The Bewitched House!

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This weekend I stalked the house used as Darrin and Samantha’s home on the 1964 TV series Bewitched. Interestingly enough, the house, located in Santa Monica, California, was only the inspiration for the home seen on the series, but was never actually used for filming. An exact replica of the Santa Monica house was built on the Warner Brothers Ranch lot in Burbank and the producers used that home for filming. Even more interesting, the house on the Ranch lot is actually the complete opposite of the real home in Santa Monica – almost an exact mirror image – in that everything on the set house was switched to the opposite side. The peaked roof is located on the right side of the real house, but on the set version it is on the left.

I found this location on Zillow’s fabulous Famous Houses page. Walking up to the house I felt like I had stepped back in time. Surrounded mostly by modernized and remodeled houses, the Bewitched house looks like it hasn’t been touched in years. But in a good way. πŸ™‚ It’ll bring you right back to 1964!

Until next time, Happy Stalking! πŸ™‚

Stalk It: While Samantha and Darrin supposedly lived at 1164 Morning Glory Circle in West Connecticut, the real house can be found at 267 18th Street in Santa Monica, just north of Montana Ave. According to IMDB, the house was also used as Gidget’s house in the TV series of the same name. Warner Brothers Ranch lot is located at 411 N. Hollywood Way in Burbank. Sadly (tragic really!) the Ranch is not open to the public. πŸ™ This website has GREAT pictures and information about the Ranch, so at the very least you can stalk it from your computer screen. Many famous movie and TV locations are located on the lot, including the Griswold Family’s home from Christmas Vacation, Danny Glover’s house in Lethal Weapon, the house from Life Goes On, and, my personal favorite, the fountain from the opening credits of Friends!

29 Replies to “The Bewitched House!”

  1. Read the article!
    It’s not “The” house, it’s the house that inspired the Bewitched house.
    As I said earlier… read the article

  2. Hi De

    I’m a huge Bewitched fan and have loved the house ever since I first laid eyes on it. Did you ever get around to building it? I would love to see your plans if you still have them.
    I’m actually from Australia too, like Susan is.

    thanks

    Adam

  3. That’s not the house, sorry. The front door was to the right (looking at the house) of the brick kickout, not to the left as your picture shows. There was a garage and driveway to the left of the kickout.

  4. Indeed, the Santa Monica house 267’s exterior was used in the Gidget MOVIES. Interestingly, they filmed the Gidget TV show on Columbia Ranch (now WB Ranch) — right next-door to 1164! You can see 1164 in several episodes. Before the main part of the studio 1164 house was built, its garage was there since the 1930s… and was the garage for the house next door, hehe. As for 1164 replicas, I am not aware of any that were ever built, as of late 2015. I have construction plans for one, but it would fail many modern building codes and would need some adjustments and changes. The exterior footprint of my current 1-story home is quite similar to the Santa Monica house (or a reverse 1164) and if I ever get my plans cleared past zoning, I may build my 267-inspired second floor. πŸ™‚ Meanwhile, the original 267 house and 1164 @ WB are both happy and well and looking in good shape.

    1. Oh – and one more fun tidbit: The original Bewitched (studio set) living room and fireplace (seen only in black-and-white during Bewitched) is seen in COLOR in the Gidget movies! Talk about series overlap…….

    1. Yes,
      My Father; Dr. Bellows, lived in the house too.
      He rented a basement apartment while the Stevens’ lived in the first and second floors.
      My Dad used to tell me stories of all the bizarre occurrences that took place there.
      With all those happenings there and next door at the Nelson’s house and the Munsters’ house and all the noise from the Partridge’s garage, my Dad eventually turned to the bottle, began hallucinating for real and finished his tragic life in the SunnySide Sanitarium.

  5. I have read that this house in Santa Monica is where they filmed the original Gidget movie…..then they copied and reversed the layout for the Bewitched series. Don’t know if it is true or not……

      1. Gidget the TV series with Sally Field use the same set was Bewitched and Gladys Kravitz across the road shared the same set as the Donna Reed Show haha it’s all pretty cool πŸ™‚

  6. On an episode of “Home Improvement”, Tim Allen nearly burned down this house where Benny baroni was living, due to a gas leak!

  7. I would love to visit the actual house where they filmed the series – seems silly that it’s not open to the public. A guided tour of the house would make a fortune.

