Got an email last week from fellow stalker Karin who wanted me to locate the house belonging to Donald Draper (played by Jon Hamm) and his wife, Betty (played by January Jones), on the AMC television series Mad Men. It turns out that my good friend, and fellow stalker E.J., over at The Movieland Directory, had written down a bunch of addresses where Mad Men filming had taken place over the years off of the On Location Vacations website. Using those addresses, it wasn’t long before Karin and I had located the right house. 🙂 Thank you, E.J.!! So, while out doing some stalking with Mike, from MovieShotsLA, last Friday, I dropped by the Draper residence to snap some pics. 🙂
On Mad Men, the Draper family supposedly lives in the town of Ossining in Westchester County, New York. In reality, though, their home is located in the suburbs of Pasadena, just a stone’s throw away from the Father of the Bride house. It’s such a small movie world, isn’t it? 😉
I had a heck of a time making screen captures of the Draper home as it seems that, for some reason, the exterior of the house is rarely shown on the series. I guess the producers of Mad Men aren’t big on doing establishing shots! LOL You can see a paparazzi pic of Jon Hamm and January Jones filming at the house a few weeks ago here.
I am happy to report that Don Draper’s house looks exactly the same in person as it does on TV. Except, of course, for the color of the front door. On the series, the Draper’s front door is painted red, while the door of the real life home is blue.
If you look at the house on Google Maps Street View, the front door is also red, which leads me to believe that the Google photographs must have been taken while Mad Men filming was going on. So cool!
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Before Karin’s challenge, I had never watched even a single episode of Mad Men. My fiance has been a longtime fan of the series, though, so, last night I popped in the pilot episode from his Season One DVD’s for a quick peruse. It’s actually a very entertaining show about a wealthy group of Manhattanites living in the 60s, when everyone smoked everywhere, having a cocktail at the office was commonplace, and all husbands cheated on their wives. Doesn’t sound like a very reputable show, but it definitely makes for some interesting storylines. 🙂 A bit of a disclaimer – the house that was featured in the pilot episode of Mad Men is not the same residence that is being used now. The house from the pilot episode is pictured above and as you can see looks quite different from the Pasadena residence that is used in all of the other episodes.
Just got an email from fellow stalker Kevin who happened upon some Mad Men filming at the Draper residence just a few weeks ago. Kevin was nice enough to send me some photos he managed to snap of the many antique cars parked on the road, some of the filming equipment, and best of all, the Draper house all dressed up with its red front door. Big THANK YOU to Kevin!!! 🙂
Until next time, Happy Stalking! 🙂
Stalk It: Don Draper’s house from Mad Men is located at 675 Arden Road in Pasadena.
I live is Ossining now and I agree , the Chilmark area of Ossining is spot on for the Draper’s fictional home. You have to remember that back in the 1960’s , Ossining was a white collar town with many NYC commuter’s. Now , Ossining is a good place to buy a 1st home , them move on in 5-10 years.
On next trip out there, will go by the Draper house. Just wondering, the Father of the Bride House at 843 S. EL Molino Ave, is that Spencer Tracy (hope so), or the remake.
Love this site. I have traveled from Florida to see Burbank’s Ranch which is off limits to public, but I was allowed a 1 circle around trip. Lucy’s house. Even got a brick from her side porch step, for in 1996 her house was being totally remodeled. Never be shy to ask. There has been more. My job would take me to California once in a while and I always allow one day for “looking” around.
Discovered Man Men for the first time after the marathon just last month. Husband was out of town and I stayed in pj’s for the better part of 2 days. Watching one episode after the other, could not stop.
Thanks,
Cathy
look at the street view photo now.. too funny
To Infosaur-
FYI- Ossining, NY is not considered a ritzy town these days… However, back in the 60’s when Don Draper suposedly lived there…the “Chilmark” neighborhood (where the Drapers were located) was a very upscale area. I lived there for 25 years and my Mom’s house is in that neighborhood. It’s exactly where an up and coming Ad-man would have parked his family.
I watch mad men on Netflix (i love it) and then i was watching this movie called Outbreak—its the same exact house! if you watch the first 10 or so minutes, you’ll see the house is the same exact house only not 60’s. lol how funny huh?
What is the exact address of this house! I really want to stop by for a photo!
