Jeff Buckley’s last home in Memphis, Tennessee is being remodeled and turned into an Airbnb by developers, the Commercial Appeal reports.
Goode Development purchased the house at 93 North Rembert Street in March for $143,800; the house is still being repaired and restored, but it’s expected to be ready by November. It does not appear that the Buckley family or estate is involved with the project. It’s being spearheaded by developer Eric Goode and real estate agent David Lorrison, both of whom also have connections to the Memphis music world (Goode plays in bands and was a longtime alternative radio DJ in the city; Lorrison is also a concert booker and promoter).
Buckley moved to Memphis in the years after he released his lone studio album, 1994’s Grace. He spent almost a year there, working on new music with his band, before his death: He had gone swimming, fully dressed, in the Wolf River Harbor and drowned.
Buckley’s home in Memphis has become a sort of shrine for fans, which is what attracted Goode and Lorrison to the home, which had been uninhabited for about a year.
“Nobody in Memphis was paying attention to the house,” Lorrison said. “But when you look online, you see people are coming here from all over. They drive for miles to make videos of the house and trace Jeff’s steps in Memphis.”
Lorrison also said he wanted the Airbnb to be “in homage” to Buckley, “but not like a hipster’s Graceland.” He plans to decorate the house with period-appropriate furniture, though a friend of Buckley’s — the Memphis music writer Andria Lisle — told the Commercial Appeal that the musician didn’t have too much furniture in the house at the time.
“The house was really spare,” she recalled. “It was a tiny, wonky, Midtown house, typical for that neighborhood. He borrowed a gorgeous Victorian couch from David [Shouse of the Grifters] and [Shouse’s wife] Tammy, but other than that he kind of just had a phone, an answering machine, and a mattress. He always had a pile of books and CDs. He moved from room to room, following the sunlight.”
