25 Most Iconic Houses In Film And TV History

Posted by , Updated on March 25, 2024

Film and television homes are not quite ordinary. While some may argue that a few of these settings are real places, they seldom portray the common houses in which the average person resides. Barely ever. But this is not necessarily a negative aspect. The properties need to be distinctive and entertaining to add value to the entire production, thus they cannot be just standard. Regular is mundane. Therefore, it is no wonder that these film and TV houses appear larger than life. Even smaller residences, such as apartments, often exude a certain sense of grandiose. Take Dexter’s apartment as an example, it is evident that it’s compact, yet very exquisite…located in Miami. Not everyone can afford such luxury. This list presents 25 of the most legendary residences in film and television history including homes from Elm Street, Gone with the Wind, Forrest Gump, and many more.

25

The Desperate Housewives House(s)

Source: imdb.com, Image: en.wikipedia.orgSource: imdb.com, Image: en.wikipedia.org

Wisteria Lane is the name of a fictional street at the center of the drama Desperate Housewives. The show’s story lines primarily center around the street’s residents. The set for Wisteria Lane is located inside Universal Studios Hollywood, and is actually named Colonial Street, an area that has been used for many motion pictures and TV shows. Other film and television productions in which Colonial Street has featured include Leave It to Beaver, Gremlins, The ’Burbs, and Buffy the Vampire Slayer.

 

24

The Friends Apartment

Source: imdb.com, Image: en.wikipedia.orgSource: imdb.com, Image: en.wikipedia.org

Tourists from all over the world trek to Greenwich Village, New York, in search of the Friends apartment building at the corner of Grove and Bedford Streets. This is a regular stop on the Free Tours by Foot Greenwich Village Tour—and sometimes on the Greenwich Village Food Tour, mostly because it is sought after, but also because it spurs a conversation about NYC apartment living. However, if you are eager to locate more TV and movie locations throughout the Big Apple, then consider taking the “On Location New York’s TV and Movie Sights Tour.”

23

The Amityville Horror House

Source: imdb.com, Image: en.wikipedia.orgSource: imdb.com, Image: en.wikipedia.org

Built in the 1920s, this iconic scary movie home in New Jersey is visited annually by fans during Halloween, even though the owners insist it is not haunted. For that matter, the previous owners sold it with a dropped asking price of $955,000, insisting it was because they were getting divorced and not because it is haunted.

22

The Ironman House

Source: imdb.com, Image: en.wikipedia.orgSource: imdb.com, Image: en.wikipedia.org

Overlooking the sea, this luxurious house blurs the borders between the busy life in the city and the breathtaking views of the ocean. Who would say no to this kind of perfect view from their own house? Well, in case you ever wondered, Tony Stark’s superb house really exists and is located in La Jolla Cliffs, California.

21

The Dexter Apartment

Source: imdb.com, Image: flickr.com, Photo by Guillaume CapronSource: imdb.com, Image: flickr.com, Photo by Guillaume Capron

Even though most of the show’s locales were in sunny California, Dexter’s Palm Terrace apartment, seen in almost every episode of the first season, is one of the few residences in the show that actually exists in Southern Florida (where the action of the series is set). In real life, the apartment is one of the Bay Harbor Club condos in Miami Beach.

20

The Twilight House

Source: imdb.com, Image: commons.wikimedia.orgSource: imdb.com, Image: commons.wikimedia.org

The Twilight vampires apparently don’t like dusty coffins for a home. In fact, they don’t even take any old house. In Stephenie Meyer’s trilogy, the Cullen family lives in the most “rich” and luxurious house in Vancouver, thus proving blood is not the only thing these vampires care about.

19

The Ferris Bueller House

Source: imdb.com, Image: commons.wikimedia.orgSource: imdb.com, Image: commons.wikimedia.org

Despite being one of the most recognizable and coolest houses we have ever seen in the movies, no one was willing to buy it. The house where Cameron Frye lived and totaled his dad’s beloved 1961 Ferrari 250 GT California Spyder convertible in Ferris Bueller’s Day Off was finally sold for about $1 million after five years on the market. The home, in Highland Park, Illinois, had initially been listed for $2.3 million but the owner soon realized the price had to drop dramatically if he wanted to have any luck in selling it.

