Sandra Cowart, the former owner of the 90-year-old Julian Price mansion that was drowning in an overgrowth of foliage and clutter that Cowart had acquired throughout the years has passed away.
She was featured on tonight’s episode of Hoarders Overload, when A&E aired an update on its Hoarders episode from 2017.
Introducing herself on the promo for the episode, Sandra said:
“I’m Sandra Cowart, and I’m an interior designer.”
The official A&E synopsis for tonight’s episode read:
“Former famed interior designer, Sandra, has hoarded out every square inch of the historic mansion she lost to foreclosure.
However, she refuses to leave the manor in spite of the fact the bank has sold it to a new couple.
The new owners are now facing a crisis of conscience trying to figure out how to compassionately evict Sandra from the property and dispose of her hoard.”
According to A&E, Sandra Cowart’s 2017 episode was one of the most talked about segments in the show’s history, and while the network revisits the Julian Price mansion, viewers will see how close the crew came to their breaking points while filming the show.
More than 1.2 million households watched the drama unfold when the original Hoarders episode featuring the Julian Price mansion and Cowart aired in January 2017, as crews emptied the house. The episode has aired several times since.
Tonight’s episode will not only revisit the mansion to give viewers a chance to see how the house was renovated, it will also show what happened to Cowart following the 2017 episode.
Tonight’s episode also includes interviews with one of Cowart’s brothers and the new homeowners, revealing Cowart’s progress and the restoration of the mansion.
JULIAN PRICE HOUSE:
The 90 year old Julian Price house, formerly owned by Sandra Cowart, dates back to 1929 and was designed in the Tudor style by an acclaimed, New York-bred architect, the late Charles Hartmann.
The mansion was purchased by a new couple, Michael and Eric Fuko-Rizzo, who are attempting to gently evict Sandra from the house that she is still clinging desperately to.
Michael and Eric Fuko-Rizzo, the new owners, expressed gratitude to A&E Network for returning.
“There has been so much interest in how Sandra is doing,” he said.
Michael Fuko-Rizzo mentioned that Cowart still “lives in the area,” but declined to share more with the Winston-Salem Journal.
Sandra Cowart lawsuit:
Sandra, the longtime owner of Greensboro’s famed Julian Price House, back in 2015 was caught in a legal tussle with Bank of America after they scheduled a foreclosure sale of the architectural and historic landmark for Jan. 11.
Representing herself in the lengthy court battle, interior designer Sandra Cowart in a petition filed in U.S. Middle District Court, said that she was deeply in debt and “working 18 hours a day to save my home and get back to work.”
Acting as her own lawyer, Cowart filed complaints against the bank in federal court, asking to proceed in a “pauperis” status for those who cannot afford the filing fee and other costs of court action.
Cowart also petitioned the court for a “permanent preliminary injunction” barring the bank from selling the large, imposing structure on Fisher Park Circle.
The bank had won several rulings against her claims of fraud in both federal and state courts, arguing successfully to the N.C. Court of Appeals that Cowart borrowed $1.9 million on the Fisher Park property 10 years ago in a loan that was “now approximately 67 months past due with a total outstanding debt of more than $2.5 million.”
According to court documents, Cowart “has lived in and cared for the subject property since 1975, a total of 40 years”.
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