Apple’s Jobs is blocked from leveling home

Apple Inc. Chief Executive Steve Jobs lost a bid to demolish a Spanish Colonial Revival-style mansion he owns about 30 miles south of San Francisco.

A California appeals court ruled Wednesday that Jobs and the city of Woodside, where the 17,250-square-foot mansion was built in about 1925, didn’t consider alternatives to destroying the home.

Jobs said he never liked the 30-room Jackling House -- named after its original owner, copper magnate Daniel C. Jackling -- which he bought 21 years ago. He wants to tear it down so he can build a smaller one.

The 1st District Court of Appeal in San Francisco backed a lower-court ruling in favor of a preservation group that sued to block the demolition.

“Woodside issued a permit to Steve Jobs authorizing the demolition of a mansion of historic significance,” a three-judge panel wrote. The city’s finding that alternatives weren’t feasible was “not supported by substantial evidence,” the panel said.