The house where Walt Disney was born, 2156 N. Tripp in Chicago, is up for auction on eBay starting at US$ 250,000. The four-bedroom, frame house was built in 1893 by Disney’s father, Elias, and it is was where Walt Disney was born 105 years ago this week. The house was posted by owners Radoje and Barbara Popovic.

The Popovics, who bought the home for 190-thousand dollars in 2002, say they went to eBay instead of listing the house on the regular market “because we feel there is someone out there that might be able to take the building to the next step and do something with the historical significance.”

Born December 5, 1901, Walt Disney lived in the house for four years before the family moved to Marceline, Missouri.

The description on eBay reads:

“Excerpt from preliminary staff summary of information submitted to the Commission on Chicago Landmarks. Walt Disney birthplace. “The story of Walt Disney’s association with Chicago began in 1890 when his parents, Elias and Flora Disney, moved to the city as a young married couple seeking new opportunities. On Halloween Day, 1892, Disney paid $750 for a 25 x 125 corner lot on 2156 N. Tripp Avenue, on the Northwest side of Chicago. The area was annexed into the city in 1889 and soon became a desirable location for working-class families to buy lots and build homes of their own. The tracts of vacant land quickly became densely built up with small cottages and two-flats that closely resembled the Disney cottage in appearance and scale. On November 23, 1892, Elias Disney obtained a building permit to build a two story, 18 x 28 foot wood cottage, costing appx $800. Elias was able to keep the cost low on the cottage by acting as his own contractor, and doing much of the construction himself. It is doubtful that a professional architect was consulted, but family reminiscences suggest that Flora Disney was instrumental in working out the floor plan and securing the construction materials. By the turn-of-the-century, the quiet isolated neighborhood that Elias found in 1891 was soon showing signs of some of the negative aspects of being part of a large city. After nearly fifteen years of living on Tripp Avenue, the Disneys decided it was time to move on.”

View eBay item 220058471607 here.

This entry was posted on Monday, December 11th, 2006 at 2:12 pm and is filed under Americas, Off-topic. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.