“Bat Out of Hell” Composer Jim Steinman’s Home Could Become an Artists’ Retreat

It's like few other homes out there

Jim Steinman and Meat Loaf
Jim Steinman with musician Meat Loaf as they pose together backstage at My Father's Place nightclub, Roslyn, New York, November 22, 1977.
Gary Gershoff/Getty Images

Over the course of his long career in music, Jim Steinman was involved in the making of some of the most flat-out epic rock music ever made. This would have been true had he done nothing besides write “Total Eclipse of the Heart,” recorded by Bonnie Tyler, but there’s also the small matter of his multiple collaborations with Meat Loaf — including Bat Out of Hell and its two sequels.

He may well be the only artist to work with both Air Supply and Sisters of Mercy, which is an impressive achievement in and of itself.

Over the course of his life, Steinman accumulated a sizable array of rock instruments and memorabilia. Since his death last year, these objects have remained at his Connecticut home — with the future of both uncertain. All of which leads to the efforts of Steinman’s friends to sell his home, with a peculiar provision: keeping its former owner’s collection of art and memorabilia intact.

In an article for The New York Times, Joyce Cohen describes some of the interior features: “The enormous bedroom includes a desk, sitting area and aquarium. The art on one wall, ‘Inferno’ by Joseph Grazi, depicts taxidermic bats flying into the maw of an alligator skull.”

The friends of Steinman’s working on the process of selling it are hopeful that it can be sold to an artist, writer or creative organization — possibly for use as an artistic retreat. With an asking price of $5,555,569, that could be a challenge — but it’s not hard to see the appeal of this singular space.

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