

The managing editor of Entertainment Weekly makes an interesting point regarding a famous house in American television: the exterior shots of the Brady Bunch house don’t match the interior shots.

And I grew up obsessing over a particularly brazen TV blunder: The exterior and interior of the Brady Bunch house do not match. At all. Not one bit. In case you never noticed: The interior set depicts a soaring two-story home with the second story over the structure’s right side; the outside is a low-slung split-level with a second story over the left side. (In fact, the second-floor window was fake.) How could they let this happen? Sherwood Schwartz once explained to the Los Angeles Times that the San Fernando Valley house used for the exterior shots was chosen because “we didn’t want it to be too affluent, we didn’t want it to be too blue-collar. We wanted it to look like it would fit a place an architect would live.” In other words, the exterior struck the right emotional note for audiences, and logic be damned. I can live with that. In fact, audiences will forgive almost any lapse in logic if the story does its primary job well – and that is to move us, scare us, tickle us, and give us characters worth knowing. The Brady house made no sense, but I still wanted to live there. And while it may not be necessary to cross the Golden Gate Bridge to get to the San Francisco Airport (unless you’re coming from Sausalito), it makes for a nice aerial shot loaded with symbolism. The best purveyors of pop culture know that poetic truth trumps literal truth every time.

Six thoughts about this:

1. I’m not someone who looks for or particularly cares about inconsistencies in movies and television shows. And yet, this still seems pretty egregious: the sides of the house don’t even line up?

2. Is this house really befitting of an architect? Would any architect worth his salt really want to admit that he lived in a stereotypical split-level? While some might defend the ranch as an exemplar of post-World War II American life, are there people who defend the split-level?

3. The explanation from Sherwood Schwartz is very interesting: the home is supposed to invoke a certain American middle-classness. Another way to think about it is the home is supposed to invoke a particular emotion and then fade into the background.

4. I bet there would be a fascinating study in looking at TV and movie depictions of American homes. As Juliet Schor suggested in The Overspent American, the “middle-class house” on TV has really gotten big and more luxurious over the years.

5. The exterior of the house is interesting but what about the astro-turf lawn?

6. It can be a little bit strange to visit these television homes on the set. Two years ago, we toured the Warner Brothers studio and saw a number of sets. Here are three shots: the emergency room exterior for ER, Lorelai Gilmore’s house on Gilmore Girls, and their oft-used street scene.

After seeing these in person, I imagine there is some room for commentary about the reproducibility of more modern architecture, the impermanence of place, and how it can easily transition from one film to another TV show to a miniseries and so on…

24 thoughts on “The exterior vs. the interior of the Brady Bunch house and architecture in TV and movies

  1. This article was a great read. Back in 2005, I began using a CAD program to replicate both the interior and exterior versions of the Brady Bunch house just for kicks & giggles. The comparison is pretty interesting. And yes, no Architect worth his salt would have designed and built something so common. Yet we as T.V viewers never question this poor logic. Perhaps the illogic design of T.V architecture only adds to the charm and appeal of our favorite shows, the Brady Bunch being, perhaps, the prime example. Fun commentary! It isn’t my intention to troll, but I would live to have you watch my videos on Youtube, where I take you through both versions of the Brady Bunch house in virtual space. The YouTube user name is “Bradyhousetour,” and you can also find me on Facebook as “T.V House Historian.” I post tours of other TV homes from time to time as well, and am thrilled when other people enjoy my work. Again, great commentary!


  2. I thought everyone noticed the house was backwards. I actually loved the look of the house both inside and out. I seemed to forget about the obvious misfit once the show started.


  3. I was glad to find your post! When I stumbled upon the supposed “floor plans” of the Brady Bunch house I struggled to understand how the layout matched the exterior photos.

    Not only is the second story on the wrong side, but the front door seems to facing the wrong direction. In the floor plans, the door position has you facing the the direction of staircase. But the exterior warrants that you would be facing the railing side of the stairs upon entering the front door.

