The Real-World Locations of Iconic Movie Homes

The architecture featured in a film is just as important as the actors on screen. Most of the time, films are made in studios because things are easier to control or because what the director wants just doesn't exist. Houses like the ones in Jumanji, The Wizard of Oz, and Beetlejuice are awesome works of art, but when the projects wrap, they are usually destroyed.

While making our Real-World Locations of Iconic TV Homes list, we thought it would be a good idea to take a look at some of the iconic movie homes that existed before the films were made and remained standing long after the credits rolled. This list is by no means definitive, but we tried to pick films from various genres and decades so that there is something for everyone. Check out The Real-World Locations of Iconic Movie Homes.

Location: Mount Hood, Ore.
Movie: The Shining

Stephen King was inspired to write The Shining while staying at The Stanley Hotel in Colorado, but for the hotel's exterior shots in the 1980 film, Stanley Kubrick used the Timberline Hotel in all it's snow-covered glory. The lodge building is a national landmark, but there are also luxury condos on the property that are not as creepy. There is no hedge maze, unfortunately, but we wouldn't want to get stuck in that thing anyway.

Location: Denver

Movie: Sleeper

Built by Charles Deaton in 1963, the “Structured House” became known as the “Sleeper House” when Woody Allen's sci-fi comedy released 10 years later. The concrete clamshell house was used for the film because it looks like it belongs 200 years in the future. It sold at a foreclosure auction in 2010 for only $1.5 million, four years after someone paid $3.4 million for it.

Location: Altadena, Calif.

Movie: Matilda

If you're a child of the '90s, Matilda was probably in your arsenal of VHS tapes, and you were definitely afraid of Miss Trunchbull. The scene where she chases “an intruder” around her house is terrifying, and the grimey, overgrown exterior only added to our fears. The 1882 Victorian style house is known as Fair Oaks Ranch or the “Crank House” (after a previous owner, not the drug) and it is one of 10 Altadena homes listed in the National Register of Historical Places. The property was also used as the Omega Beta Zeta house in Scream 2, so its creepy roots run deep.

Location: Winnetka, Ill.

Movie: Home Alone

If you're going to make your family disappear so that you can be home alone, there are worst places to do it. The 4,250-square-foot Georgian style home was bought in 1988 for $875,000 and sold in 2012 for $1.6 million. Even though it houses a small army in the film, the house only has four bedrooms, and the master suite takes up most of the west side of the house. Home Alone director Chris Columbus used rooms inside the house for the film as well, but there is no mention of an evil furnace in the basement.

Location: Brooklyn
Movie: Coming to America

Akeem and Semmi may have been headed to Queens from Zamunda, but they actually landed in Brooklyn. The building is in Williamsburg, but it's not the part of Williamsburg where there are trendy coffee shops and thrift stores. The “My-T Sharp” barbershop on the first floor doesn't exist, but there does appear to be a florist shop where you can get rose petals to walk on.

Location: Berkshire, England

Movie: The Rocky Horror Picture Show

If you're out on a rainy night with your new wife and get a flat tire, please don't walk to the creepy castle. The location of the “Annual Transylvanian Convention” in the film is an estate known as Oakley Court. Built in 1859, the main building is now a hotel, and it has appeared in several horror films over the past 50 years, including The Brides of Dracula and the erotic vampire flick, Vampyres.

Location: Los Angeles

Movie: Halloween

The night he came home, bodies hit the floor. We're talking, of course, about Mike Myers, that mask-wearing psycho who just won't die. In the fictional town of Haddonfield, Ill., the Wallace house is across the street from the Doyle house where Myers' sister (Jamie Lee Curtis) babysits. The two homes used for the murderous scenes of the film are tucked away on Orange Grove Avenue in Los Angeles. We chose the Wallace house over the Doyle house because of the iconic shot of the killer carrying a body up the stairs, onto the porch, and through the front door while little Tommy watches. Not the place you want to be on Oct. 31.

Location: Santa Barbara, Calif.

