If you could live in a replicated famous house (real or fictional) which would it be?

[Sampiro]

Ground rules:

It has to be a house or dwelling that can actually exist with modern technology: i.e. you can use Monica's apartment on FRIENDS or Ponderosa Ranch but not George Jetson's sky condo or the Enterprise.

Famous can mean "locally famous" or "famous to you", doesn't have to be a place everyone would know.

It can be real or fictional, but nothing too outlandish- no Renaissance palaces, Versailles, Biltmore, or the Forbidden City or even the White House, but something more family scaled (though it can be a rich family).

Assume you'll be living in an exact replica of said structure that takes into account electricity/plumbing/etc..
-----------------------------------------

I love the architecture of Thomas Jefferson and would probably choose a replica of his summer home, Poplar Forest. I like it better than Monticello even, and it has some of the same features (skylights, built in beds, etc.), though the slave quarters I'd probably make into something more along the lines of garages and storage rooms for now.

[Carl Corey]

Wayne Manor.

(I've wanted my own batcave since I was a kid.)

[3acresandatruck]

Bag End. I like stone, wood, soil and curved lines. If I could have a version of Bag End done by Gaudi, that would be even better.

[KneadToKnow]

Originally Posted by Sampiro

It has to be a house or dwelling that can actually exist with modern technology: i.e. you can use Monica's apartment on FRIENDS or Ponderosa Ranch but not George Jetson's sky condo or the Enterprise.

I guess that rules out my first answer, Hogwarts Castle.

Lex Luthor's crib from Superman: The Movie.

[JaneSaintClair]

I think I'd pick Tara, from Gone with the Wind. All of those high ceilings, wide porches, the windows, the drapes...

[aruvqan]

does this mean we can also afford to live in it?

if so, then Belcourt Castle in Newport RI ..

If not, a more affordable, and mre reasonable one would be a house built by my great grandfather

[Zsofia]

Can I have the Magnum P.I. house? Sure, the decor is a little outdated, but it looks very comfortable and you can't beat the location.

[Man With a Cat]

Wow, my first two picks already gone. So, with Hogwarts and Bag End out, that leaves on Rivendell. Oh wait, modern technology.

Ok then, that's easy. Here.

[Floppy Joe]

Whaddaya mean "nothing too outlandish"? I always figure that if you're going to wish, no sense in being chincy about it.

I've always wanted to revamp a Titan missile silo.

[An Arky]

I'd have Frank Lloyd Wright build me a Fallingwater-ish place in a different location, but I'd also kick his fucking ass over those stupid low ceilings.

[Sigmagirl]

Manderley, maybe.

Before the fire.

[Mrs. Cake]

Bag End would be first, but unless I could kick out 3acresandatruck, I'll go with my second choice, Edgewood from Little, Big, a huge rambling place with four different fronts.

(no offence 3acres, but I don't know how many bathrooms Bag End has and I'm a bad sharer. Also I like to walk around the house naked and wouldn't want to shock/offend/horrify a fellow doper)

[Sampiro]

Originally Posted by Mr Bus Guy

Wow, my first two picks already gone. So, with Hogwarts and Bag End out, that leaves on Rivendell. Oh wait, modern technology.

Ok then, that's easy. Here.

Bag end's not necessarily out. In fact, you might be able to find a steal there.

[Drunky Smurf]

I'll take Buckingham Palace. What? I have a lot of stuff I need the closet space.

[Annie-Xmas]

Dr. Zhivago and Lara's last house in Varykino.

[PunditLisa]

Johnny Cash's house overlooking Henderson Lake. A few scenes from the movie "I Walk the Line" were filmed in the house. It has a great history, isn't pretentious at all, has a huge screened in porch, lots of light, a great treed lot, and a great lake view. Perfect.

I'd also take Charlie's (of 2 and a Half Men) house in Malibu complete with a deck overlooking the Pacific Ocean. I like Frasier's condo in Seattle, but it's in Seattle and I need light.