    None the less, I remain fascinated with the Brady house. I always wanted to live in that house… all the rooms and levels.


  4. The mismatch always irritated me, even as a child. But the paneling? The avocado green and burnt orange kitchen? The plaid family room? Yikes! So 70s, though. We had that paneling and avocado green kitchen when I was young. Only missing the harvest gold, nicely spoofed in That 70s Show!


  5. I was watching the TV show Mannix and he attended a party at a clients house and the interior was the Brady house. That set must have been used for additional shows as well.
    Wonder how many other shows used that set?


    • Happy Days! During the first season, Richie has a date with a girl who is too tall for him. The house that the party is at is the Brady set. The living room is the Brady master bedroom, the bedroom where the girls are getting ready is the girl’s room and the poker game the parents are playing takes place in Mike’s den.

      Happy Days parents (Marion Ross and Tom Bosley) hosted some health education film using the set. This was shown to us in High School.

      There is also a sci – fi film with creatures who attack and set fire to people’s heads.


  6. I’ve seen two sets of floor plans for the Brady house, and yes they are severely flawed.

    I’ve also been watching old episodes and searching exterior images of the house. The two CAN actually be reconciled (exterior and floor plan). There are 3 tricks in doing this.

    1st is in overlaying an image of the external shot (connotation shot, not google earth view from above showing full roofline of the actual address used) MIRRORED onto the floor plan.

    2nd is in altering your perception of which door actually enters the living/dining area. In this area it is single story, so that entrance is actually on the right side of the connotation shot house. Note I mentioned mirroring, and that window that is on that far right end of the house in the connotation shot is actually the window in Mike’s den. The “assumed front door” in the connotation shot is actually the service entrance into the laundry room (Sidebar item = forgive/forget the double service door discrepancy).

    3rd is the need to remove assumption that all that is done at the top of the stairs is make a right and then a left to go down the hall to the bedrooms. You do need to do that, but you also need to make another additional turn to go down the hall (left if it is the exterior of the house that is mirrored rather than the “as is view from the show” — essentially going 180 degrees total). Doing so turns the “mystery door” into a 2nd entrance into Mike and Carol’s bathroom.

    I’ve studied this extensively and even clarified the differing laundry room shots, and came up with a way of it being the same room but from different angles. I’m working on drawing the entire plans/set up from both standpoints (exterior is mirrored and floor plan is mirrored versions), and will be working on a paper model as well.

    Once done I will put the info here, but the Brady House does make sense after all 🙂


  7. The Brady house notwithstanding, the house that always drove me nuts was the exterior of the Tanner house in Full House. There is NO WAY to reconcile the floor plan to the house shown.


    • Full House ALWAYS bugged the crap out of me for that very reason (and maybe a few others)! So many other shows have this issue, too. Two that immediately come to mind are The King of Queens, and Everybody Loves Raymond. I don’t know why it bugs me so much, except maybe because I feel like the producers of these shows think the viewers are too stupid to notice.


  8. The Cunninghmam’s house on Happy Days morphed after the first season and the dining room disappeared. Richie’s older brother, Chuck, also mysteriously vanished and was never referred to again, after being played by two different actors who bore no resemblance. Don’t get me started; for some odd reason this kind of stuff drives me nuts, and I could go on and on. I have to tell myself it’s just a TV show!


  9. I noticed that the first episode of the first season uses a different house for an exterior shot. That house is smaller, more modern. The exterior is the same.


  10. Yes, THANK YOU! I always wondered if others were “bothered” by the fact that second floor was on the opposite side (From exterior shots). Glad to know I’m not the only one.


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  12. I will forever defend the split level home. I love the design and floor plan of split level. My wife and I bought our home BECAUSE it was a split level just like the Brady house. We grew up in the ’70s watching the show. We live in Westlake Village in a split level home. (Note: the Brady’s were said to live in Westlake obn the show, even though the house is in Studio City.) Finally, the set did have Mike’s office on a mid level so it was a split level inside as well. It has always bugged me that the floor plan is opposite of what it should be.


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