18

The Sleepless in Seattle Houseboat

18. flickr Brian TeutschSource: imdb.com, Image:

This beautiful houseboat, located at the end of a storybook dock with a flower-lined entry off Westlake Avenue North in Lake Union, is one of the most iconic properties in Seattle but doesn’t belong to Sam Baldwin (Tom Hanks) anymore. The houseboat used in the 1993 movie Sleepless in Seattle sold in 2014 for more than $2 million and from what we’ve learned, it will be used by the new owner as a part-time summer home.

17

The Wonder Years House

The Wonder years houseSource: imdb.com, Image: biography.com

Kevin Arnold’s house from The Wonder Years is located at 516 University Avenue in Burbank, California. If you can’t help but feel nostalgic every time you see the house on Netflix (when you repeatedly watch some of your favorite episodes), you can pass by and say hi to the owners who have lived there since 1987, the last time the house was sold.

16

The Brady Bunch House

Bradybunchhouse2Source: imdb.com, Image: Shutterstock

This legendary house is located at 11222 Dilling Street in North Hollywood, California. The producers of the show picked the Studio City home because it looked relatable and middle-class. After the show ended, however, the owner had to put up a fence because so many fans were walking all over the property.

15

The Roseanne House

Source: imdb.com, Image: flickr.com, Photo by Nikonian Novice Source: imdb.com, Image: flickr.com, Photo by Nikonian Novice

Does the above house look familiar to you? It should if you were a fan of Roseanne, one of the most popular TV shows of the 1990s. From what we’ve learned, this legendary TV house was sold in 2013 for only $129,000; a price that even Dan Conner, the family patriarch played by John Goodman, would appreciate. Don’t you think?

14

The Munsters House

Munsters houseSource: imdb.com, Image: Combination from en.wikipedia.org and retroweb.com

One of the most well-known addresses in television history, 1313 Mockingbird Lane is an iconic location. Built on the Universal Studios backlot, the house was originally used for the film So Goes My Love, but was renovated for a million dollars and made into the Munster mansion. The house is a highlight in the studio tour, though the second floor was demolished and rebuilt, then used on the hit show Desperate Housewives.

13

The Downton Abbey Castle

Source: imdb.com, Image: en.wikipedia.org Source: imdb.com, Image: en.wikipedia.org

The massive Highclere Castle, which is located in Hampshire, England, has become one of the most famous “houses” in TV history thanks to the super-successful British period drama Downton Abbey. For this reason, the castle and gardens are now closed to the general public.

12

The Full House House

Source: imdb.com, Image: en.wikipedia.org Source: imdb.com, Image: en.wikipedia.org

If you’re REALLY interested in checking out this epic house, it’s located at 1709 Broderick Street in San Francisco, and it’s about a mile walk from Alamo Square. For the record, Bob Saget returned to the house in 2013 and said the experience was “creepy” for some reason.

11

The Fresh Prince House

Fresh prince houseSource: imdb.com, Image: Mentalfloss.com

From 1990 to 1996, guests visited the Bel-Air house that represented a new and luxurious life for Will Smith on The Fresh Prince of Bel-Air. Ironically, the house isn’t in Bel-Air; it is located in the posh area of Brentwood. Also, if you can afford to be the next Fresh Prince, then go check out this Hollywood mansion with thirty-four rooms and a waterslide that takes you straight into the pool from inside the house because it is currently for sale for $22 million.

10

The Christmas Vacation House

Christmas vacation houseSource: imdb.com, Image: hookedonhouses.net

While set in a snowy suburb of Chicago, National Lampoon’s Christmas Vacation was filmed primarily in sunny Los Angeles, along with a few exterior shots taken in Colorado. The set of the Griswold family’s traditional clapboard house is located on the backlot of Warner Bros. and you can still visit it today.

9

The Beetlejuice House

Source: imdb.com, Image: hookedonhouses.net Source: imdb.com, Image: hookedonhouses.net

Tim Burton’s offbeat ghost story Beetlejuice took place in Connecticut, but it was actually filmed in East Corinth, Vermont. That great old house on a hill was just a facade built for the movie and later torn down. But when you watch the movie, you’d swear it had been overlooking the small village below for a hundred years.

