A beautiful 19th century mansion in Seattle, sold for $6 millionwill be demolished because the last owners were the Moonies – members of the Unification Church.
Located on the shores of Lake Washington, the three-story Spanish Mission Revival mansion was once home to the family of Seattle’s early pioneers, including Rolland Denny, son of the city’s founder Arthur Denny.
Later in the 1970s, it was purchased by the Unification Church when the religion was in its infancy and served as a residence for founder Sun Myung Moon, his wife and their followers.
Leonard Garfield, the director of the Museum of History & Industry, described the house as “one of the great private estates from one of Seattle’s golden eras,” as reported by The Seattle Times.
However, the iconic estate can’t even be nominated as a historic landmark because the state Supreme Court has exempted religious entities from landmark designation unless their owners support or seek it.
A beautiful 19th century mansion in Seattle, sold for $6 million, is about to be demolished because its last owners were the Moonies – members of the Unification Church
Located on the shores of Lake Washington, the three-story Spanish Mission Revival mansion was once home to the family of Seattle’s early pioneers, including Rolland Denny, son of the city’s founder Arthur Denny.
Later in the 1970s, it was purchased by the Unification Church when the religion was in its infancy and served as a residence for founders Sun Myung Moon (left), his wife (right) and their followers.
Rolland and his wife Alice Kellogg commissioned Bebb & Mendel, Seattle’s leading architectural firm at the time, to design and build the mansion.
After construction was completed in 1907, the couple named their new home ‘Loch Kelden’, an amalgamation of ‘loch’ meaning lake in Scots and the couple’s names Kellogg and Denny.
With sweeping views of Lake Washington and Mountain Rainier, the property was the ideal wilderness retreat accessible only by boat.
Notably, the mansion’s carriage house was not built for cars, but for horses that Rolland would ride on the unpaved Windermere Road.
In the early 1970s, Moon moved to the US and began giving public speeches around the country.
In the meantime, he commissioned a small group of his followers to travel around and purchase property to establish the Church in important cities.
The Unification Church acquired the mansion in 1974 for $175,000. Since then, the mansion has been used as a residence for members of the American Unification Church and occasionally housed Moon and his wife.
The home was listed by Sotheby’s International Realty in 2022 for $5.99 million, but remained unsold until recently.
According to writer Jean Sherrard, the unknown buyer has drawn up a non-disclosure agreement that prevents anyone from visiting the estate or documenting its condition.
Scott Dolfay, the church’s retired property manager and caretaker for more than two decades, invited historians to the mansion for a farewell tour but had to cancel two days before the visit.
“At the last minute he contacted us and said the estate has actually been sold and the buyer has signed a non-disclosure agreement,” Sherrard told KUOW.
The developers even denied access to the property to take some repeat photos of the mansion, Sherrard said.
“So we realized the only way we could get our ‘now’ photo was to get on the water and shoot up.”
Rolland (pictured) and his wife Alice Kellogg commissioned Bebb & Mendel, then Seattle’s preeminent architectural firm, to design and build the mansion in the 20th century
The house was listed by Sotheby’s International Realty for $5.99 million in 2022, but remained unsold until recently
Sherrard and Maria Denny, Rolland’s great-grandchildren, recently embarked on a boat tour and saw the spectacular house from the water.
‘It is pathetic. Especially to stand here now in front of the house and think what a truly spectacular house it is, and how stately and beautiful it is,” Maria said.
“There isn’t much like it left, and I believe this may be the last of the original homes that the original Denny family members lived in,” she added. “I forgot how beautiful it is.”
Sherrard said, “And it really feels like a little symphony on the hill.” I think I would categorize this as a real treasure.”
But the priceless 19th-century mansion could soon be demolished, as Sherrard drew public attention to the matter in her article.
“As far as we know, all of this is shrouded in layers of deliberate secrecy,” she said in an interview.
“All we can establish is that there is no schedule for the demolition that has been presented in any public forum. “We’re all basically in the dark,” she said.
‘I hope that some light on this subject can indeed inspire developers to save the place.’
‘There are many applications for which this beautiful country house can be used. I would say the least and most weakened of them would be to tear it down and replace it with million dollar homes.