I realize my answers are more about the locations and views than the homes themselves. I really do appreciate architecture and things like turrets and beautiful woodwork, but I'd have a tough time living in a really old house. I mean, it would seem appealing to live in a great estate such as the one depicted as Mr. Darcy's estate on A&E's Pride & Prejudice, or the painted lady depicted in "Full House" but, frankly, I wouldn't want the maintenance headache of owning an older home. Ditto for the hotel and grounds on the island of Kalokairi in Greece for the setting of "Mama Mia." I'd stay there, but it's too much work to own.

[The Hamster King]

Case Study House No. 22

[Suse]

Either the Freeman house, the Hills house, the Evans house, or the Ingalls house from here. I love Frank Lloyd Wright's architecture. I would have picked Fallingwater as An Arky did but the interior seems so cold, somehow.

[Tastes of Chocolate]

Cá d'Zan Mansion, in Sarasota Florida. Build for John Ringling, of the circus family fame. It's a gorgeous house right on the shore. And with 41 rooms, 15 bathrooms, and a huge terrace between the building and the shore, it would be great for parties.

[Bosda Di'Chi of Tricor]

Originally Posted by Pochacco

Case Study House No. 22

OOOH!

Nifty!

I'd go with a Modern or Art Deco building, with 3 flats.

I'd rent out 2, & live in the 3rd.

My tenants would pay my taxes & utilities.

[TV time]

The tree house from Swiss Family Robinson

That was cool. I actually lived with a girlfriend who had a tree house that we would stay in on nice evenings - not quite so elaborate as Swiss Family Robinson of course - and we found it pleasant during the summer although she complained about the bathroom facilities at times.

[Freudian Slit]

Originally Posted by Sigmagirl

Manderley, maybe.

Before the fire.

Aww, you stole my idea.

I'll just have to say Manderly...after the fire. Haha! Wait...d'oh!

[An Arky]

Bus Guy picked before me...oh well, I probably would've fired the prick halfway through, anyway.

I wouldn't mind hanging out at the cement pond with Elly Mae, either.

[3acresandatruck]

Originally Posted by Mrs. Cake

Bag End would be first, but unless I could kick out 3acresandatruck

You don't have to kick me out. Since I'm going for the Gaudi version of Bag End, maybe you'd like the Hundertwasser version - or something on the tamer side. It would seem advantageous to have neighbors named Cake.

[G0sp3l]

Why choose Bag End when Moria is furnished and empty. I think I'd like 221B Baker Street. Or the Playboy Mansion IF it comes 'furnished'

[AuntiePam]

Originally Posted by PunditLisa

I'd also take Charlie's (of 2 and a Half Men) house in Malibu complete with a deck overlooking the Pacific Ocean.

My first choice too. It's not big but it's well-designed and comfortable. My second choice would be the house from The Others -- all that woodwork and those big airy rooms -- makes me swoon.

I kinda like Norman Bates' house too -- the entry way and the stairs especially, and Mother's big bedroom. Might want to redecorate though.

[imfloating]

Jenny Fields' house in The World According to Garp.

[DaddyTimesTwo]

The Vandamm house from "North By Northwest". This was absolutely the first thing that popped into my head, so it has to be what I really like. Although that Frank Lloyd Wright style has always appealed to me.

You know, that's the house up on the hill with the huge great room and the cantilevered porch? And all the stone? Very cool.

[Stoid]

Hearst Castle, mostly for the pools.

[KneadToKnow]

Is it too late to change to the house from Body Double?

[Vox Imperatoris]

Originally Posted by Sampiro

It can be real or fictional, but nothing too outlandish- no Renaissance palaces, Versailles, Biltmore, or the Forbidden City or even the White House, but something more family scaled (though it can be a rich family).

Oh, the inhumanity!