    1. The “Actual house” is only a 10 foot deep shell. There is no interior to see. All interior shots were on sound stages. I have read in other places that the studio was adamant about if you were using the outside of the house, you had to use the correct sets for any interior shots. That way the floor plans would always look correct.

  8. I am also very curious to know if the house was re-created. I would actually make a special trip to see it where ever it was. I, too, love the layout and feel of the set and the outside has so much curb appeal to me…

  9. Hello Lindsay. Thought you and your readers may like to know I lived with actress Kasey Rogers who played Louise Tate, the boss’ wife wife on the series Bewitched for many, many years. You can find us all over the net together. I am in the process of building an actual working replica of Samantha and Darrin’s home as a museum and B&B in the Salem MA area. So, one day soon, you’ll be able to actually walk into the “real” house and back into 1964. William Asher once told me the address for the house: 1164 was created because that’s the month and year the house number was needed in a particular script. Thanx. mark Wood…

    1. Hi Mark,
      I would like to know if you still working on your project to build a replica of the 1164 Morning Glory Circle?
      MB

    2. Hello, this is susan from australia, i wish to build the same home, as my dream home.do you have the ‘tv’ house plans, are they available to sent to me on email?. you may contact me on space.girl27@yahoo.com.au if you wish. i too beleive that the house should be’ immortalised ‘in as many places as possible. looking forward to hearing from you, you are a kind person Mark. much love, susan

      1. I just happened to stumble upon this. My step father, Robert Purcell, was the Art Director and he designed the sets for the show. Would love to know if you ever got the plans. The Bewitched set was the first set as a child I visited. I got to meet Elizabeth Montgomery and twitch my nose for her. I was around 10 at the time but still remember the living room set on stage. That day I knew I had to get into the business (and I did). If you happened to get the plans I sure would love to see a picture of them. Thank you. Tom

    3. Hello Mark, this is susan from Australia again. I would like to know how the construction
      of the bewitched house is going for you. I wonder if you could please be so kind as to contact me on this,as I am very interested in building the tv home as well,as it is my dream home.Much thanks for your time and effort, very appreciated, kindest regards susan

    4. Dear Mark, I have been searching for you for over a year, when I last saw your above comment.
      I too would love to build the house, it is my dream house, and yes I am a little obsessed with the tv show . I am purchasing as much inside items as I can find so that when the house,…one day,….is built, I will have the items to furnish it. I would dearly love to share with you about this, if you so kindly choose. Kindest Regards, Susan.

      1. Hi Susan, I happened across your message here and wanted to share that this house was actually the inspiration for what I do for a living…design houses and am also a builder in the USA (MidWest) I have designed a modernized version of this house in all it’s beauty to fit today’s lifestyles and needs. The rooms in the original would be awful small and wouldn’t ever accomodate the amount of furnishings that were on the show (the actual house is just a bit over 2300 square feet, and with 13 total rooms, 4 of them bedrooms and 3 of them baths…there’s just not a lot of space. For instance, The 2 full baths (as shown in the show) and the 3/4 bath (as shown in the show) would take almost 150 to 200 square feet…leaving only 2100 Square feet or so for the other 10 rooms. Assumable, the living room is quite large and would take up almost 300 square feet minimal to keep in line with the show’s atmosphere…This means all remaining rooms can only possibly be 11 x 12 or so…really quite small.

