Houses from television and film that have been sold in real life
The best films and television shows conjure up entire worlds for us to inhabit in our imaginations. We invest in the characters and their relationships, revel in their wins and wallow in their losses. If you’re anything like us then the characters’ homes are a vital part of our buy-in process, whether it be a rickety apartments, white-picket-fence houses dressed for Christmas or unrealistically fictional properties. A combination of atmospheric, voyeuristic and aspirational, seeing fictional houses in real-life contexts is always a thrill. Fans go on pilgrimages to see the apartments from Friends or Sex and the City, and social media continues to obsess over the covetable interiors in Nancy Myers’ films.
Of course, there is some comfort in knowing that many houses featured in films and TV have been filmed on a soundstage or a far-flung, concrete lot in Hollywood or Queens, meaning that you really aren’t missing out (who wants to live in a cardboard cutout, anyway, no matter how good it looks on screen?). However, much to our chagrin (and delight), movie magic is sometimes brought to life with on-location shoots whose houses are very real – and, every now and again, they even come up for sale on the open market. It might just be possible, therefore, for a potential buyer to make their movie dreams a reality by scooping up an iconic house from their favourite film.
We’ve rounded up a few of the best-loved houses from some of the most-watched films and TV shows from the archives, all of which have been for sale or to rent in recent history. They may not all still be for sale, but they’re endlessly fun to poke around in virtually.
Scroll through the houses from television and film that have been sold in real life
Knight Frank1/19Four Weddings and a Funeral, 1994
One of the most successful British romcoms ever made, Richard Curtis’s 1994 film is filled with clever humour, incredible pathos and heartwarming platonic and romantic love – and, of course, four weddings.
The third wedding is that of Carrie (Andie MacDowell) to Hamish (Corin Redgrave). In the film, this takes place in Perthshire but was in fact filmed in Surrey, at St Peter and St Paul’s Church on the historic Albury estate near Guildford, which has since been turned into luxury apartments.
Albury Park Mansion properties appear on the market fairly frequently, with a three-bedroom, two-bathroom apartment currently listed with Knight Frank for £1.1 million. Spread over three floors and crowned with a roof terrace, it has wonderful views of the glorious grounds, which we see the guests walking through in the film. It’s within striking distance of London, too, so it could make the perfect home for a Londoner hoping to escape the city – and maybe catch a glimpse of Hugh Grant…
Photo: Wayne Ford Photography2/19Keeping up with the Kardashians, 2007 - 2021
Leaving fantasy land for real life (or a version of it, at least), we step into the world of reality TV’s favourite family: the Kardashians. Matriarch Kris Jenner listed her LA home, which featured in countless episodes of the show, for $13.5 million earlier this year with Christie’s International Real Estate.
The six-bedroom, eight-bathroom home, which covers 8,800 square feet and sits on more than an acre of land in the exclusive neighbourhood of Hidden Hills, is built in the Mediterranean style and has an exceptional entrance hall that fans will remember from the show. It also has a backyard pool and spa, a main bedroom suite with a wet bar, balcony, gym, and steam shower, and a butler’s pantry complete with a frozen-yogurt machine.
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The Hunger Games, 2012
More than a decade after the first Hunger Games film hit the big screen, one of the franchise’s most recognisable filming locations, Henry River Mill Village in Hickory, North Carolina, is up for grabs at $1.95 million, per the New York Post.
The 73-acre property, which served as District 12 in the first film, is split into two separate listings: a 43-acre parcel of land for $800,000, and 28 acres comprising multiple buildings (including a fully renovated rental home that has operated as an Airbnb), available for $1.15 million. Buyers will just have to hope that the village is more peaceful than the war-torn district where the central characters – Katniss Everdeen (Jennifer Lawrence), Peeta Mellark (Josh Hutcherson) and Gale Hawthorne (Liam Hemsworth) – were raised.
