Auction for the Real-Life “Up” House Starts at $216K
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iStock/Thinkstock(BALLARD, Wash.) — The real-life house that has drawn parallels to the animated film Up is set to be auctioned Friday in Washington state.
Edith Macefield, the home’s previous owner before she died in 2008, had famously refused an offer of $1 million to real estate developers who ultimately built around her home. She stayed in the home for about 50 years until she died of pancreatic cancer at age 86.
“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.
The concrete walls of the Ballard Blocks retail and commercial development surrounded Macefield’s home in Ballard, Washington, much like the home that belonged to balloon salesman Carl Fredricksen in the 2009 animated Disney movie.
Macefield left her home to the superintendent of the development project, Barry Martin, after befriending him over time. She had no family, her obituary noted.
“I think we were a lot alike,” Martin said in her obituary in the Seattle P-I. “I am stubborn and so was she. We had some incredible arguments. She was amazingly smart.”
He sold it to a company called Reach Returns, which wanted to offer a space beneath it where people could buy tiles to write their own credos, according to the Seattle P-I. The new owners defaulted on their loans and the home went into foreclosure.
The auction for the home will start at 10 a.m. local time Friday, with bidding starting at $216,270.70, according to Northwest Trustee Services, which is conducting the foreclosure. The auction will take place at the King County Administration Building. The notice of sale indicates the property had debt that totaled $185,956.04, as of Dec. 4, 2014.
The director of the Disney/Pixar film, Pete Docter, previously said that script writing for the film began in 2004, years before Macefield’s famous refusal was publicized. To promote the 2009 animated film, balloons were placed outside Macefield’s home.
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When she died, local tattoo artist Curtis James created a house stencil for local residents to get tattooed, said Ballard resident Michael Stephens.
“I have the house on my forearm and over 25 other people have it on various body parts,” Stephens told ABC News.
Macefield inspired Stephens and others to create the Macefield Music Festival, which she describes as a local music festival that was “inspired by her independent spirit.”
Ballard Blocks did not respond to a request for comment by ABC News. Pixar did not respond to a request for comment.
Gerard Wirz, a community organizer for the Eat Ballard group, called the home a “community treasure.”
“Because Ballard is growing so rapidly, a lot of neighbors have complained about houses that are important to them disappearing overnight,” he said. “I think that’s the key message that a lot of people want to get out. They would like to be a part of the decision making process and have some sort of input on this.”
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