Valete,
Vox Imperatoris

[freckafree]

Taliesin, before all the horrible stuff happened.

[Freudian Slit]

Originally Posted by AuntiePam

I kinda like Norman Bates' house too -- the entry way and the stairs especially, and Mother's big bedroom. Might want to redecorate though.

I liked it, too. But that highway's going to be built, and then what's to be done with the motel? And when the swamp is drained...ah.

I think most people would kill to get into Rosemary's apartment in the Bramford, in Rosemary's Baby. (Kill...carry the son of Satan...it's all the same to me.)

[Ranchoth]

Castle Grayskull. Fuck yeah.

Anyway, failing that...

The first house my grandparents lived in, after I was born...but here's the catch: everything scaled up (with concessions made to counters and at least some stairs) to the same size relative to me that it was when they moved, when I was about 8.

Screw that "wow...everything's so much smaller now" feeling. I want happy nostalgia, not a reenactment of the aircraft graveyard scene from The Best Years of Our Lives.

Other nominees:

•The Mt. Rushmore house from North by Northwest
•Jack Skellington's house
•Frank Lloyd Wright's Mile-High Illinois. (Never built)

Eh, I could probably think up others...some of them not even fictional.

[BetsQ]

Hmm. My immediate response is Green Gables (from Anne of Green Gables), which is of course somewhere I've never actually been or seen. I have no idea what the floor plan is actually like, but it always seemed so very homey in the books that it must be a good place to live.

Monticello is another good choice. Those octagonal rooms are awesome.

[Gatopescado]

Originally Posted by PunditLisa

Johnny Cash's house overlooking Henderson Lake. A few scenes from the movie "I Walk the Line" were filmed in the house. It has a great history, isn't pretentious at all, has a huge screened in porch, lots of light, a great treed lot, and a great lake view. Perfect.

Perfect except for that asshole Barry Gibb bought it and burned it down. I was there. It was a nice place.

[Czarcasm]

Collinwood, from Dark Shadows.

[Mudshark]

The Addams Family Mansion.

[Timchik]

The Incredibles' house. Even without superpowers.

[Sleeps With Butterflies]

I'll take the apartment Mr Big bought for himself and Carrie in the Sex and the City movie. Of course, the walk-in closet would have to be done first.

[Sefton]

Xanadu, if you consider "stately pleasure-dome" as being synonymous with "house," which I and all right-thinking people certainly do.

[Rilchiam]

The Four-Story Mistake.

[Marlitharn]

Hill House. The Halloween parties would be spectacular.

[Harvey The Heavy]

1313 Mockingbird Ln.

[Shakes]

When I was a kid, I was going to make it my life long ambition to live in the Wichester Mystery House.


Now, I'll go with the Playboy Manchine. Just because.

[Agent Foxtrot]

I'll go with Castle Dracula from Castlevania: Symphony of the Night. I'd never get bored exploring that place over and over again.

[Tracy Lord]

The Truebas' home in The House of the Spirits.

[Skald the Rhymer]

Snug Harbor, from Robert A. Heinlein's The Number of the Beast.

:: crossing fingers that I beat What Exit? to the punch ::

[Sigmagirl]

Originally Posted by Rilchiam

The Four-Story Mistake.

Awww . . . with the cupola!

[Ludovic]

Monticello, but mainly for the wallpaper.

Other than that, I'd pick the magical mansion my dad looked at for a family dwelling in the center of Mayville, NY. I call it a mansion because although it looks like your typical square Northern house, it is on a medium-sized plot with an orchard and used to have out buildings.

I call it magical because although it looks like it has 2 main floors, a basement and an attic, it really has 3 main floors, a basement, an attic, and a Cape-Cod like semi attic with 2 bedrooms. It's in the middle of town so walking is possible (now it's a small town so not to a bunch of places but still.) I'd prefer it to a traditional-looking mansion in the middle of a small town since it would look too much like a funeral home.