TACOMA, Wash. — Walking by the huge laurel hedges you'd never know it. But on the other side, there's a nearly one-acre estate that looks like something you'd find on the French Riviera.
"One of the best-kept secrets is that we have these beautiful homes in Tacoma and what people may not realize is how unique they are and how special they are," listing agent Michael Morrison said. "And this is a prime example. Everybody is shocked when they come here."
Built in 1929 for furniture magnate Edwin Gregory by the same architects who designed Stadium Bowl, the spacious 5,235-square-foot view home is a "lovely" house in more ways than one. This is where Pete Lovely, a Formula One Grand Prix pioneer and auto dealer, parked himself from the 1970s until his death in 2011.
"One of the most famous cars he built was called a Pooper," said current owner David Blackburn. "That was a Cooper car with a Porsche motor in it."
Blackburn, who once bought a car from Lovely's Volkswagen dealership, has collected Lovely memorabilia over the 10 years he has lived here. He plans to donate it all to the Laguna Seca Museum outside Salinas, California. In 1957, Lovely won the first feature race on that track in a Ferrari.
Blackburn showed some of his treasures, including the trophy the Seattle Post-Intelligencer gave Lovely for P.I. Man of the Year in 1961, part of Lovely's motorsport magazine collection, three helmets, his racing shoes and gloves.
"This is only a fraction of the collection that we have," Blackburn said.
Blackburn has used the 12-car garage to build three businesses.
"These jackets here are made from 1940s and 1950s curtain panels," he said, holding up some colorful clothes that can be found in Gig Harbor and Japan. Then he picked up a pillow.
"This is made from an Air France airplane blanket on the front side and it's cashmere on the back," Blackburn said.
Blackburn said he will miss the views of the mountain and of Brown's Point across Commencement Bay. He says he will miss the sound of frogs in a pond that was once a swimming pool for Whitworth College students. And he says he will miss the backyard space, which adds up to three tax lots.
"I have three boys and it was great for them to run around," Blackburn said.
Now it's time to find another family who will call this home.
"The best selling points for the property are number one: location, location, location," Morrison said. "And then number two, the uniqueness of it and the style. There is no Spanish Mediterranean home that I know of like this. And with an incredible view as well."
It has been a lovely home for decades. Now it will be someone else's lovely home.
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