Kurt Cobain’s childhood home for sale

ABERDEEN — This month marks the 20th anniversary of Nirvana’s final studio album, and fans aren’t just able to buy a new “super deluxe” box set to celebrate the occasion. They can also buy the childhood home of late frontman Kurt Cobain, complete with his mattress.

Cobain’s mother, Wendy O’Connor, is putting the tired, 1.5-story bungalow two hours southwest of Seattle on the market this week.

To help sell it, the family is offering a glimpse into the early life of its tortured and talented son through photos shot at the house, including one of a chocolate-frosted birthday cake for Kurt and a shot of a teenage Cobain smiling, guitar in hand, in his messy room.

The home, last assessed at less than $67,000, is being listed for $500,000. It’s a short walk from a riverfront park dedicated to Cobain’s memory, and the family said it would welcome a partnership to make the home into a museum. His room still has the stencil-like band names — Iron Maiden, Led Zeppelin — he reportedly put on the walls, as well as the holes he put in them.

“We’ve decided to sell the home to create a legacy for Kurt, and yes, there are some mixed feelings since we have all loved the home and it carries so many great memories,” Cobain’s sister, Kim Cobain, said in an emailed statement. “But our family has moved on from Washington, and (we) feel it’s time to let go of the home.”

The house, a 1923 structure with dingy carpeting, water-stained wooden shingles on some interior walls, and a recent coat of yellow paint, is on East 1st Street in Aberdeen, a gritty and struggling former timber town at the mouth of the Chehalis River near the southwest Washington coast.

Cobain’s parents bought it in 1969, when Kurt was 2. He lived there until they separated when he was 9, and again with his mom during his later teen years.

The heroin-addicted Cobain committed suicide in Seattle in 1994, at age 27, after a meteoric career that popularized the Pacific Northwest’s heavy, muddy “grunge” rock. The last of Nirvana’s three studio albums, “In Utero,” came out in September 1993, and Universal Music Group has released a re-mastered version and a “super deluxe” box set.

Cobain described his early childhood in Aberdeen as happy. As author Charles R. Cross noted in his Cobain biography, “Heavier Than Heaven,” he would ride his bike around the small yard and pound on a set of Mickey Mouse drums his parents bought him.

In one event that entered family lore, Cobain’s father, Don, trapped a rat in a garbage can in the garage. Don tried to spear it with a broomstick, but the rodent clambered up the handle, over Don’s shoulder to the ground and across Kurt’s toes to safety — prompting endless laughter from the 5-year-old.

But his parents’ divorce scarred him deeply. At one point, he scrawled “I hate Mom, I hate Dad” on his bedroom wall, Cross wrote.

“It’s a place where he had very fond memories, but it’s the house where his parents got divorced,” Cross said in an interview. “He couldn’t wait to get away, but it’s a place that helped shape who he became.”

The home was last lived in by a family friend four years ago. According to The Agency, the Beverly Hills, Calif.-based luxury real estate firm marketing the property, it features the dining room table and hutch from when Cobain lived there. Cobain’s mattress is tucked away in a musty upstairs crawl space.

Cobain lived in about 20 houses in his life, Cross said, and this isn’t the first one offered for sale based on its connection to rock history.

In 2002, an Oregon couple bought a home in nearby Montesano for $42,500. When they learned that Cobain had lived there with his father from 11 to 15, they sold it for $210,000.

Talk to us

> Give us your news tips.

> Send us a letter to the editor.

> More Herald contact information.

More in Local News

Trader Joe’s customers walk in and out of the store on Monday, Nov. 20, 2023 in Everett, Washington. (Olivia Vanni / The Herald)
New Trader Joe’s opens this week at Everett Mall

It’s a short move from a longtime location, essentially across the street, where parking was often an adventure.

Ian Bramel-Allen enters a guilty plea to second-degree murder during a plea and sentencing hearing on Wednesday, March 6, 2024, at Snohomish County Superior Court in Everett, Washington. (Ryan Berry / The Herald)
‘Deep remorse’: Man gets 17 years for friend’s fatal stabbing in Edmonds

Ian Bramel-Allen, 44, pleaded guilty Wednesday to second-degree murder for killing Bret Northcutt last year at a WinCo.

Firefighters respond to a small RV and a motorhome fire on Tuesday afternoon in Marysville. (Provided by Snohomish County Fire Distrct 22)
1 injured after RV fire, explosion near Marysville

The cause of the fire in the 11600 block of 81st Avenue NE had not been determined, fire officials said.

Ashton Dedmon appears in court during his sentencing hearing on Tuesday, March 5, 2024, at Snohomish County Superior Court in Everett, Washington. (Ryan Berry / The Herald)
Everett Navy sailor sentenced to 90 days for fatal hit and run

Ashton Dedmon crashed into Joshua Kollman and drove away. Dedmon, a petty officer on the USS Kidd, reported he had a panic attack.

A kindergarten student works on a computer at Emerson Elementary School on Wednesday, Feb. 28, 2024, in Everett, Washington. (Ryan Berry / The Herald)
‘¡Una erupción!’: Dual language programs expanding to 10 local schools

A new bill aims to support 10 new programs each year statewide. In Snohomish County, most follow a 90-10 model of Spanish and English.

Logo for news use featuring the Tulalip Indian Reservation in Snohomish County, Washington. 220118
Woman drives off cliff, dies on Tulalip Reservation

The woman fell 70 to 80 feet after driving off Priest Point Drive NW on Sunday afternoon.

Everett
Boy, 4, survives fall from Everett fourth-story apartment window

The child was being treated at Seattle Children’s. The city has a limited supply of window stops for low-income residents.

People head out to the water at low tide during an unseasonably warm day on Saturday, March 16, 2024, at Lighthouse Park in Mukilteo, Washington. (Ryan Berry / The Herald)
Everett shatters record high temperature by 11 degrees

On Saturday, it hit 73 degrees, breaking the previous record of 62 set in 2007.

Snohomish County Fire District #4 and Snohomish Regional Fire & Rescue respond to a motor vehicle collision for a car and pole. The driver was pronounced dead at the scene, near Triangle Bait & Tackle in Snohomish. (Snohomish County Sheriff’s Office)
Police: Troopers tried to stop driver before deadly crash in Snohomish

The man, 31, was driving at “a high rate of speed” when he crashed into a traffic light pole and died, investigators said.

Alan Dean, who is accused of the 1993 strangulation murder of 15-year-old Bothell girl Melissa Lee, appears in court during opening statements of his trial on Monday, March 18, 2024, at Snohomish County Superior Court in Everett, Washington. (Ryan Berry / The Herald)
31 years later, trial opens in Bothell teen’s brutal killing

In April 1993, Melissa Lee’s body was found below Edgewater Creek Bridge. It would take 27 years to arrest Alan Dean in her death.

Logo for news use featuring the municipality of Snohomish in Snohomish County, Washington. 220118
Man dies after crashing into pole in Snohomish

Just before 1 a.m., the driver crashed into a traffic light pole at the intersection of 2nd Street and Maple Avenue.

Bodies of two men recovered after falling into Eagle Falls near Index

Two men fell into the falls and did not resurface Saturday, authorities said. After a recovery effort, two bodies were found.

Support local journalism

If you value local news, make a gift now to support the trusted journalism you get in The Daily Herald. Donations processed in this system are not tax deductible.