4/19Breakfast at Tiffany’s, 1961
Audrey Hepburn’s portrayal of Holly Golightly in the 1961 film adaptation of Truman Capote’s novella is one of her best known and most loved roles. Now, a buyer could inhabit her (fictional) world for a mere $15 million as the townhouse at 169 East 71st Street – home to Audrey Hepburn as Holly – has been listed on the market.
Spread across five storeys on a tree-lined street between Lexington and Third Avenues, the turn-of-the-century house is currently set up as two separate family residences, with the second at street level and with its own private entrance. Altogether, the property has four bedrooms, four full bathrooms, three powder rooms, spacious reception rooms and a 30-foot landscaped garden. As the listing rightly notes, ‘They say you can't buy history. At 169 East 71st, you sort of can.’
5/19Only Murders in the Building, 2021 - present
When season four of Only Murders in the Building was released last year, we were once again glued to our screens as Selena Gomez, Martin Short and Steve Martin delved into the latest crime to have taken place in their Upper West Side apartment building, the Arconia. While the series continues to see big-name actors like Meryl Streep and Paul Rudd added to the cast list, the building itself is also a star of the show. Although the eventful story may have been based on the Ansonia some 15 blocks south, many scenes are filmed at the equally grande-dame-ish Belnord on Broadway and West 86th Street. This apartment, first listed by Knight Frank a couple of years ago, offers the perfect glimpse inside – and might just whet your appetite for season five…
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walter dirks6/19Sex Education, 2019 - 2023
The unusual Scandinavian-style Chalet Symonds Yat has one of the most beautiful locations in the UK, perched on a slope on the edge of the River Wye, in the Herefordshire village of Symonds Yat. Keen-eyed readers will recognise the house as Jean and Otis Milburn’s in Netflix’s Sex Education, scene of wild parties, cathartic sex therapy sessions, and many awkward chats between teen sexpert Otis and his mother Jean, played by Gillian Anderson. Fans of the show have long obsessed over the house, and it came to the market with a price tag of £1.5 million in late 2023.
7/19Love Actually, 2003
Love Actually is a must-watch every Christmas, so it felt like perfect timing when it was listed for rent in December of 2023. Everyone has surely shed a tear over the scene in which Andrew Lincoln’s character Mark declares his undying love for Keira Knightley’s Juliet (his best friend’s wife) over a soundtrack of Silent Night, either at the moving moment or at the properties on screen – the scene plays out on one of London’s most covetable mews streets. Keep an eye out for a new listing as you could just be its next tenant.
8/19Ted Lasso, 2020 - present
Ted Lasso fans will be very familiar with this stretch of Richmond where a rare Grade-II listed townhouse was sold last year. Set right on Richmond Green, the four-bedroom Georgian home is ideally located near the AFC Richmond coach’s most visited spots in the Apple TV series. It’s just round the corner from Ted’s flat and the local pub where Ted and Coach Beard grab a pint (The Crown & Anchor Pub in the series, and The Prince’s Head in real life). Richmond Green, which was Henry VII’s jousting ground, is now a relaxed community space where you’ll often find cricket games on a Sunday. So you don’t need to be a fan of the show in order to appreciate this beautiful house.
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- Anadolu/Getty Images9/19
Home Alone, 1990
‘This is my house! I have to defend it!’ said a baby-faced Macaulay Culkin in 1990. But, since early last year, it’s been in the hands of a new custodian, who bought the house for $5.5 million, which was over asking price. Located in the affluent suburb of Winnetka, Illinois, the house is as much a piece of cinematic history as it is a mammoth piece of real estate. This was the first time the house had been publicly listed since 2012, according to American real estate marketplace Zillow.
10/19Full House, 1987-1995
For an American audience, Full House is perhaps one of the most familiar TV shows of the 20th century and launched the careers of many actors, from John Stamos to Bob Saget to the Olsen twins. The series focuses on widower Danny Tanner (Bob Saget) who, with his three daughters, lives in a Victorian house in hilly San Francisco. Together, along with brother-in-law Uncle Jesse (John Stamos) and best friend Joey Gladstone (Dave Coulier), the ragtag family get into the most uproarious of hijinks.
