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
Real first and last names — as well as city of residence — are required for all commenters.
This is so we can verify your identity before approving your comment.
By commenting here you agree to abide by our Code of Conduct. Please read our code at the bottom of this page before commenting.