The longtime home of author J.R.R. Tolkien is about to re-enter the market, and a crowdfunding campaign has been started with hopes that "Lord of the Rings" and "Hobbit" fans will support an initiative to purchase, restore and turn the property into a Tolkien museum.

Project Northmoor, as the group effort is called, began a three-month campaign last week to raise at least $5.3 million to buy the house at 20 Northmoor Road on the outskirts of Oxford, England. It was there that Tolkien lived with his wife, Edith, and their four children, from 1930 to 1947, and wrote "The Hobbit" and much of the "Lord of the Rings" fantasy trilogy.

The nonprofit group wants to set up a literary center at the house devoted to Tolkien studies. "The worldwide Tolkien fan base is enormous, but there is no center for Tolkien anywhere in the world," said Julia Golding, the British novelist who is spearheading the purchase. "There are centers for Jane Austen, Charles Dickens and Thomas Hardy, and, arguably, Tolkien is just as influential as they are."

Backing the initiative are numerous celebrities who helped create a video, including singer Annie Lennox, Shakespearean actor Sir Derek Jacobi, and actors Ian McKellen, John Rhys-Davies and Martin Freeman, who appeared in Tolkien films — McKellen as Gandalf, Rhys-Davies as Gimli and Freeman as Bilbo Baggins.

The residence had entered the market for the first time in more than two decades last year, for nearly $6 million, or around 4.7 million British pounds. The asking price was lowered to about $5.3 million before the listing with Breckon & Breckon was withdrawn recently to give the group time to organize financing.

The current owners had bought the house for 1.6 million pounds in 2004. That same year it was designated as a Grade 2 listed building, meaning it was "of special interest, warranting every effort to preserve it." It may not have readily sold because of the government restrictions for alterations.

The two-story structure, about 60 miles northwest of London, was built in 1924 for Basil Blackwell, an Oxford bookseller. It has around 3,500 square feet of interior space, according to the floor plans, with six bedrooms and four bathrooms on the upper level, and a 28-by-15-foot ground-floor drawing room where Tolkien had done much of his writing and met with his students from Oxford University. The exterior includes a garden with a few of the trees Tolkien had planted remaining.

Many of the home's original architectural elements also remain, including high ceilings, wood-burning fireplaces, and in the kitchen there is an old bell system that was used to communicate with the rest of the house. "It has the character of a 1920s house," Golding said.

The group's funding target is roughly $6 million, of which $5.3 million will be used to buy the house, and the remainder will go for renovations, startup costs of the charity and developing literary programs. "If every Tolkien fan gave us $2, we could do this," Golding said.