The Painted Lady - a grand old Beach Drive mansion set on almost an acre of land with a pond and gazebo - is for sale.

It has 10 rooms including a formal entry, master bedroom with a fireplace and veranda, oak floors, as well as front and back covered porches. The asking price is $2.5 million, which was reduced because the 96-year-old structure needs a new foundation.

Unfortunately one of the estate's assets, its wide and deep front lawn, is a tempting property apart from the mansion. The front lawn and the house occupy two separate tax parcels and can be sold separately, said Fred Iacolucci, a real estate agent representing owner Bill Conner.

"We want to sell it as an estate," Iacolucci said. "The ideal buyer would be someone who wants to keep it intact."

However the owner applied to the city for a "short plat" to divide the front yard into three buildable lots. The plan is to sell the Painted Lady and yard as one piece. But if there are no takers, they will consider selling the house and the three new lots separately.

The Painted Lady is not a damsel in distress. It has history.

Also known as the Satterlee House, the house is said to be the first building in West Seattle where regular church services were held.

According to historian Paul Dorpat, it was built by George Baker, a banker who wanted a summer retreat for his family as well as a place for the vacation Bible school that his wife, Carrie, had going. The Bible school later moved and became Alki Congregational Church, Alki's first house of worship.

The Baker mansion was a popular gathering place for women's reading and discussion groups.

It also has architectural prominence. In the words of the city ordinance naming the Satterlee House a landmark, "...it is an easily identifiable visual feature of its neighborhood or the city and contributes to the distinctive quality or identity of such neighborhood or the city."

In 1983, the Satterlee House was officially designated a city landmark and with that came some legal protections. No changes may be made to "the entire exterior of the house, as well as the entire site" without prior approval of the Seattle Landmarks Preservation Board.

In addition, the Historic Seattle Preservation and Development Authority owns an easement on the property, so both preservation groups must be consulted if an owner wants to make changes on the property.

Another requirement is a view corridor must be maintained so that passersby on Beach Drive will always be able to see the house. Any new houses in the front lawn area probably would have to be built along the northern edge of the property to preserve a view corridor.

There are 23 pages of restrictions that must be followed, Iacolucci said.

Back in 2002, Conner and developer Marcia Hadley Gamble proposed building cottages on either side of the front yard with a view corridor to the mansion down the middle. That idea was rejected by neighbors and the West Seattle Design Review Board.

Legal language and official recognition might preserve the Painted Lady's exterior but its grandeur may be in the hands of developers.

Tim St. Clair can be reached at tstclair@robinsonnews.com or 932-0300.