Edith Macefield was an 84 year-old resident of Seattle, Washington who loved her home dearly, as it was full of a lifetime of memories for her. When a developer offered Edith a large sum of money for her house, she decided that she could not put a price tag on the home and turned the offer down, much to the surprise of everyone.

Edith was given tons of officers over the years by a developer who wanted to build a shopping mall. By 2006, Edith was the last holdout in the neighborhood and she turned down a final offer of one million dollars, forcing the developer to build the shopping mall around her house!

When asked why she would not sell, Edith simply said that she did not feel like relocating. She did not want to go through all that hassle, instead wanting to stay put where she was. The love that Edith showed for her home inspired people all over the world. The home served as a symbol of stability amidst the constant storm of change in our nation, and the house in the Pixar movie Up was even modeled after her home!

Edith passed away in 2008 at the age of 86 after living a long and fruitful life. In the years before her death, she had gone to so many negotiation meetings about her house that she had developed a friendship with Barry Martin, the construction superintendent on the project. Many were surprised when Edith left the house to Barry given how hard she’d fought to keep the house standing, but she actually had a good reason for doing so.

Barry said that Edith only wanted the house to stay standing while she was alive, and she did not care what happened to it after she passed. Leaving the house to Barry was her way of saying the land could be developed, just not in her lifetime.

The house is still standing, but it’s boarded up completely. However, the developers Ballard Blocks have suggested that it might not always be that way, much to the delight of the community. Though nobody knows what will happen to it, planners have suggested that the house may be incorporated into the development somehow, since it has become so beloved by the community.

Though Edith has been gone for over a decade, her determination to save her house in the midst of adversity continues to inspire us all.