Munster Mansion

Coordinates: 34°8′20.56″N 118°20′44.73″W / 34.1390444°N 118.3457583°W / 34.1390444; -118.3457583

Munster Mansion
The set as it appears recently.
The Munsters location
Type	House
Notable locations	1313 Mockingbird Lane Mockingbird Heights, California
Notable characters	Herman Munster Lily Munster Grandpa Marilyn Munster Eddie Munster

The Munster Mansion (a title never used in the series), is a house located at Universal Studios. It is most famous for its use in the 1960s sitcom The Munsters, but has appeared in many other films. In the series, the fictional mansion was built on the remains of an old fort, and Grandpa put the down-payment when Herman and Lily bought the home.

Construction

The house set was built on Stage 12 in 1946 for the filming of So Goes My Love along with the set currently to its left. After production ended both house sets were put into storage. In the early 1950s Universal decided to build a new exterior residential street on its front lot. These sets were then out of storage and reassembled where they became a part of River Road; one of a number of residential streets constructed in the area.

History

The house received its most famous make-over in 1964 when it was being redressed for the premiere of the sitcom The Munsters. It is rumored that producers spent $1,000,000 to dress the house. The house was equipped with bare trees, dead leaves and a stone entrance gate. The house was roughed up slightly and finished off with a crooked vampire-bat weather-vane. The house was used for all the exterior shots. The inside scenes were filmed on separate soundstages within the studio. The original address for the house was supposed to be 13 Friday Street, but was changed to 1313 Mockingbird Lane before shooting began. After production of The Munsters in 1966 and after the film Munster, Go Home the house was stripped of its trees, gates and other landscape dressing. In 1981 the house was redressed for the television movie The Munster's Revenge. Around this time Universal replaced its front lot and the house and other sets were relocated to the backlot. The Munster house was placed in its current spot on Colonial Street. In the late 1980s the house was renovated again and became more modern. The most notable changes were the removal of the architectural details added for The Munster's; including the peak over the center window and the replacement of the columns and railings of the upstairs tower porch. The original bottom floor porch was replaced with a larger porch.

In the mid 2000's, for the 2nd season of Desperate Housewives, the 2nd floor was demolished and all of the remaining architectural details on the first floor were removed. Producers then had a new 2nd floor constructed with a somewhat similar design, but lacking in architectural detail.

List of appearances in film and television

• So Goes My Love, featuring Don Ameche and Myrna Loy (1946)
• Abbott and Costello Meet the Invisible Man (1951), seen in the beginning as the physician's home and lab.
• All I Desire (1953) starring Barbara Stanwyck
• Monster on Campus (1958)
• Alfred Hitchcock Presents, seen in episode "Bang! You're Dead"
• Leave it to Beaver
• The Brass Bottle (1964)
• Dragnet
• The Ballad of Josie (1967)
• Coogan's Bluff (1968)
• It Happened One Christmas (1977)
• Shirley (TV series)
• The Incredible Hulk, used as a backdrop in some episodes
• Dragnet (1987) used as Dan Aykroyd's mother's house
• The 'Burbs (1989)
• Murder, She Wrote
• Desperate Housewives, used as one of the houses on Wisteria Lane

Today

The Munster Mansion has been used as a backdrop for many television shows and movies. Its most recent appearance is as one of the main homes on Wisteria Lane in the ABC series Desperate Housewives. Before the start of the 2nd season the 2nd floor was demolished and replaced. Producers were concerned that audiences would be distracted by seeing the Munster's house in the series. Over the course of the show a total of four families have established a residence in the home they were: Mr & Mrs Edwin Mullins, Betty Applewhite and her children, Alma Hodge, and gay couple Bob Hunter and Lee McDermott. The house has been a center of bad news on Wisteria Lane. The house is a highlight of the Universal Studios Tour. Even though it is no longer the home of the Munsters, it is always mentioned on the studio tour because the Munsters have been its most famous residents.

The Munsters Today

When The Munsters Today, a remake of The Munsters, came about in 1988, the house could not be used. The producers knew the house was just as important as the characters. So an authentic scale model replica was built. The scale model worked well on the show, and many people didn't notice it wasn't the same house. The garden was decorated with dried oregano. There are some slight differences between the original house and the scale model used for the new show: seen from the front, the gates are now directly in front of the porch as opposed to slightly to the right as on the original show. Also, the gateposts are now dramatically smaller and less bulky, and around the perimeter instead of a wall are yet more posts with spiked fencing in-between for several intervals, somewhat similar to what is seen in the 1964 color pilot. Also, there is a small arched basement window that looks down into Grandpa's lab. Today the model can be seen in Universal's new House of Horrors.

Legacy

In the spring of 2001, Sandra and Charles McKee of Waxahachie, Texas began construction of a fully livable "re-creation" of the Munster home^[1], inside and out. With initial construction completed in 2002, cast alumni Al Lewis and Butch Patrick appeared at the public grand opening. Lewis exclaimed, with tears in his eyes, "This brings back warm memories."^{[cite this quote]} The house comes equipped with a grand staircase (which opens up to reveal Spot), a rotating suit of armor, trap doors, secret passages, Grandpa's electric chair, a pipe organ, raven cuckoo clock, a crooked bat weather vane on the roof and even a dungeon complete with trap door.

Since then, the McKees have opened their private home to the public for two nights each year on the weekend of Halloween. Since the death of Lewis, Pat Priest has returned to appear multiple times. The Munster Mansion Halloween Bash each year selects a local charity and donates all proceeds from the event.

References

1. ^ http://www.texastwisted.com/attr/munstermansion/

• Cox, Stephen. The Munsters: A Trip down Mockingbird Lane. 2nd. New York, New York: Backstage Books, 2006.
• The Studio Tour.com
• The Munsters Today.co.uk