‘Mary’s Place,’ historic home next to the campus of Sacred Heart, goes on market for nearly $6 million

Even factoring for inflation, Mary Gianetsas would likely be satisfied with the listing price for her 1906 home near the campus of the region’s medical center.

“Mary’s Place,” the house that has persisted in the shadow of Providence Sacred Heart Medical Center for decades, was listed for sale late last week. George Alex, Gianetsas’s son and local owner of the house after the death of his sister in January, confirmed the $5.9 million price tag in a phone call this week.

“There are a lot of people interested in that big old house,” Alex said Wednesday.

He retold the story of his mother, accepting a visit from Sister Peter Claver, Sacred Heart’s administrator, in the late 1960s. Claver offered the first-generation Greek immigrant $200,000 for the home she’d purchased for $18,000 a couple decades prior, Alex said. Gianetsas wanted $215,000.

Today, that offer would be worth $1.5 million. But the hospital, which was oriented north-south rather than east-west when Gianetsas refused to sell, has continued to expand. The land is zoned for office/retail by the city of Spokane, meaning several commercial uses are possible for the plot that is a little less than three quarters of an acre, said Gene Arger, who is the broker for the property.

“We’re exploring all the different options,” he said.

That could include a medical office, parking or an assisted-living facility, just as a few examples.

Arger and Alex are family friends, both members of the Holy Trinity Greek Orthodox Church in Spokane. Arger called the land “a unique property.”

“There’s nothing like it in the city,” he said.

Alex confirmed he’d heard from Providence about the property and several other interested parties. He said an estate sale would likely occur this summer. The home is full of antique furniture and a set of stained-glass windows that overlook the privately owned parking lot to the home’s west.

Alex acknowledged there was a lot of history in the house, but also said it’s likely at the price the land is worth the home will come down.

“It’s a shame to have it torn down,” he said, “but nothing stays the same.”