We did a deal to build up interest in Mirrormont. In cooperation with Channel 7, we built a house. We had big advertisements on J.P. Patches’ show, “The House That TV 7 Built.” Huge crowds came out, 3000 people with their kids per weekend. It was auctioned off to the highest bidder as a way to pay for ads and the house. It gave us 6 months of advertising and put Mirrormont on the map.
The Channel 7 House was the first chalet I built in Mirrormont. Channel 7 wanted a spectacular house for people to see, so it was big and had a huge fireplace. At that time, not many chalets had been built. People were really interested in that idea, so it went over well.
We contacted our suppliers and the builders that were building in Mirrormont and got their promises to cooperate. The builders agreed to contribute carpenter help, and many of the suppliers donated materials in exchange for TV advertising. We even got the house completely furnished in exchange for TV advertising. I designed a large chalet-style house and we began construction. It took about three months to build the home and then the TV promotion began. The station used almost all of their unsold advertising spots to advertise Mirrormont, our suppliers, and the House That TV 7 Built. You could hardly turn on the TV without seeing the ads. They also put us on some of the talk shows to be interviewed and explain the details. – Rod Loveless, developer of Mirrormont
The station auctioned off the Channel 7 house in 1964. The big ‘triple A-frame’ at 26065 SE 159th Place was purchased by the Russell family. In February, 1965, they vacated their first chalet in Mirrormont on 263rd, which has been my home ever since since. After that, the Channel 7 house has changed hands several times. The current owner, Daryl Hawkins, purchased it two years ago from the Buddhist folks. In late February, Daryl was repairing the foundation of his house that he belatedly learned had been damaged in the 2001 earthquake. – Tom Cole, Mirrormont News, Spring 2002
Before more recent owners, a Buddhist nun, Sunim, lived there. She had a service every Saturday upstairs. You could hear them bonging. I’d go over to visit her once in a while and she’d open the door and it’d smell like garlic. – Cindy Ebersole, 40 years in Mirrormont