        With the foot print and roof line where the Master Suite is located, there just isn’t enough room for the large rooms as shown. However, My plan is about 3400 square feet and when inside of it, leaves you feeling as if you are inside the show itself. (decorated a bit more modern of course) The views are quite similar and walking throughout the home’s plan and seeing it on screen truly leaves one feeling like it is Darrin and Samantha’s house as built today in 2017.
        Anyhow, it is also my dream to build this home and see it come to life. My personal home is modeled closely itself with many aspects of the “Bewitched Home” as it’s inspiration which is only appropriate as it was the entire reason I got into this business.
        I’ve written back and forth with some guy named Adam that has or had a site all about this house and others on the studio lot. I give him kudos for his attempt in design, but he was quite argumentative and defensive when I asked where the bathrooms were that were shown in the show? He claimed there wasn’t a master bath, yet when Darrin had his 3 wishes, was popped back into the shower through the door in the master bedroom…He was also seen in there MANY times getting ready etc…and Endora even popped in for a visit in the bath…He was also seen taking a shower in the bath off the den down stairs and then another bath was shown with Sam over the blue tub (which can be assumed as the “main bath”.
        The other guy who responded claims this isn’t the house because of the garage and the front door being on the wrong side…I would guess he doesn’t realize that plans are quite often built in reverse. The garage to the side was swung around to the left of the bewitched house, but in real life was off to the back (see google earth images). There are MANY aspects that had to be changed or reversed to keep in line with the show and it’s angles for good camera shots. To prove one of these points, Sam looks out her bedroom window (beside the fireplace) and sees the drive way??? Well, the set would leave her looking at the back yard, yet using the room above the den would leave her looking onto the street and garage side of the real house. It’s been my finding that the upstairs of the plan was actually reversed, then turned in order to make things fit and line up with windows and such…as never having shown the rear of the home in completion, it is all left to speculation, BUT looking at the REAL house…what I’ve lined up as the real placement of rooms is most realistic, yet nobody truly knows how it really is because it is a private home.
        Anyhow, my plan leaves the Master Suite in it’s proper placement, over the living room and “feels” like you go up the stairs and swing back to the right to get to it just as in the show. I have a bedroom and bath above the den, but coming out of Tabitha’s bedroom, you can’t take a right without falling off the balcony above the stairs. Ironically, where the door is to her older character’s bedroom is (up the stairs, turn to right and first door in front of you, I have a hallway that leads to a bedroom above the dining room and yet another above the “rumpus” room off the kitchen with yet another private bath. That bedroom above the dining room, if you can imagine it in reverse) leaves you feeling like you’re going into Tabitha’s nursery…which would make absolute sense with the real houses reversed plan.
        When you enter that room, there is a closet to your right and a window to your left. Now, think of that in reverse…closet on your left and window on your right…and guess what…it fits her nursery on the show. Now, leaving the room you’d go out and take a left and then turn left down the stairs. Now, reverse that too…Go out, take a right and turn right down the stairs….just like on the show.
        Here’s how I figured some of these things out….
        I placed myself is Sam and Darrin’s TV house. Knowing where to turn, what is on my left and right etc…then I pictured if I were in the reversed plan, and went up the stairs and turned back and came along the stairs to the master…more that likely, that would leave the master over the den and not the living room…
        Going up the stairs and turning left to Tabitha’s nursery would place you above the dining room. Then it all made sense.
        As I said though, that left for a VERY small master, so as with TV sets…I switched it around a little and made my rendition as close as possible, but laid out so that it felt quite close to what we all grew up with and loved…then made it fit.
        I have 4 bedrooms and a laundry on the second floor. There is a private master bath with spa tub and huge spa shower with a walk in closet. The bedrooms over the Den and over the rumpus room both have their own baths and then the “nursery” over the dining room has a “common bath” at the top of the stairs. So all in all, 4 bedrooms, laundry and 4 baths upstairs.
        Down stairs, everything is so close to the tv show’s set it isn’t funny. There are a few minor changes to fit today’s needs, such as a bit larger kitchen and rumpus room off the kitchen. The kitchen is even quite similar, but rearranged just a little and the rumpus room on the back has the fireplace but is large enough for a couple of TV chairs as well as a small dining set to enjoy breakfast.
        The den on the front has a closet and I put double doors into it as more of a library feel and where the front hall closet door is to the left of the opening to that hall…I placed the door into a half bath, that is quite similar to the bath shown in the den. I suppose you could place a door in the den to this bath, but it is just a half bath or “powder room” and may be akward…I felt it was best served as a visitor’s bath.
        The side door and door into the kitchen, in my plan, actually lead into a whole different area. The “kitchen” door beside the garage leads into a mud room that also has an entry from the 3 car attached garage I put on the plan. I was a bit creative with those entry points so as to leave the exterior door placement and allow for the plan to feel similar to the show, while meeting the needs of today with having a 3 car garage which is pretty standard here in the mid-west.
        Anyhow, I am going to copy this and send to your email you left and see if we can catch one another. I’m sure you’d like to see what I came up with and I love showing it! after all, sounds like we all have a similar interest in this charming house!

        I just created a Facebook page so you could see what I have. Would love to chat some time!
        De
        https://www.facebook.com/1164MGC/

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