8

The Poltergeist House

poltergeirst homeSource: imdb.com, Image: Yahoo.com

Located in Simi Valley, California, the Poltergeist house was handpicked by producer Steven Spielberg because it fit the suburban look he was aiming for. Apparently, the residents got so excited by the whole thing that they decided to name the area the house was located in “Spielbergia.” How cool is that!

7

The Forrest Gump House

Forrest gump houseSource: imdb.com, Image: hookedonhouses.net

Over twenty years ago Forrest Gump hit theaters, but most of us still remember that wonderful old house in Greenbow, Alabama, where Forrest and his mama lived. It looked like a real house that had been around for decades, didn’t it? But the truth is it was just built for the movie “hastily and not to code,” and was torn down after shooting finished. Even more, it wasn’t even in Alabama; it was in South Carolina.

6

The Nightmare on Elm Street House

Source: imdb.com, Image: flickr.com, Photo by LiamSource: imdb.com, Image: flickr.com, Photo by Liam

Present in the famous ’80s slasher film A Nightmare on Elm Street, this eerie red-door home featured prominently in some of the movie’s most shocking scenes. However, this Los Angeles house is no longer a nightmare on Elm Street since it sold for $2.1 million in 2013 after a huge renovation that turned it into a dream home.

5

The Goonies House

Source: imdb.com, Image: flickr.com, Photo by Destination AstoriaSource: imdb.com, Image: flickr.com, Photo by Destination Astoria

The popularity of The Goonies has turned the quiet seaside town of Astoria into an American pop culture landmark, with countless “nostalgia tourists” visiting places in key scenes of this ‘80s classic. But those visits are not much fun for Sandi Preston, the owner of the film’s most iconic set piece—the “Goon Docks” home that Mikey, Brand, Data, and Chunk try to save from foreclosure. According to the owner, it has become a difficult place to live and each day, she’s harassed by many fans.

4

The Notting Hill Apartment

Source: imdb.com, Image: flickr.com, Photo by Nikos RoussosSource: imdb.com, Image: flickr.com, Photo by Nikos Roussos

If you’re a fan of Notting Hill, then you remember the apartment Hugh Grant lived in. Complete with the big blue door, it was the location for the film’s most amazing scenes (such as when the paparazzi outside searching for Julia Roberts’s character took naked photos of Hugh’s bestie). What you may not know is that the apartment was in the building where the film’s screenwriter, Richard Curtis, actually lived. The interiors were shot on a sound stage but the actual building is at 80 Westbourne Park Road, Notting Hill, London. However, after the film’s immense success, Curtis sold the apartment and bought a big, luxurious house.

3

The Psycho House

Source: imdb.com, Image: commons.wikimedia.orgSource: imdb.com, Image: commons.wikimedia.org

Probably the most iconic house in film history, the Bates Mansion, better known as “the Psycho house,” has stood on the Universal Studios Hollywood back lot since 1959. Over the years, the building has been expanded, relocated, renovated, and completely rebuilt. The facade anyway, since that’s all it ever was. The house is featured prominently in the Universal Studios tour, and has made appearances in everything from Murder She Wrote to Big Momma’s House.

2

The Gone With the Wind House

Gone with the wind houseSource: imdb.com, Image: myamericanodyssey.com

Gone With the Wind fans in search of Tara, the O’Hara plantation house, will need to travel thirty minutes south of Atlanta to the “Official Home of Gone With the Wind,” Clayton County, where Margaret Mitchell set much of the novel. Keep in mind, however, that it was just a facade and so there are no rooms inside.

1

The Home Alone House

Source: imdb.com, Image: commons.wikimedia.orgSource: imdb.com, Image: commons.wikimedia.org

In 1990, John and Cynthia Abendshien opened their house to the cast and crew of Home Alone. Little did they know their gorgeous “crib” would become one of the most iconic homes in film history with millions of fans around the world. The duo ended up selling the four-bedroom, four-bathroom estate—which is just outside Chicago—for nearly $1.6 million in 2012. Even though the house still looks amazing, it has changed so much during the years that it looks nothing like it did in the movie.