington. It was not a disappointment except no memorabilia of any World’s Fair there.
This estate was built in 1930 and even today it still has over 3 acres of property including waterfront on Lake Washington. In its day it must have been more secluded. Unfortunately even on 3 acres it is now sandwiched in among many mid-century type homes. It gives one a glimpse into a different time when wealth had servants and it built mansion to resemble old world Europe. This home included back staircases from the kitchen, a wine cellar and old-time work out room. The cabana (which is a small house basically) was built in the late 50s.
The house was used in some scenes from the 1999 movie 10 Things I Hate about You. Several of the furnishings had photos and notes on their part in the movie. I spoke to a neighbor and he told me how this house saw its share of elegant dinner parties on the waterfront lawn. They would be formal black tie affairs. This house is now for sale at 5M, hopefully it will get a good face-lift rather than torn down and sub divided into many lots. The character it has cannot be replaced.
And last but not least, there was a crow family in the trees to the south side of the house. They were not happy by all the people in their world. They could be heard giving us a good cawing to get out of their world. I imagine they had babies up in those tall fir trees.
Crows of Arroyos 