The Tanners’ 3,728-square-foot San Franciscan house on the city’s famed ‘Painted Ladies’ strip became legendary following the show’s finale, leading the house’s owners to install intense security and privacy measures to keep fans at bay. In 2016, Full House creator Jeff Franklin purchased the house for $5 million (£3.9m) and, following a total interior renovation, sold the house in 2019 to anonymous buyers for an undisclosed price.
11/19Sex and the City (film), 2008
Sex and the City is one of the world's most popular television shows (yes, I said it), spawning several spinoffs including the well-received first film, which was released in 2008. At the beginning of the movie, Carrie Bradshaw (Sarah Jessica Parker) and her on-again, off-again beau, Mr Big (Chris Noth) are house hunting on Manhattan’s wildly expensive Upper East Side. After striking out with another terrible apartment, the couple’s realtor brings them to see an incredible penthouse at the top of the building. The apartment is truly jaw-dropping, with floor-to-ceiling windows, hardwood floors, an internal courtyard but, to Carrie’s chagrin, a too-tiny closet. Mr Big offers to purchase the penthouse for the two of them and renovate the closet to store Carrie’s ever-growing shoe and couture collection.
Though the couple never did move into the penthouse, it is still one of the most enviable dwellings depicted in Sex and the City. The real apartment, located at 1010 Fifth Avenue, was on the market for over $18 million, following an intensive post-film renovation (enlarged shoe closet not included, sadly).
(Note that certain shots in the film were made in Zielger House, which houses the New York Academy of Sciences, located a few blocks down from this “real estate heaven” on Fifth Avenue as Carrie calls it, whilst others were shot in the above apartment.)
12/19The Devil Wears Prada, 2006
One of the most famous films made about the world of fashion and publishing, The Devil Wears Prada tells the story of Andrea ‘Andy’ Sachs (Anne Hathaway), an aspiring journalist who lands herself the enviable job ‘a million girls would kill for’ as second assistant to the ruthless Miranda Priestly (Meryl Streep), the legendary editor-in-chief of fashion magazine Runway.
Miranda lives in a prim townhouse on Manhattan’s Upper East Side, with her two impish daughters and third husband and, throughout the film, we get glimpses into her home life. In May 2023, the fictional Miranda's very real townhouse hit the market for a whopping $27 million. The six-floor, seven-bedroom townhouse is built in a Neo-Italian Renaissance style and has been deemed ‘one of the finest single family homes in Manhattan’. Recently, the house reappeared on the silver screen in episode four of season two of And Just Like That, this time as the house of Enid Frick, another exacting fictional fashion editor.
kissthemgoodbye.net13/19Mad Men, 2007-2015
Created by former Sopranos writer Matthew Weiner, Mad Men follows the elusive Donald Draper (Jon Hamm), an ad man working for Sterling Cooper in 1960s New York, as he tries to balance his professional and personal life (and guard his many secrets along the way).
In the first few seasons, the Draper family lives in a picture-perfect suburban town just outside of Manhattan in Ossining, New York. However, the house shown in the series is actually across the country in Pasadena, California, in a neighbourhood whose properties are famous for making appearances in many a movie or TV show (the house from The Father of the Bride, 1991, for example, is just across the street from the fictional Draper residence). The house was sold in 2002 for $999,000 (£786,732) and is currently valued over $2.5 million (£1.6 million).
14/19Big Little Lies, 2017-2019
Based on a bestselling novel of the same name, Big Little Lies centres on a group of wealthy women (Reese Witherspoon, Nicole Kidman, Laura Dern, Meryl Streep, Shailene Woodley and Zoë Kravitz) living in northern California’s Bay Area. Their lives become entangled – and ruined – when a grisly murder takes place in their wealthy town, causing an unravelling of the womens’ minds, bodies and spirits. One house in the series, belonging to Madeline Mackenzie (Reese Witherspoon), has recently hit the rental market, going for $60,000 per month. While Big Little Lies is set in Monterey, the actual house is in Malibu, about five hours south.
