SAN FRANCISCO (MarketWatch) -- This is a story that normally wouldn't get a lot of attention here, but this yarn involving a high-powered tech chieftain, a kowtowing Silicon Valley township, an old house and a clash of wills is worth telling.

The house is a 1920s-era mansion. On one side of the clash is a group of historical preservationists who want to keep the house for posterity. The chieftain? None other than Apple Inc.'s Steve Jobs.

More than four years ago, the town of Woodside -- a bucolic Silicon Valley enclave known to occasionally toady to the region's high-tech billionaires -- approved an application by the Apple AAPL, +1.63% co-founder and chief executive to tear down his Spanish Colonial Revival estate.

But the sprawling 1925 home remains standing because a group of preservationists intervened, and, after a lawsuit and appeal, Jobs lost.

Now, Jobs is trying again to demolish the estate, which he purchased in the early 1980s and lived in for about 10 years. Known to be obsessive about the design of Apple's products, Jobs wants to build a smaller, brand-new single-family house on the site of the once-elegant estate. (No doubt one of those sleek numbers with crisp white spaces and free of buttons. Sort of like a giant iPod or a Mac cube?)

A new application will be heard Tuesday evening, in what may be a lively and contentious meeting. No decisions are expected Tuesday, but based on past actions and some documents on a municipal Web site, the town of Woodside appears ready to grant Jobs another demo permit.

"The question now is whether the evidence he is submitting will let them legally permit the demolition," said Brian Turner, an attorney for the Western region of the National Trust for Historic Preservation, a nonprofit created by Congress in 1949 to promote public participation in the preservation of historic resources in the U.S.

(Full disclosure: I've watched this episode with interest because I'm a member of this preservation group and have also written a book on San Francisco architecture.)

The house Jobs wants to destroy has been deemed historic for both architectural styling as well as notable former residents.

The 17,250-square-foot estate was designed by architect George Washington Smith, renowned among architectural historians as an early and notable purveyor of the Spanish Colonial Revival style in Southern California. The house, designed for copper magnate Daniel Jackling, is one of Smith's rare works in Northern California and is replete with unique copper fixtures, evocative of his client's occupation.

Jobs has been making an effort to give the house away, a condition specified in the original 2004 demolition permit. The Apple chief is required by the town to market the estate at his own expense. He then could donate the house to anyone with the financial wherewithal to relocate and restore it. It has sat unoccupied for more than a decade.

Jobs would donate a "reasonable amount, as determined by the town manager, [toward] the cost of moving the massive house to a new location." It is not clear what Susan George, Woodside's town manager, has deemed "reasonable." George did not respond to a request for comment.

Howard Ellman, Jobs' attorney, said in a memo to the town of Woodside in September that after spending more than 100 hours marketing the Jackling house, "there are no persons or entities of which we are aware seriously considering the possibility of moving and restoring the Jackling Estate." He added that two financially strong parties are still considering the matter but that had yet to present any proposal in writing.

When reached by phone, though, Ellman said that all the relevant documents were on the town's Web site and that he had nothing further to say. He then hung up.

Maybe he was anticipating a question about Jobs' health, about which many investors remain anxious. Last week, during Apple's post-earnings-report conference call, executives said they looked forward to the CEO's return to Apple in June after a leave of absence to deal with health issues. Jobs' attorney has typically shown up at Woodside meetings in the past, and Jobs is not expected to attend on Tuesday evening.

Another new argument for allowing demolition is that, according to contractors Jobs has hired, the cost of building a new residence would be approximately $8.2 million, while modernizing and restoring the Jackling house would cost $13.3 million.

But Uphold Our Heritage, a nonprofit founded to save the Jackling house, thinks the firm hired by Jobs may be overstating the extent of damage to the 84-year-old residence. The town of Woodside hired a San Francisco firm with expertise in architectural restoration, Architectural Resources Group, which gave an analysis of the property and of the relocation, and came up with a more economical method of moving the house.

Woodside does not have a good record in preserving its own history. According to a letter written to the town by Wendy McCaw, a fan of Smith's architecture who owns three of his buildings, when McCaw was growing up in nearby Portola Valley, she witnessed the destruction of many great estate homes and buildings.

I must confess my hope that this small but wealthy enclave will recognize the need to preserve some of its heritage and won't be so quick to grant Jobs another demolition permit. But the fact that Jobs has not simply sold the house, which he has called poorly designed, shows his iron will.

Some have argued that he is purposely letting the house deteriorate.

Yet the episode offers a glimpse into how an influential tech titan can impose his will on a small Silicon Valley township, and how old values can conflict with new demands.