Rosewood Manor, a storied prohibition haven and more, set for demolition

EDMONDS — Once a haven for scandal during the prohibition, as well as a hospital, a church and a home, a 109-year-old historic manor near Edmonds is scheduled for demolition this month.

A fire prompted the prior owners, the Hostetler family, to sell the 7,970-square-foot Rosewood Manor in fall 2022. The buyer was Adamant Homes, a Bothell-based home building company.

The property sits at 8104 220th St. SW in Esperance, an unincorporated enclave west of Highway 99 bordered on all sides by Edmonds city limits. Photos suggest the white-trimmed, red brick home was in stellar shape, just over a year ago. Generations of homeowners had cared for the aging structure.

But maintaining a century-old building is no small feat. Some past owners were unable to keep up with costs, pushing them to sell the home. Now, the yard is overgrown, the bricks have fallen and the windows are busted. County documents indicate the manor is set to be replaced by a plot of 16 single-family homes.

Builders received a demolition permit Jan. 2, according to the county’s property and development department.

Brad Holden, a local author who writes about the history of prohibition in the Seattle area, spoke to a contractor who told him the building was set to come down some time this month.

Adamant Homes did not respond to requests for comment.

Since moving to the neighborhood in the 1990s, Holden was captivated by Rosewood Manor. He began digging into its mysteries, uncovering a colorful history that has largely been forgotten by its neighbors.

Despite its rich history, neither the county nor nearby cities have claimed the manor as a historic building.

“I wish there were more people who were passionate about this place,” Holden said. “We’re losing a really historical part of the neighborhood. I hope it serves as a lesson for the future that we put some value on historic preservation.”

The home was built in 1915, according to state archives. The Daily Herald clippings from the 1920s show the home was a breeding ground for chaos during the Prohibition era.

In 1919, Robert and Olga Farley purchased the home and opened the popular White Horse Tavern. In the few years they owned the otherwise quiet farmland, it spiraled into an era of illegal activity.

Robert Farley was charged three times with illegally selling alcohol and served jail time. On one occasion, he was busted by undercover officers who sat at the tavern for a glass of whiskey under the “guise of pleasure-seeking motorists” and “jazzed to the strains of a rag-time orchestra in order to obtain evidence,” according to a Seattle Union Record article from 1919.

Months later, Robert Farley was arrested for shooting a tavern customer. The court released him after finding the shot was fired out of self-defense.

After the couple divorced, Olga Farley was charged with shooting and killing her lover after a drunken fight in 1922.

The jury later acquitted her after a nurse at Providence Hospital in Everett reported he admitted to shooting himself.

Just four years after purchasing the tavern, Farley sold the manor. Eventually, it ended up in the hands of Edmonds City Council member George Moore, who opened the Olympic Tavern in 1926.

The manor returned to local headlines in 1927, when two masked bandits cornered Moore and other tavern employees after they closed the bar. The thieves shot Moore and took off with $1,100, according to a Herald clipping.

Moore survived, but the police raided the Olympic Tavern, along with four others on New Year’s Eve in 1927. It appears the tavern was shut down soon after.

The property then appeared in local newspapers under the name of Chase Lake Pavilion. The home served as a dance hall through the mid-1930s.

In the ’50s, the home shifted gears, becoming a sanatorium and eventually the Aurora Edmonds Nursing Home in the 1960s.

Jim Lustig, the man who coined the Rosewood name, purchased the home in 1999 and ran a wedding catering business. He said the name suited the home and was fitting for a company in the wedding industry.

Lustig said he thinks about the manor often and laments having to sell it in the 2000s for financial reasons.

“It was a wonderful house,” he said in an interview. “I used to drive out there every single night to remind myself why I bought it. I’d look at it and think to myself, ‘I love this house. It’s really incredible.’”

Ryan Marsh thought so too. When he came across the manor as a college student in 2002, he placed a letter in the mailbox asking about its availability. Lustig leased the manor to Marsh and he began to repair the home.

The manor served as a home to Marsh and his friends. In 2006, they officially banded into the Church of the Beloved and purchased the home from Lustig.

For over a decade they held events, church meetings, and put a roof over the heads of those who needed one, calling themselves the Rosewood community. Marsh said at least 100 people lived in the home during their time in it.

“There’s so much life in that place,” Marsh said. “I was married there, my youngest child was born in there.”

Eventually, maintenance costs were too big of a burden. The church disbanded in 2019 and sold the property to the Hostetlers.

Marsh said he and former members of the church met there in August to say goodbye to the manor.

Ashley Nash: 425-339-3037; ashley.nash@heraldnet.com; Twitter: @ash_nash00.