Associated Press
SEATTLE — Seattle may have to say goodbye to the childhood home of rock ‘n’ roll legend Jimi Hendrix.
The ivory-hued house with purple trim was sold on eBay in August for $43,500, but the Michigan-based buyer backed out after the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks.
A pitch to billionaire Hendrix fan Paul Allen, who built the $250 million Experience Music Project, got nowhere. EMP, which has a permanent Hendrix exhibit, has no interest in the house as an artifact.
So the Central Area home where Hendrix used to leap from the roof as a boy, pretending to be Flash Gordon, could be demolished within two weeks to make room for development.
Michael Hilow and his wife are building 16 condominiums around the site. Eight have been built so far, and the old Hendrix home will have to come down before the project is completed.
"The Hendrix house was the next house in line," Hilow told the Seattle Post-Intelligencer. "And that was a year and a half ago."
Hilow plans to finish the townhomes by the end of the year.
Hendrix was born in 1942, and his family lost the house in 1956.
It’s not clear how long he lived there, but the 900-square-foot house is clearly identified with the guitar virtuoso who died in 1970. A picture of him is visible in an attic window. The back bedroom and exterior trim are purple, and the bathroom and kitchen cabinets are lavender — possible salutes to his classic "Purple Haze."
"I loved that house," said the long-gone rocker’s brother Leon Hendrix, 52. "I don’t know how all this happened."
Hilow says he is willing to give the house away, but somebody has to come up with $30,000 to have it moved.
"Obviously, Jimi’s flame has gone out because hardly anyone responded," he said. "There was no feedback at all."
Henry Lewis, Leon Hendrix’s manager and a family friend, said he is determined to save the house, which is worth about $40,000 and sitting on property valued at $100,000.
"If I have to pick it up and carry it on my back, I’m going to move the house," Lewis said.
"If someone wants to take it, beautiful," Hilow said. "I just don’t know how long I can wait."
Associated Press
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