The house depicted as the home of serial killer Buffalo Bill in Silence of the Lambs was on sale for some time. Though famous, it was not particularly enticing unless you wanted to live an hour out of Pittsburgh, next to train tracks, but not enjoy the movie's sadly-fictional sprawling basement. It's finally sold, though, to the perfect owner: someone who is turning it into a B&B and Lambs museum.
Now the four-bedroom Queen Anne Victorian home has some real-life owners, including Chris Rowan, who plans to recreate that well as he morphs the house into a boutique hotel and "cinematic destination," according to a press release.
"I know film aficionados will also jump at the chance to stay in the house where the audience first meets Buffalo Bill up close," he said in the release. Rowan is a big-time movie buff himself and helps run the annual New York City Horror Film Festival, devoted to independent horror films.
The house still contains many of the features that were included in the 1991 movie, from wood trimmings to the vintage wallpaper. Photos used to advertise the home feature posters of the movie — which won Oscars for best picture, director, actor, actress, and adapted screenplay and was selected for preservation in the National Film Registry in 2011.
The house's new website is at buffalobillshouse.com.
Hi, I'm Chris Rowan, the new owner of Buffalo Bill's House. I'd like to share with you my story of how Buffalo Bill's House came to be. … I was cruising some of my frequented favorite websites when I stumbled upon an article of interest. The headline read "Buffalo Bill's House Goes on the Market." I was immediately intrigued, as my first thought was "Are they talking about Buffalo Bill – from "The Silence of the Lambs"? Upon clicking the link to the article, my suspicion was correct. I thought, "Dude, how fucking cool is that? The actual house that one of my favorite movies was filmed in!" I was even more surprised to find out it was located in a suburb not too far from Pittsburgh.
↬ John N.
