Houses Worthy of the Silver Screen

Aside from movie stars and the story, one thing that most viewers look in amazement is the location where the movie has been shot. We may not be aware of it, but deep in our minds, we can’t help but admire the architectural beauties or the designed interiors which the characters of the movie are staying in, hoping that someday, we might be able to see for ourselves, or maybe even own such a nice piece of property.

One of the best movies that showcase amazing architectural features would be the Bond flicks. Why would it not be? This timeless movie, after all, is worthy of a house as sleek as its characters. Diamonds are Forever, shown in 1971 features the Elrod House in Palm Spring. This was designed for Arthur Elrod and contains doomed roof and curved roof which they found perfect to become the classy villain’s lair. To this day, the Elrod House still remains as a private property.

Another property which has appeared in a Bond flick is the beautiful-beyond-words 18th century Italian villa found on the southwest of Lake Como- Villa de Balbianello. The 2006 hit Casino Royale shot several scenes in this property, taking in its majestic features. Yet another franchise which found this property irresistible would be the Star Wars team. The 2002 blockbuster Star Wars II: Attack of the Clones showed the Villa de Balbianello in its CGI edited version.

Frank Lloyd Wright’s Ennis House built in 1924 for Mabel and Charles Ennis at Los Feliz, LA, is another residence used for a movie. The 1982 hit Blade Runner shot some scenes in 6,000 sq. ft textile block house (which was inspired by the Uxmal ruins in Mexico). The property is now sold at $ 15million.

The movie Back to the Future in 1985 displayed the exterior of the Gamble House, Doc’s house in the mentioned movie. The Pasadena retirement residence was designed by the famous duo Charles and Henry Greene of the Arts and Crafts Movement for the couple David and Mary Gable. The interior scenes for the movie, however, were shot at an entirely different location, yet still designed and built by Greene and Greene- the Robert Roe Blacker House.

As for the Charlie’s Angel movie franchise, they just can’t seem to get enough of John Lautner’s creations. In the first installment of the Charlie’s Angels movie, they made use of a Chemosphere House (by John Lautner) replica as the villain’s den. In 2003, however, the Charlie’s Angels II: Full Throttle showcased an original Lautner creation- the Sheats/Goldstein house (which also made an appearance in the movie the Big Lebowski). This residence, built in 1963, posed as one of the angel’s (Alex Munday) house.

One of the impressive and strategically displayed architectural creations was the Cullen’s Glass House in the 2008 vampire movie Twilight. Designed by Jeff Kovel of Skylab Architecture, the glass house is originally called as the Hoke House and is located in Vancouver, Canada. This is not the case for the second installment of the movie, though. The 2009 sequel, New Moon, was created by Arthur Erickson and highlights similar features to that of the Hoke House. It is currently priced at around $ 3million.

Recently, Drew Mandel’s Ravine House creation appeared in Chloe (2009). This Atom Egoyan psychological thriller served as the residence for Julianne Moor and Liam Neeson’s characters. Although the movie wasn’t much of a hit for most of the viewers, the architecture and interior design was very much coveted and talked about days and even months after the showing of the film.

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