Buffalo Bill’s house from ‘Silence of the Lambs’ to become bed and breakfast

Film released 30 years ago features western Pennsylvania house with large wraparound porch, dark wood detailing inside, vintage wallpaper, and several fireplaces

Buffalo Bill’s house from the film the Silence of the Lambs will become a bed and breakfast. (Keith Srakocic/AP)

Serial killer Buffalo Bill's Pennsylvania house from 1991 classic “The Silence of the Lambs” will become a bed and breakfast. Chris Rowan, an art director and prop stylist from New York City bought the home in late January.

“It was just really something to witness, doing the walk-through with the realtor,” Mr Rowan told The Pittsburgh Tribune-Review.

The film was released 30 years ago on Valentine's Day and features the western Pennsylvania house with a large wraparound porch, dark wood detailing inside, vintage wallpaper, and several fireplaces.

Calling the house "stunning," Mr Rowan added: “The style is a Queen Anne Victorian, 2,400 square feet with four full bedrooms.”

In the film, Buffalo Bill has a woman trapped in the basement at the bottom of a well. Despite this scene being filmed elsewhere, Mr Rowan plans to bring the recreate the environment from the film in the house.

“With my background as an art director and prop stylist, I plan to recreate the well, have it fabricated and installed. I’m not going to dig into the earth, but I want to install something along the lines of the film and give fans a pretty unique photo opportunity," he said.

Mr Rowan bought the house from a former FBI agent, and seller David Villareal says he didn't purchase the house because of its place in popular culture.

Mr Villareal bashed the film when he spoke to The Pittsburgh Tribune-Review as he put the house on the market in October last year, saying: “Only in Hollywood does an FBI trainee get assigned to work a serial killer."

He said the house was "paradise on earth," and that “from the porch, you can watch kayakers and canoers," on the Youghiogheny River.

“I get lots of requests, lots of people knocking on my front door, lots of people taking photographs, and lots of people asking to take tours of the house," he said in October. Now movie buffs can stay the night, with Mr Rowan saying that bookings will begin "in a few months".

Mr Rowan told The Pittsburgh Tribune-Review that the film "has transcended from being a film to really a part of pop culture. Skits are still done about it, and it’s still relevant today.

He added: “The home really did maintain its aesthetics from the film itself. It’s not in the visually poor condition that Buffalo Bill kept it in, but all the places where he and Jodie Foster interacted are just the way you remember.”

Fans of the film flocked to the house when it was listed on the market. Berkshire Hathaway real estate agent Eileen Allan said in October that “It’s been insane, so many people. I didn’t realize how big a following there was for this movie".

At the time of filming, the house was owned by Scott and Barbara Lloyd who bought the house in 1976, selling it to Mr Villareal in 2016 after 40 years. Sold in 2016 for $195,000, it was bought five years later by Mr Rowan for $290,000.