Movie: Scarface

This 10,000-square-foot mansion in Santa Barbara was built in 1906 and designed by architect Bertram Goodhue. After being listed for rent for $30,000 a month in 2012, the 4-bedroom, 9-bedroom home is now listed for sale for $35 million.

Location: Portland, Ore.
Movie: Twilight

The insane house where the Cullen's lived is known as the Hoke House and was designed by architect Jeff Kovel. In an interview with Design Tavern, Kovel said that the house was built as a spec house and was purchased by Nike footwear designer John Hoke after only two days on the market.

Location: Los Angeles
Movie: A Nightmare on Elm Street

The place where Freddy Krueger killed sold for $2.1 million last year after the previous buyer made some extensive renovations. Horror nuts will be pleased to learn that the owner went with blood red paint on the front door instead of the original blue color. The red definitely makes more sense.

Location: Palm Springs, Calif.

Movie: Diamonds Are Forever

James Bond didn't get a chance to appreciate the architecture of the Elrod House in Pasadena because he was busy getting his ass kicked by gymnasts, but architect John Lautner's 8,901-square-foot masterpiece has been occasionally opened for tour groups to explore. Architects and design lovers appreciate the way the home incorporated the rock formations around which it was built.

Location: New York

Movie: Rosemary's Baby

The Dakota is known as New York's most exclusive building, and that's not because Rosemary gave birth to Satan's seed there (spoiler). Yoko Ono and John Lennon lived in the building, and it's where Lennon was murdered. Other notable residents include Roberta Flack, Judy Garland, Boris Karloff, Joe Namath, Gilda Radner, and John Madden.

Location: Berkshire, England

Movie: Harry Potter and the Sorcerer's Stone

Yep, the Dursley residence at 4 Privet Drive where Harry Potter was raised is real…kind of. The house is on a street called Picket Post Close in Berkshire, England. The Hussain family who bought the house shortly after it was built in 2012 still receive fan mail from kids addressed to the fictional character.

Location: New York

Movie: Ghostbusters

The Hook & Ladder 8 fire station that served as the headquarters for the Ghostbusters is iconic, but the most epic scene of the film takes place on the roof of Dana Barrett's (Sigourney Weaver) building, the real-life 55 Central Park West. Built in 1929, the 19-floor building has been a home to celebrities including Calvin Klein and Donna Karan. The architecture at the top of building is not as it appears in the film, but the rest of it is easily recognizable.

Location: Toms River, N.J.

Movie: The Amityville Horror

This one is a bit tricky. The house used in the film is located in Tom's River, N.J., but it was made to resemble the actual house where the murders took place at 112 Ocean Avenue in Amityville, New York. Fans of the films (and of the murders) still visit both locations, so it's up to you to choose which is the “real-life location” here.

Location: Los Angeles

Movie: Kill Bill Volume 1

The Bride (Uma Thurman) pulled up to home of Vernita Green (Vivica A. Fox) in the Pussy Wagon, and proceeded to exact her revenge as soon the door opened. While most of the fighting goes on inside, the exterior of the house (then green) is memorable because of it shows the perfect suburban life that “Copperhead” has tried to embody, including the children's toys strewn across the manicured lawn.

Location: Brooklyn

Movie: Do the Right Thing

There are several iconic buildings in Spike Lee's 1989 film Do the Right Thing. We visited the street while looking at the “Cinematic Atlas” of Lee's films, but there was no way we could leave it off of this list. For most of the film, Mother Sister (Ruby Dee) sits on her stoop or in her window at 169 Stuyvesant Avenue, watching the series of events unfold in her neighborhood. Her vantage point, and the vantage point of Mister Señor Love Daddy, are very important to the film because everything seems to move around them. According to Zillow, the building last sold in '95 for $165,000, so someone will make a handsome profit when they decide to let it go.

Location: New York

Movie: The Royal Tenenbaums

In Wes Anderson films, the buildings are just as important as the human characters. All the action happens at 111 Archer Avenue, also known as 339 Convent Avenue in New York City. Anderson found the house during a drive around Harlem and chose it because of its “storybook quality.”

