607 Coffin: Cormac McCarthy’s Shockingly Cute House (El Paso, TX)

Present-day 607 Coffin Avenue.

The former home of the raw, reclusive author Cormac McCarthy.

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According to Zillow, 607 Coffin has an estimated worth of $307,100 today.

According to realtor Jowauna Stegall’s 2002 real estate listing, this house was “where many, many books were written by [McCarthy] during the 20 years he lived there.” Despite being a self-proclaimed friend-of-a-friend of McCarthy’s (in a related El Paso Times article), Stegall overestimates McCarthy’s output: He ‘only’ wrote four books during his 1982–2002 residence, including Blood Meridian (1985) and his “Border Trilogy” (All the Pretty Horses (1992), The Crossing (1994), and Cities of the Plain (1998)). It was here that he also finished his first version of No Country for Old Men -then in screenplay form.

McCarthy being reclusive.

In 1950, the house also served as the home and laboratory of Morris Rosenthal -a rocket scientist who contributed to, both, the Manhattan Project and Operation Paperclip and whose inventions were utilized by the Apollo lunar module lander, the space shuttle, and the Hubble Telescope.

Morris Rosenthal -the first of two creative geniuses to live at 607 Coffin..

For this story’s original Instagram post, click here. (Originally published: December 31, 2022)