15/19Groundhog Day, 1993
The early 1990s quirky classic Groundhog Day tells the story of Phil Connors, a grumpy weatherman (Bill Murray) who is sent to cover the Groundhog Day festivities in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania and size up if the giant groundhog, Punxsutawney Phil, is indeed predicting an accurate six more weeks of winter. During his trip, Phil stays in an old inn where, to his horror, he finds himself waking up to the same Groundhog Day again and again and again. Laughter and love ensues, making for one of the most popular films of the decade.
The inn in which Phil stays throughout the film is not in Pennsylvania, but in Illinois, where the film was shot. The house was sold in the mid-2000s and was converted to an actual, working B&B – the Cherry Tree Bed and Breakfast – where guests can still stay (though without the fear of experiencing harsh déjà vu).
16/1910 Things I Hate About You, 1999
10 Things I Hate About You is a contemporary reworking of the Shakespeare play The Taming of the Shrew – and a standout in the pantheon of teenage romantic comedies. The film tells the story of anti-social Kat Stratford (Julia Stiles) who is tricked by her younger sister Bianca Stratford (Laris Oleynik) into dating the school’s newest bad boy, Patrick Verona (Heath Ledger) so she can date her crush, Cameron (Joseph Gordon-Levitt), without catching flak from their domineering father.
The film is set in Seattle, Washington, and the Stratford sisters live in an incredible Victorian house on the edge of town. The house’s real location is just a few towns over in Tacoma, Washington – 6,000 square feet full of history and movie magic. In 2018, the house sold for $1.6 million.
17/19The Holiday, 2006
Written and directed by the queen of romantic comedies, Nancy Meyers, The Holiday follows two women, one American and one British, who swap houses to escape their relationship issues. The two women (Cameron Diaz and Kate Winslet) wind up falling in love with their swapped life (and the men they meet while there), leading to one of the most comforting, warmest, wonderful romcoms of the 2000s.
Film editor Amanda (Cameron Diaz) is living in a giant modern mansion in sunny Los Angeles, California when she decides to trade places with Iris (Kate Winslet) and her dreamy Cotswold house. The house is actually just outside of Los Angeles in the city of San Marino (1883 Orlando Road, to be exact) and is over 10,000 square feet. The seven-bedroom, seven-bathroom mansion features a media room, pool, spa, tennis court and rose garden. The house hit the market in 2019, selling 11% below its original asking price at $9.5 million.
18/19Sixteen Candles, 1984
Sixteen Candles is one of the best known films of the 1980s, and the first of the long list of teen romcoms written and directed by John Hughes. The film tells the story of Samantha Baker (Molly Ringwald) whose 16th birthday arrives with little fanfare from her family. However, her best friends and crushes (Anthony Michael Hall, Michael Schoeffling) help her to have the time of her life on her special day, culminating in a very, very happy birthday.
The film is set in Evanston, Illinois, a suburb of Chicago, where the teen and her family live in a tidy redbrick colonial-style house at 3022 Payne Street. After two years of going on and off the market, the house sold for $1.1 million in 2018 and, in 2022, sold again for $1.6 million.
19/19Sleepless in Seattle, 1993
Written and directed by the inimitable Nora Ephron, Sleepless in Seattle is perhaps one of the finest in her back catalogue. The film focuses on the anguish of a widower, Sam (Tom Hanks), who opts to call a national radio love line hosted by Annie Reed (Meg Ryan) for advice. A long, up-and-down love story follows, full of romance, whimsy and emotion.
In the film, Sam lives with his son Jonah (Ross Malinger) on a lovely houseboat in rainy Seattle. While the film portrays his living situation as more kooky than luxurious, the real life Seattle house (2460 Westlake Avenue North) is quite grand and, before its last sale in 2020 for $1.7 million, underwent extensive renovations to keep it shipshape.
