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Acquired Providentially
First, let me tell you again how God maneuvered circumstances
so that some fine and even fabulous properties came into our hands
for His Work, at little or no actual cost.
In November, 1946, I was led providentially to our
first-acquired block of property. On it stands the present out-
grown Administration Building -- today not one-twentieth large
enough -- the Library building -- and the "Garden Theatre" with its
beautiful Tempietto as a stage at one end and the pergola at the
other, beside a few pools and fountains.
The Administration building originally had been a barn in the
horse-and-buggy days. There were horse stables below, and haymow
above. When automobiles came, the central part of the ground floor
was converted into a 4-car garage, with servants' living quarters
on each end and on the second floor. That's the way it was when we
bought it.
But, by turning this into the office building for God's Work
-- with our printing shop, our mail-reading room and mailing list
and addressing machines, beside Administration offices for the
College -- and by putting our own radio recording studio in the
library building (where it still is jammed and packed in
unbelievable manner!!!) we saved $1,100 per month we had been
spending up in Eugene, Oregon, on office rent and broadcast
recordings. We obtained the property with NO down payment, and
$1,000 per month payments.
Thus we came into OWNERSHIP of this beautiful property with
majestically landscaped grounds in a manner just like BEING PAID
$100 PER MONTH to accept and own it! In other words, it cost us
$100 per month LESS than NOTHING! Of course there was
remodeling to be done -- and the grounds to be cleared of weeds.
That was the start.
Our four pioneer students had to find their own living
quarters. They found low-cost furnished rooms. They had to feed
themselves in these bedrooms as best they could -- for they could
not afford to eat at restaurants.
Next property acquisition was Mayfair, a beautiful and proud
old 3-story English Tudor mansion. It was acquired at very low
price, with very low down payment. It was then a high-class
rooming house. For a year we retained several of the roomers. It
was an income-producing property -- NOT AN EXPENSE!
Fabulous Properties Like a Gift
In 1956 the most fabulous property in Pasadena came to us --
almost a gift. Literally it had been offered as a gift -- only the
prospective donors failed to come up with the money. This was
explained a month ago in the Autobiography in The PLAIN TRUTH.
Anyway, we obtained it at a cost lower than the ornate iron fence
around the Orange Grove Boulevard front would cost today! It was
easily worth more than ten times what it cost us.
No furniture or furnishings were included in the purchase --
except one large, heavy, carved rosewood center table in the
Rosewood room. I think they found it too heavy to move out.
Afterward, I bargained for the purchase of the really fabulous
solid mahogany, ornately carved, round dining table, and massive
high-backed, hand-tooled, leather-covered dining chairs -- a dozen