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.
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.
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)
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.
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.
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.
