Patti Payne’s Cool Pads: Rocker Steve Miller’s former Medina home can be yours for $6.2M
A Medina manse, on the market for $6.2 million, at one time belonged to classic rocker Steve Miller. Miller, named to the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame last month, sold the house in 1982 to the late philanthropist and major arts supporter Elizabeth Blakeney, whose estate is selling it now. Ms. Blakeney died in June 2015 at the age of 94.
The home is a 5,060 square-foot traditional rambler was built in 1966 on three-quarters of an acre. The land was part of a five-acre parcel belonging to timber baron James Garfield Eddy in the early part of the 1900s.
As the years went by, Eddy’s estate was broken into four pieces and today has four prominent owners: former Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) head William Ruckelshaus, PACCAR Chair Mark Pigott, Perkins Coie Partner John Dillow, and the Blakeney estate, which is listed with John L. Scott Broker Mike Bauer.
These four owners and their families have common shared space adjacent to their properties – approximately two acres that is listed on the National Register of Historic Places. It includes a large park-like green space, a tennis court, some 300 feet of waterfront with cabana, and a covered boat slip on a very large dock.
Amazon chief Jeff Bezos is the immediate neighbor to this historic affluent mini-community.
“Things do not really turn over there very often,” says Bauer. “It’s kind of an unusual opportunity.”
Bauer describes this very private house as “Beverly Hills meets Palm Springs.”
It has a formal living and dining room and four fireplaces. There are five bedrooms, including a spacious master suite with a fireplace. There is a family room, a large casual eating area, a gourmet kitchen and a combined writer’s den and media room.
There’s a three-car garage, a garden shed and a 1,400 square-foot basement. The landscaping is beautifully groomed and well established, and features waterfalls spilling into a small reflecting pond. A heated in-ground swimming pool and 400 square-foot pool house, both part of the Blakeney property, were a major draw for the family.
Ms. Blakeney’s five daughters and nine grandchildren came every weekend to visit and to share Sunday dinners, says Moyna Billing, one of the daughters.
“All of the cousins became like brothers and sisters,” says Billing. “It was wonderful.”
Billing says it is bittersweet for her and her sisters to sell their mother’s house, with so many memories of wonderful family times there every week.
Check out the slide show of John G. Wilbanks photographs to get a feel for this unusual property.