Brad Holden’s Dec. 27, 2023 article on the history of Rosewood Manor mentioned that the 109-year-old building in unincorporated Esperance would be demolished in January 2024. Crews have been performing building demolition work gradually for the past few weeks, but the bulk of the structure was knocked down on Tuesday, Jan. 23.
At the time of Brad’s article, the building sat in a state of disrepair, but numerous people stopped by over the past few weeks to pay final respects to the grand old building.
During the second week of January, an architectural salvage crew came in and removed windows and doors from the upper wooden sections of the manor.
With the windows and doors removed, you could easily see into the interior and gaze upon the original 2×4-inch studded walls and white staircase leading to the upstairs.
On Jan. 22, an excavator was brought in to first expertly scrape the bricks off the manor’s upper exterior walls. The bricks were then placed in piles for later removal.
On Tuesday morning, Jan. 23, the main demolition began. Using a forest excavator with a heavy bucket, an expert operator by the name of Randy started on the northeast corner of the wooden structure. Once he was done, he moved to the southeast corner and continued to remove the roof and the top two floors.
The demolition proceeded to the western portion of the building. A portion of the roof was removed, and the top portion of the three-story chimney was knocked down.
With the top of the chimney removed, the remaining structure began to sway and collapsed inward, with the middle of the chimney also falling to the ground.
Once the debris is removed from the first-story floor, the white brick walls on the lower portion will also be taken down and the bricks/debris will be removed for recycling. New development will begin on the property in the near future.
As Brad pointed out in his article, Rosewood Manor had many lives that often mirrored the multiple layers of Edmonds/Esperance history throughout the years. I, for one, will miss seeing it on my drives up and down 220th Street Southwest.
— Story and photos by Byron Wilkes
Were they able to save the lumber? I believe the 2x4s must be actual 2 inches by 4 inches, and as such are valuable.
And there old growth
I hope they’re saving some of the lumber and not just recycling it. I just happened to be driving by this afternoon when demolition was taking place, so I stopped and took a few photos.
Some of the larger trusses were moved off of the roof section and laid aside. Unfortunately the 2″ X 4″ walls were the main supports for the building and there was no attempt to save any of them during the main demolish yesterday.
I agree with you about saving the lumber, Ralph. And maybe more. We throw away too much. I think there is a movement to dismantle and reuse/repurpose materials from buildings being removed for new construction. It’s a practical approach to using resources.
Kinda sad to see it go, but nothing lasts forever. It sure was cool when it was in use! who scored that property?? Worth a ton, I’m sure. Hope whatever they do with it looks nice.
Fred,
From the previous article, “A developer quickly snatched the property up and now, two years later, it waits to be permanently erased from the local landscape. Word on the street is that a densely-packed row of town homes will be going into the space — another example of suburban development winning over historic preservation.”
RIP to the area’s first, true roadhouse. Thanks for documenting this, Byron.
Rosewood Manor 1915 – 2024
And thanks for the photos
Let’s tear down a really well built old building full of high grade wood and materials, so we can build a bunch of cheapo low quality town houses for the masses, which will cost way more than they could ever be worth. Lot’s of our so called “progress” is “regress” with bells on. We are really good at this sort of thing around here. We tore out a great interurban railroad system from Bellingham to Tacoma, in favor of the automobile, and now we are rebuilding most of it for billions $’s instead of thousands $’s. Our first real high school is still standing and useful as a repurpose, when our second one barely went 30 years until demolition. And the never ending beat goes on.
Mr. Wright, “build a bunch of cheap low quality townhouses”. And you know this how?
Tom, because I’ve lived in this town off and on and this area for over 50 years now and I have eye balls. All those square wood frame boxes they are building, 10 feet from each other, everywhere there is a postage stamp of available land; go for around a million dollars more or less. I seriously doubt that the developer who bought this property is going to build one, two or even three large and luxurious single family homes here , but if he/she does I will write you an official apology for my unwarranted assumption.
You are quite correct in your assumption, Clinton. Snohomish County records clearly shows that the developer intends to build up to 12 housing units on this lot of land. I’m not sure why anyone would question this or act surprised in any way. This is what developers do.
Man you should have purchased the property.
Are pictures of the interior available to view over the years
?
Mary, I am not aware of any interior photos throughout the year. Brad Holden who wrote the original article about the history of Rosewood Manor, which is referenced in the first paragraph of this article may know of some, but I doubt that any exist in any of the museums etc. At least I have never seen any.
In the words of Joni Mitchell:
Don’t it always seem to go
That you don’t know what you’ve got
Till it’s gone
They paved paradise
And put up a parking lot
What a shame Edmonds, erasing another piece of history.
Melissa, I think most of us are saddened by the loss of this grand old building, but it should be noted that Rosewood Manor was located in unincorporated Esperance. As such, the Edmonds Preservation Society, nor any other Edmonds historical group had any say over its disposition.