The one-story home at 22 Ketcham Road in Ridgefield, Connecticut, looks like a cottage, but the property played a role in some of the biggest hits in American music culture.
The home belonged to Jim Steinman, a prolific and celebrated music producer and songwriter from Long Island, New York. He lived in the home until his death in April 2021, and now it's for sale at $5 million. The house is a "special offering" because it includes Steinman's clothes, private art collection and an important musical instrument, listing agent Laura Ancona of William Pitt Sotheby’s International Realty said.
The home contains the same piano Steinman used to create Meat Loaf's song "I'd Do Anything for Love," Bonnie Tyler's "Total Eclipse of the Heart" and Celine Dion's "It's All Coming Back to Me Now."
"We're not only selling the home; we're selling the contents and the inspiration," Ancona told Homes.com. "This was seen by Jim as a place where he can have a retreat."
To be clear, 22 Ketcham was not Steinman's actual recording studio. He didn't have many guests in the home, but he sometimes had artists visit him to collaborate on projects.
Steinman helped produce musical mainstays of the 1980s, including Barbra Streisand's 1984 Emotion album and 'Love Can Make You Cry,' which was in the soundtrack for the 1986 film "Iron Eagle." He was inducted into the Songwriters Hall of Fame in 2012 and the Long Island Music and Entertainment Hall of Fame in 2016.
"In some ways, the house feels like a museum," Ancona said.
Steinman's home was built in 1920, but it spent most of its life as a tiny cottage. Steinman bought the modest home and then poured $6 million into additions, according to Ancona.
The agent said she has done a few showings of the home, and buyers have been particularly impressed with the main bedroom — which still has Steinman's art on the walls and a pink heart-shaped pillow on the bed that belonged to the producer.
"That pillow was given to him by a doctor that was very instrumental in helping him live as long as he did," Ancona said.
The Steinman property sits in Ridgefield — a small town known for Colonial Revival and Queen Anne-style homes and a bustling theatrical and performing arts scene.
Steinman's home is a two-bedroom, four-bathroom ranch with two fireplaces across 6,183 square feet. There's a stone wall on the property along with a two-car garage. After Steinman's death, ownership of his home fell to his estate.
This month marks the second time Ancona has listed Steinman's home. The property went on the market momentarily last year, but Ancona said she took down the listing because the potential buyers at the time were either interested in the home and not its contents or vice versa. Ancona said Steinman's estate is looking for a buyer who will appreciate both the home and the artifacts.
"We want the house to live on," she said. "It's hard to separate the home from the man. We're trying very hard and deliberately not to separate things."