I used to live in Westchester County NY, and I love MadMen, but I think they made a mistake in locating the house in “Ossining”. For the 1st season it was never explictly stated WHERE the Draper house was, untill it was mentioned in some off handed remark and they decided to stick with it.
The problem is, Ossining is NOT a very prestigious neighborhood. (It’s known mostly for it’s famous prison, Sing Sing) and the downtown area is a narrow warren of working class streets left over from the days when river traffic dictated a harbor based street layout. If the house was in one of the nicer areas of Ossining (ie, Briar Cliff) they would most likely refer to it as such.
More likely Don would cool his heels in ritzy hamlets like Rye, Larchmont, Chappaqua, or Greenwich CT. Early on there seemed to be some vagueness about where he actually lived. One episode he bumped into an old Army aquaintence on the train. The man was headed up to Armonk, which has no train service BTW, while Don was presumably headed home. The closest rail to Armonk would be either Pleasantville or North White Plains, while Ossining is on the Hudson River line.
Oddly enough the neighborhood MOST like Don’s is the Bryant Ave section of White Plains, (or the Soundview neighborhood slightly south of it in Scarsdale) Pitty they didn’t do any location shots over there.
Is this house in Pasadena or N. Alhambra? The Father of the Bride house was located in North Alhambra, next to San Marino. This house looks like it’s in the same area.
The “Father of the Bride” house is not in Alhambra. It is in Pasadena, as is the Draper house. I drive by both of them every couple of weeks.
Well, you are partially correct. The front of the Father of the Bride house is located in Pasadena – https://www.iamnotastalker.com/2008/01/08/father-of-the-bride-house/. But the house used for all of the backyard scenes, including the basketball scenes – is actually in Alhambra – https://www.iamnotastalker.com/2008/05/02/guess-who-got-stalked/. Hope that clears up the confusion.
If anyone has the layout of the house and maybe corresponding pictures of the inside. I love this house and want to design my next home on the basis of this one. Anyone that can help greatly appreciated
You can check out interior photos at eastwestlocations.com. Its listed under “all-american” houses 🙂
the Pilot house was used in most of season ones inside shots-or at least the idea of the 2 and 1/2 story home. Don goes upstairs to kiss his kids good night after he is in the master suite with Betsy. which the house being a large salt box would not fit that but the dormers in the pilot house make sence for that!
AM DESPERATE TO KNOW THE LOCATION OF THE HOTEL POOL SCENE IN THE ‘JET SET’ EPISODE. IT WAS WHEN THEY WERE SUPPOSED TO BE IN L.A.
Trent: the hotel pool scene was filmed at the Altadena country club. I know this because I live next door and am a member there
Tom. Thanks for the info. I live about three blocks from the Altadena Country Club.
As an aside, this house was also featured in the Honeycomb cereal commercials in the late 1970’s, early 80’s – the “Honeycomb Hideout” series of commercials.
Did some of the show get filmed inside the house? Because I looked at one of these pictures of the house from its right side and the door and window match the inside of the houses kitchen and the tv room from the show. Does anyone know? or did they just make a stage to look just like it from the inside for the show because of the time period?
The exteriors of the house have been used a lot more on season 3, the day grandpa took little Sally for a ride, or should I say Sally took grandpa for a ride.They just won their second Emmy! Love them!
Thanks for posting this. I lived one town over from Ossining for 20 years and figured it wasn’t being shot there; the street they use here is too wide for that part of Westchester. Parts of Ossining are definitely nice like this, but the part near Sing Sing Prison is awful. Good thing they kept the palm trees out of the shot!
I LOVE this house and so glad you posted this. I’ve been looking for exterior colors for my house loved the Drapers’ house on Mad Men! I tried as best I could to match up the colors from the photos on this site and here’s what I came up with (all Benjamin Moore): body (Sag Harbor Gray), shutters (Hale Navy), trim (Linen White) & door (Poppy).
We love these colors also, Have you found these to be the colors or have you discovered something new?
Hi Robert,
I ended up painting the front door Heritage Red instead of Poppy (Benjamin Moore also). Just uploaded a pic on flickr:
http://www.flickr.com/photos/26878382@N06/4819349663/
Thank you for posting this!!! I have been on a search for this location FOREVER!!! I have been a fan and I just happened to come across your site!!! Thanks