Kurt Cobain's house

This is Kurt Cobain's former house.

It is located at 171 Lake Washington Boulevard East in Seattle, Washington.

Cobain and his wife, Courtney Love, purchased the house on January 24, 1994, for $1,485,000. The sale took place roughly three months before he committed suicide in a greenhouse on the property.

Rome

One month before his death, Cobain overdosed on Rohypnol at the Westin Excelsior hotel in Rome.

Although his management agency claimed the overdose was accidental, Love later admitted that it was a suicide attempt.

The Nirvana frontman, who reportedly "hated everyone and everything" at the time, had taken 50 pills.

Love said that she woke up at around 4 a.m. and saw that he was "gone."

She also revealed that he left a note claiming she no longer loved him. In it, he stated that he would rather die than go through a divorce.

Cobain survived and was released from the hospital five days later. Shortly afterward, he returned to the United States and entered rehab.

Purchase of shotgun

On March 30, 1994, Cobain asked his friend Dylan Carlson to purchase a Remington M-11, 20-gauge shotgun on his behalf. The singer told Carlson he needed the weapon to protect his home against trespassers.

Cobain explained that he couldn't buy it himself because the police had confiscated his firearms in the past.

Twelve days prior, Love had called the police to report that he was suicidal and had locked himself in a room with a gun. When officers responded to the incident, they seized several of his weapons.

Carlson bought the shotgun for $308.37 at Stan Baker Sports, located at 10000 Lake City Way NE.

Later that day, the Nirvana frontman flew to Los Angeles and checked into the Exodus Recovery Center.

However, he did not stay long. On April 1, he escaped from the center by jumping over a six-foot wall.

After leaving the facility, he traveled back to Seattle.

On the morning of April 2, 1994, he hired a cab from a company called Gray Top Taxi.

The driver, Wodajo Abeye, did not recognize him. He later recalled that Cobain's grunge style did not "match" the million-dollar residence.

At approximately 8:30 a.m., Abeye dropped the singer off on Aurora Avenue, just south of 145th Street.

At around noon, Cobain visited a store called Seattle Guns and purchased a bag of shotgun shells.

Suicide

On the morning of April 8, 1994, an electrician discovered Cobain's remains in a greenhouse located above a garage at the property.

Lying on the ground beside him were the shotgun, a heroin kit, cigarette butts, a can of root beer, and a handwritten suicide note.

The medical examiner estimated that Cobain died on April 5, 1994.

Various media outlets reported that the amount of heroin in his system was so high that he would have died of an overdose, even without the gunshot wound.

Toxicology results showed that his blood had a morphine concentration of 1.52 milligrams per liter. While this level is high, its impact would have depended on Cobain's tolerance for the drug.

Individuals with a high tolerance can survive concentrations that would be fatal to others. Consequently, the level itself does not prove that the dose was lethal.

Aftermath

The garage/greenhouse where he took his life no longer exists.

In 1996, Love demolished the structure because Nirvana fans kept climbing the fence to look at it. According to Love, the trespassers were also causing a disturbance and leaving beer cans.

She sold the house for $2,895,000 on July 2, 1997.

Property records show that the current owners purchased it in August 2020 for $7,050,000.

Viretta Park

A public green space called Viretta Park is situated to the south of the property.

Fans have turned one of the park benches into a makeshift memorial site by leaving flowers, cigarettes, and handwritten notes.