Stephen King’s Victorian-style Mansion to Become an Archive and Writer’s Retreat

Stephen King and his wife, Tabitha, recently received approval to turn their home in Bangor, Maine, into a writer's retreat and an archive of the famous horror author's work. The couple submitted the request to have their home rezoned as a nonprofit organization to the Bangor City Council earlier this month, and have now received unanimous approval.

“They did not want the house to become a Dollywood or some kind of tourist attraction,” David Gould, a city of Bangor planning officer, previously told New England Cable News. “That would bring all sorts of people to the neighborhood, and they have other neighbors that live there.” The King's retreat will host no more than five writers at one time.

In true Stephen King fashion, the eye-catching red Victorian-style mansion features bats, spiders, and a web on its front gates. The Shining author has said that upon moving to Bangor, he already had a plan to write “a very long book” set in “a small American city," and that the fictional town of Derry, Maine, in his hit 1986 novel It was inspired by Bangor.

“The King Family has been wonderful to the city of Bangor over time and have donated literally millions of dollars to various causes in the community. Preserving his legacy here in Bangor is important for this community," Bangor city councilor Ben Sprague informed Rolling Stone.

Currently, restricted tours of the home are available to visitors by appointment, as part of the Stephen King–inspired tours of Maine, appropriately called SK Tours. These tours also include locations depicted in It and the actual cemetery used for the 1989 adaptation of Pet Sematary. The Kings no longer live in the Bangor home. They spend most of their time at their other residences in Maine and Florida instead.

Originally Appeared on Architectural Digest