The Front Porch: More than dollars figure into sale of Peaceful Valley house

Shannon Blakesley put a sign in her window and a posting on Craigslist: House for sale. The responses came fast: “I had millions of people calling,” she said.

A real-estate agent wanted to turn the house into a rental. A man she thinks was Canadian made an offer.

She kept saying no.

At 800 square feet and 111 years old, the house had ancient wiring in the walls, wooden shingles on the roof and rooms without insulation.

But you know what they say about location.

Blakesley’s address at West Clarke Avenue and North Cedar Street in Peaceful Valley was newly coveted amid growing interest in downtown living. In fact, she could look from her window across the street to the lots where developers Mick and Shelley McDowell recently won permission from the city to build a 17-story condo tower, just one of the plans to come forth in the past several years to draw new dwellers to downtown and surrounding neighborhoods but perhaps the most controversial among current residents. They’re worried about traffic, the proposed building’s height and erosion of Peaceful Valley’s historic character.

Blakesley bought the house in 1999. Still a Peaceful Valley resident, the man who sold her the house seemed most concerned about whether she’d be a good neighbor, she said.

So after deciding to sell, Blakesley waited for the next good neighbor. Also waiting were her dog, who had no backyard to play in, and her baby, who wasn’t born yet but whose due date – and whose impending space needs were the main impetus behind her decision to sell – was approaching fast.

“I just felt like I was holding out for the right person,” said Blakesley, now 29 and the mother of a 4-month-old girl.

Blakesley, who grew up in Spokane Valley, bought the house when she was 22. She had spent time hanging out with friends in Peaceful Valley before moving to the neighborhood, which is tucked between the Spokane River and Browne’s Addition just west of downtown.

Residents bike and skateboard on its narrow streets, chat in the yards and play basketball in the park under the Maple Street Bridge.

“It was historical, it had a lot of character, it was by the river, it was close enough to downtown so you could walk anywhere,” she said. “It just felt like a perfect spot for a young person to live because you have access to everywhere.”

She befriended her neighbors, many of them single women, and she felt protective of them. She wanted a good neighbor for them. She also felt protective of the house, which is the oldest in the Peaceful Valley Historic District.

Blakesley worried that if she sold the home to the wrong person, it could be demolished to make way for development.

“It was pretty important for that house to stay there,” she said.

Matthew Phillipy, 29, is proud to describe his new house as “the oldest house standing in Peaceful Valley.” He plans to keep it that way. The sale was final in October. Blakesley was impressed by his activism on behalf of the Spokane River – he’s a kayaker – and by his desire to fix up the house.

From the new window of his remodeled kitchen – an old window, actually, salvaged somewhere and fitted in – Phillipy, an environmental science teacher at West Valley City School, can see the McDowells’ lot, too.

He’s quickly become a vocal neighborhood activist opposed to the condo tower plan. He says he’d love to see something built across the street that’s scaled back to fit the neighborhood, more in keeping with the “urban villages” he’s seen in Seattle.

Phillipy has also become a learn-as-you-go home renovator, using mostly salvaged and recycled materials. With help from his father, he’s rewired the house (“Before I was even out of the house they were redoing the wiring,” Blakesley said), replaced some windows, created a vaulted ceiling and painted some walls.

As he’s learning, there’s a lot of history between those walls, and under the floors, which Phillipy is pulling up in one room to expose layer after layer of ancient flowered linoleum and less identifiable substances until he finally hit hardwood.

The house was built in 1885 by John Skaar, who worked as a clerk in Spokane. In 1958, it survived a mudslide. What’s really amazing is that it survived 111 years.

According to the Spokane Historic Preservation Office, few neighborhoods like Peaceful Valley still exist in Washington without substantial alterations.

“The Peaceful Valley Historic District is significant as a rare and intact example of a working-class neighborhood dating from the turn of the century,” the office’s Web site reads.

“… While the historic value of such neighborhoods is not frequently recognized, this type of district presents a far more accurate picture of the lives of ‘ordinary’ Americans than the courthouses or homes of the well-to-do that are more commonly preserved.”

Price is almost always the first consideration for home sellers, said Ron McIntire, a real estate agent and co-founder of Spokane By Owner. Second comes the terms of the contract, such as closing dates and form of payment.

It’s not uncommon for people to sell their homes because they don’t like changes in the neighborhood, McIntire said, including development. But when they decide to sell, what the buyers do with the property “isn’t a concern unless their best friend lives next door.”

“The seller always does what’s in the best interests of the seller,” McIntire said.

That’s what makes the house across from the McDowells’ property unusual: For at least three generations of owners at West Clarke Avenue and North Cedar Street, “best interests” have included the interests of the seller, the neighborhood and the house itself.

Blakesley made money when she sold the house to Phillipy – fetching more than twice what she’d paid eight years earlier. She was able to both build wealth and help sustain a community. Just shows what can happen.