Mansion not good enough

Press, 8 May 1986, Page 6

Mansion not good enough

NZPA-Reuter Dallas A new SUS 3 million ($5.2 million) mansion, which did not meet the approval of its wealthy owners, has been razed by a wrecking crew that included five Dallas socialites driving bulldozers. The women paid SUS7S ($130) each at a charity auction to climb aboard the bulldozer and help reduce the 1765 sq metre mansion to a pile of rubble.

The bizarre demolition job was ordered by the Dallas owners of the home, John and Paulette Post, who were unhappy with the wall cracks in the mansion and did not trust safety assurances given by the contracter and city inspectors. A spokesman for the contracting firm that built the luxurious house, Jerry Goolsby, claims that Mr Post disliked the design “so he’s knocking

it down and building another one to suit his wife.” Goolsby’s firm has sued the Posts to recover $U5175,000 ($NZ304,500) in construction costs of the ash-coloured brick home. Paula Ulmer, aged 48, a socialite who won a turn at the bulldozer’s controls, described the demolition as “the greatest way to clean up a kitchen.”