YOU CAN BUY JOHN BROWNING’S MANSION
The Ogden, Utah mansion of John Moses Browning, widely considered the greatest and most prolific gun design genius who ever lived, is now on the market. Thanks to friend Erich Martell for the heads-up.
Built in 1900, this striking old building is “complete with turrets, dormers, grand staircases, amazing hardwood floors, original windows and moulding, new commercial-grade kitchen with corian counters, potential new baths for bed and breakfast use.”
Now, the photo in the real estate listing shows that this is obviously not a “backwoods home.” But anyone who turns this historic place into a bed and breakfast is pretty much guaranteed a steady stream of visiting gun buffs, many of whom would make it a destination trip…a pilgrimage even.
And turrets. Turrets! Quick word association test…work with me here…BINGO! Yes! GUN turrets!
Of course, nothing less than a Browning M2 machine gun would do for the gun turrets in the Browning Mansion. Commanding field of fire to protect the neighborhood? OH, yeah! “Neighborhood watch”? Yes, to the power of ten.
OK, so I’m getting a little crazy here. But for $375K? With eight bedrooms, formal dining room, and a history that goes back to the year 1900? Good Lord, for real estate values, that’s like going back in a time machine even before you start looking at the lore of the place.
Please, please let some person from the Gun Culture with a sense of history purchase this magnificent icon, before some developer gloms it and turns it into a Yuppie Hutch.
July 24th, 2009 at 4:28 pm
It’s a done deal, provided he stashed some guns on the premises, which I think is highly unlikely!
July 24th, 2009 at 10:23 pm
Mas, it looks like the perfect home for you and yours! Just think of the possibilities!
July 24th, 2009 at 11:26 pm
Do ground penetrating radar on the house.. There’s gotta be something hidden in those walls!
July 24th, 2009 at 11:50 pm
Mas,i like Freds idea! I spent my money on firearms, property and women. If there was any left over, I ate.
July 25th, 2009 at 1:54 am
$375k??? For the JMB mansion? WTH???
That’s approximately the cost of my 55 year old, 1200 SF shack in the middle of the Long Beach, CA ‘hood!
July 25th, 2009 at 7:28 am
Yes! someone please save it from the developers before it turns into coffee shops and retail office space! Its a crying shame that our history is destroyed and forgotten. I don’t have the pocket change to afford this historic site, or purchase the battleship Washington or carrier Enterprise which were doomed to the scrap heaps! [Now they had some history!] Hopefully there is a history scholar with 6-7 kids out there with an appreciation for who and what Browning accomplished.
July 25th, 2009 at 10:29 am
So when are you closing on this?
July 26th, 2009 at 12:24 am
As a former Utahan, I have been to Ogden (known as “Oz” in Utah) many times. This Browning mansion is distinctive enough that I would have remembered it if I had seen it, yet I do not. It must not be located on one of the main thoroughfares, which is a good thing. The place certainly looks as though Browning built it to last. World-class ski resorts just east of town. Outstanding waterfowl hunting on the huge Bear River Refuge just north of town.
July 26th, 2009 at 7:55 pm
$375k seems so little for what this place is.
The market must really be down in Utah. Either that or someone started to refinish it and ran out of money leaving the inside unfinished.
July 26th, 2009 at 9:28 pm
I’m not sure I could spend that kinda cash on a house that I can see my neighbors from. Not even enough room for agun range outback. But yeah, it would be a sweet place to live. Wonder if someone might find some ‘missing’ blueprints for some cool gun that was never produced under the floorboards or in a hidden room or safe someplace…. LOL
Seems like the asking price is actually low for something like that, would be over >500k around here