20 Picture Perfect Houses of Film and TV

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There is no greater source of home inspiration than those images that flicker before our eyes from behind the small and silver screens. Like the towering (and rent-able) Outer Banks haven from Nights in Rodanthe, life is better than fiction when you let images spark your imagination. Whether you want to be the king of your castle or the least desperate housewife on the block, Hollywood loves the houses we’d all love to own. (Credit: esc831976)

Back to the Future

Old Doc Brown has the historic Arts & Crafts icon, the Gamble House, to thank for his groovy movie digs in this 80s kitsch classic. Often open for tours, fans can visualize the mad scientist busily generating gigawatts in the dining room. Pasadena is a favorite hot spot for film exterior shots. (Credit: Elizabeth Aja)

Ferris Bueller’s Day Off

What teenager didn’t dream of rigging his room with the ultimate fool-the-folks package that led to Ferris’s great day out? If you like things a bit more modern, best bud Cameron’s silver screen home, located in Highland Park, IL, is on the market for a cool $1.8 million. (Credit: MPR529)

Bugsy

This gangster movie manse was once the real home of opera singer Lawrence Tibbett. In the 1991 film, starring Warren Beatty, it played the role of  character Virginia Hill’s private love-nest. Since then, the house has been seen in films such as House Bunny and Hollywoodland. (Credit: T Hofarth)

Charmed

This spellbinding piece of San Francisco splendor is, in fact, located in the Echo Park neighborhood of Los Angeles. As beautiful as it is, Hollywood is a land of smoke and mirrors magic, using sets to change the size of the porch and number of windows as needed for the long-running witchly series. (Credit: Kansas Sebastian)

Cheaper by the Dozen

A Beverly Hills beauty was chosen to play the role of home to Steve Martin’s family of fourteen in the kid-friendly comedy favorite, despite its being set in Chicago. It is, as are most movie mansions, a private residence.  (Credit: T Hofarth)

Father of the Bride

So terrific, they had to use it twice. This Pasadena family home served as the set for both Father of the Bride remakes and also made a guest appearance in Leonardo DiCaprio’s Catch Me if You Can. (Credit: T Hofarth)

House II: The Second Story

Never heard of this shocking sequel? Not surprising. The films, featuring faces from the TV comedy Cheers, may have flopped but this stone stunner, located on Los Angeles’s Figueroa Street, almost makes up for their floundering failure. (Credit: T Hofarth)

Gone with the Wind

Ah, Tara. Scarlet made her dress from the fictitious drapes of this southern manor–Southern California, that is. This family home, complete with kiddie gym in the yard, is situated in the good old 90210. But no matter the location, it has been the site of decades of romantic wartime dreams. (Credit: volvoshine)

Brideshead Revisited

The striking Corinthian-styled  Castle Howard of York has graced screens both silver and small with it’s  three centuries of sovereignty. The Howard family, still residing on their ancestral grounds, graciously opens their tremendous home to thousands of visitors each year.  (Credit: Xerones)

Happy Days

The Hollywood home so happy that it seems to smile right through the screen. Richie Cunningham, along with siblings Chuck and Jonie, lived here with “Mr. & Mrs. C” for the entire ten year reign of the 1950s-set favorite American sitcom. (Credit: T Hofarth)

Home Alone

One of the rare few location-appropriate sets is this hotbed of holiday hilarity in Winnetka, IL. Illinois-raised director, the late John Hughes, could always be counted on to show scenes of true midwestern suburbia. The first and second Home Alone films used the exterior and selected interiors for large portions of production. (Credit: anarchosyn)

Desperate Housewives

Rich, superficial, complicated. No, we’re not talking about the residents of Wisteria Lane, rather the set that many have called home. Visitors can stroll amongst the flowers in the Universal backlot and imagine an afternoon of tipsy Texas Hold ‘Em with their favorite hot housewife. But be warned, this house has a bad rap, once home to the Mullins, the Applewhites, Alma Hodge–None of whom had great luck in life. (Credit: Brymo)

The Munsters

Seeing double? Well, you should be. Housewives’ most passed-around real estate is more of a hand-me-down house than they realize. The original TV version was a bit less flash and a lot more frightening when it it was 1313 Mockingbird Lane, one of the most famous addresses of 1960s television. (Credit: Jeffrey Putman)

Pride & Prejudice

Derbyshire dazzles moviegoers with it’s imposing Haddon Hall. With the combined powers of Medieval and Tudor architecture, this  fortress has been seen in films including Jane Eyre and Elizabeth. For a small fee, the Manners family will grant visitors access to their winsome wonderland. (Credit: kev747)

Nightmare on Elm Street

Hard to believe that this sweet little house led to more restless nights than any other, throughout the 80s and 90s. Many homes were featured in the sleep-fracturing franchise, but this cozy cottage was Nancy’s house. (Credit: T Hofarth)

Yours, Mine & Ours

The Brady Bunch had nothing on the scripted residents of this Pasadena Victorian treasure, which set the stage for the 18 Beardsley step-kids in the 1968 original version, starring Lucille Ball and Henry Fonda. The more Colonial-style remade version, with Dennis Quaid and Renee Russo, lacked that great Victorian charm. (Credit: T Hofarth)

Atonement

Stokesay Court, the deliciously dark, late Victorian castle located the South Shropshire region of England, has likely seen more drama than Kiera Knightly could comprehend when filming her 2008 period  classic. The cast and crew invaded this private home for six weeks of filming. The family now offers scheduled tours of the lavish interior and grounds. (Credit: jo-h)

Twilight

This charm-choked B&B in Forks, Washington has a complaint to lodge. Lacking all the contemporary glass-and-clean-lines sophistication of the version, now available for purchase, shown in the Twilight flicks, this is reputed to be the true home of Edward Cullen’s clan, as written by author Stephanie Meyer. (Credit: cloudsoup)

Psycho

Perhaps one of the most recognizable of all doomed domiciles, the Bates’ house, sits atop its creepy hill within the confines of Universal Studios. That’s right. It’s a constructed set of both manse and motel available for photo ops and tours, to the delight of many a fan of Hitchcock’s horror. (Credit: dahnielson)

Since the first pictures flickered to life on the silent movie screens, we’ve daydreamed ourselves into the sets and scenes. Maybe one of these megaplex masterpieces will inspire your next purchase or renovation.