Location: New York

Movie: Breakfast at Tiffany's

It ain't Tiffany's, but Audrey Hepburn's Upper East Side apartment is just as special to fans of the film. The interior shots were all done at a Hollywood studio, but the stoop and front door look just as they did in 1961. A Corcoran listing shows that the four-floor townhouse sold a couple years ago for $5.975 million, so you'll have to admire it from a distance.

Location: Evanston, Ill.

Movie: Sixteen Candles

There wasn't anything special about the Baker house, but for some reason we remember it. The coming-of-age movie is an '80s classic and introduced us to Molly Ringwald, not to mention the character, Long Duk Dong. If you're ever in Evanston, Ill., make sure you reenact the scene where he was found passed out on the front lawn.

Location: Queens, N.Y.
Movie: A Bronx Tale

Sorry Bronx residents, but Robert De Niro's film A Bronx Tale was mostly filmed in Queens. Calogero and his family lived a few doors down from Chez Bibby, a bar run by mobster Sonny LoSpecchio. The bar is now a karate school and the stores on the block have changed, but we were able to screenmatch the window of Calogero's apartment to the third floor window of 44-08 30th Avenue.

Location: Salem, Ore.
Movie: One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest

The Oregon State Hospital building that was used in the film is now the Oregon State Hospital Museum of Mental Health. If you've read the book or seen the film, you may want to visit this place to get your facts straight about what really goes on inside a mental hospital. The truth may be more disturbing than the art.

Location: Hertfordshire, UK

Movie: Lolita

This house actually looked better in black and white, but that doesn't matter. Any place that Stanley Kubrick thought was good enough to use in a film is good enough for us. If for some odd reason you find yourself in this part of the UK, it's worth checking out.

Location: New York

Movie: Taxi Driver

In the 1976 film Taxi Driver, Jodie Foster's character plays a child prostitute, and this is the place where she takes her clients. For a small fee, she rents a room and does what prostitutes do. Travis Bickle (Robert De Niro) breaks into the building later in the film, but we won't spoil what comes next.

Location: Cleveland

Movie: A Christmas Story

This Cleveland home became so famous after the 1983 film that it was turned into an official tourist attraction, and a museum opened across the street. You can buy stuff from the gift shop that relates to the film and learn about the stars who played the beloved characters

Location: Lutz, Fla.

Movie: Edward Scissorhands

According to Pajiba, the neighborhood in the film is a real place on Tinsmith Circle in Lutz, Florida. Tim Burton rented 50 houses and had them painted. The present day neighborhood has very little foliage, so don't expect it to see expertly cut shrubbery.

Location: Philadelphia

Movie: Rocky

The city of Philadelphia loves the history of the Rocky movies almost as much as they love Benjamin Franklin. The steps outside of the Philadelphia Museum of Art will forever be known as the “Rocky Steps,” and Stallone donated a bronze statue of his fictional self to the city after filming the third installment in the franchise. One location that is sometimes forgotten in Rocky lore is his home, a small apartment tucked away on East Tusculum Street in Kensington.

Location: Kingsland, Texas

Movie: The Texas Chain Saw Massacre

From a place where cannibals ate teens to a place where carnivores can eat chicken fried steak, the original TCM house (which was really a hotel) was moved from Round Rock, Texas in 1998 and turned into a cafe in Kingsland. There used to be a Leatherface dummy inside, but we read that is has been retired.

Location: Pasadena, Calif.
Movie: Clue

Why is this a picture of a gate with no house? Well sadly enough, the 12,000-square-foot mansion used in the 1985 comedy Clue burned down in 2005, so even if we could magically get past the gate on Google Maps, the original house would not be there. Parts of the exterior were altered with a matte drawing for the film to make it look more gothic in the opening scene as the guests ascend the curved driveway. The estate had a long history on the silver screen, with film location credits dating back to the 1930s.

Location: Los Angeles

Movie: Boyz n the Hood

Besides the color, it doesn't look like much has changed at 5911 Cimarron Street since the film Boyz n the Hood was released in 1991. We were hoping that the '64 Chevy Impala was still parked outside in the Google Maps Street View image, but no dice.