Tuesday: Woodside council considers fate of Jackling house artifacts

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The Woodside Town Council will consider what to do with a collection of antique home furnishings from the 1920s — relics valued at nearly $30,300 from a house once owned by the late Apple co-founder Steve Jobs — when it meets Tuesday evening (Oct. 23).

The collection of 40 to 50 items has been in storage at the Community Museum. They are what remains of a house built by copper baron Daniel C. Jackling and include a copper mailbox, valued at $2,000; a two-tiered wrought-iron chandelier valued at $1,500; a three-fixture light for a pool table for $1,000; a pair of door handles estimated at $300; and a thermostat for $5.

The council meets at 7:30 p.m. in Independence Hall at 2955 Woodside Road. Also on the agenda: two appeals of a Planning Commission approval for the California Water Service Company to replace two water tanks on Stadler Drive with a single larger tank. Staff is recommending that the council deny the appeals.

Click here and turn to Page 13 to examine images and detailed descriptions of the items in the collection.

Jobs had the Jackling House demolished in 2011, concluding a decade of court battles with preservationists and fans of the man who designed this house and many more in Santa Barbara: architect George Washington Smith.

The council accepted responsibility for the care of the items salvaged from the house and set itself a priority list of how to dispose of them: The town itself had first priority, followed by the San Mateo County Historical Association, and the University Art Museum at the University of California in Santa Barbara.

Several pieces have become part of the permanent collection at the Community Museum. As for the rest, the History Committee is recommending that the council first offer the artifacts to the owners of 410 Mountain Home Road, the former site of the Jackling house. These items would remain in town and would be a reuse of “local historic material,” according to a staff report.

The committee is recommending handing over the items at no charge; town staff disagrees and recommends selling them at their appraised value, the report says.

The second option for the artifacts: offer them to UC Santa Barbara at no charge.

The third option would be a silent auction to the general public at Independence Hall.

The fourth option recommended by the committee is “sending all remaining items to salvage,” the staff report says.