BANGOR, Maine — The rust-colored house that stands dauntingly in the heart of Bangor's Whitney Park Historic District is an iconic landmark for the city. Iron-rod gates shaped like cobwebs are hard to misplace, as they shut out most of the world from the legacy author who used to live inside.
As well as he is known for his thick-spined horror fiction novels, Stephen King is perhaps just as famous for calling this Victorian-era mansion "home". But soon, the house and neighborhood could undergo some alterations with the proposal of zoning changes.
Stephen and Tabitha King are requesting a contract zone change for the little over three and a quarter acres of land they own at 39 and 47 West Broadway.
If approved, the zoning change would allow the couple to use their nonprofit, the Stephen and Tabitha King Foundation, to preserve the home and King's legacy. The zone change would allow the home to serve as an archive for King's manuscripts and other materials and establish a writers' retreat for a lucky number of people interested in working on their craft.
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The Bangor City Council met Monday evening for the first reading and referral of the proposal. While no definitive action was taken, the topic generated some discussion of interest.
"I think people in this community have a lot of respect for Stephen King and Tabitha King and a lot of appreciation for all that they’ve done for this community," city councilor Ben Sprague told NEWS CENTER Maine. "(I think) they would like to preserve the Stephen King and Tabitha King legacy in this community for years to come, and this seems like a good way to do that."
The King couple moved into the home in the 1980s, about seven years after King published his first novel, Carrie, in 1973. Since then, King has published 60 other novels, along with a list of other works, many of them written in his Bangor home.
Currently, King's mansion is closed to the public -- anyone interested in visiting is welcome to stand outside of the couple's home, but they are not allowed to enter. The zoning change would include other limitations and restrictions on the uses for and a number of people allowed to be on site.
Sprague said that potential impact on nearby residents right now is "hard to say" since the proposal is "just up for early discussion" at this point.
"But I think people have a fair amount of respect for Stephen King in this community, and I would like to think that this idea would be met positively by neighbors and by the community at large," Sprague added.
The Bangor City Council meets again for the next time Wednesday, October 16.
This story has been updated to reflect October 16 is a Wednesday, not Monday.