Here’s the story…of how a seemingly non-descript home in the San Fernando Valley turned into an L.A. landmark.
The L.A. City Council voted to designate the “Brady Bunch” home as a historic-cultural monument on Wednesday, enshrining the Studio City Midcentury as a piece of the metropolis’s historical past.
“Long before it became a pop‑culture pilgrimage site and backdrop for countless photo ops, the Brady Bunch House helped shape America’s vision of family life in the late 1960s and early ’70s — especially the idea of a blended family,” said Adrian Scott Fine, president of the L.A. Conservancy. “We’re thrilled to see it now designated as a Historic-Cultural Monument, ensuring the Brady Bunch — and their iconic home — remain part of Los Angeles’ story.”
The Los Angeles Cultural Heritage Commission unanimously voted to advocate the home, situated at 11222 Dilling St. in Studio City, as a landmark on Jan. 15. The Planning and Land Use Commission accepted the designation a month later, sending ultimate say to the City Council.
“I look forward to seeing this memorialized in the appropriate way as part of San Fernando Valley television history,” Councilmember Adin Nazarian said during the Planning assembly.
The landmark standing protects the home from demolition, but doesn’t prohibit it. If the proprietor ever desires to destroy the home, the Cultural Heritage Commission can delay the course of for up to a 12 months to discover preservation options. The fee also gets more oversight on proposed alterations.
“The Brady Bunch” was filmed in a studio for the entirety of its iconic run from 1969 to 1974. So how does a home that was merely for exterior photographs wind up as a landmark?
Through painstaking renovations and a bit of actuality TV magic.
The home was constructed in 1959 by architect Harry M. Londelius, who gave the up to date ranch a shake roof, cathedral ceilings and heaps of Palos Verdes stone. After starring in the present, the home grew to become a image for Southern California’s suburban, single-family attraction.
For a long time, it was owned by Violet and George McCallister, who purchased it for $61,000 in 1973. Once they died, their youngsters offered it in 2018 for $3.5 million — almost twice the authentic ask.
The bloated sale worth was the consequence of a bidding battle, as presents poured in from TV fanatics and celebrities, including ‘N Sync’s Lance Bass. In the finish, cable community HGTV emerged as the winner.
The channel had massive plans for the property, asserting a $1.9-million rework that would recreate the interiors precisely how they appeared in the present. The whole course of was documented in a four-part miniseries titled “A Very Brady Renovation.”
The present featured the actors who performed the Brady children taking sledgehammers to the interiors while “Property Brothers” stars Drew and Jonathan Scott reshaped the residing areas.
An inside look at the “Brady Bunch” home in Studio City.
(Ryan Lahiff for Eklund | Gomes)
The ultimate consequence was a close to picture-perfect reproduction of the Brady abode: the floating staircase, the groovy orange kitchen counters, even the well-known vase destroyed by a stray basketball during a well-known episode. (“She always says don’t play ball in the house.”) To make house for the throwback bedrooms, the crew added 2,000 sq. toes to the rear of the home, as effectively as a second story — which they hid from the avenue by reducing the basis by a foot.
The renovation almost doubled the sq. footage, that includes 5 bedrooms and 5 loos across more than 5,000 sq. toes.
After the miniseries, HGTV took a tub on the sale. They flipped it for $3.2 million in 2023 — $300,000 less than they paid for it 5 years earlier and $2 million less than the asking worth.
The home was purchased by historic-home fanatic Tina Trahan and her husband Chris Elbrecht, former chief govt of HBO. It came with a few Brady-themed furnishings throw-ins such as a inexperienced floral sofa and credenza full with a 3-D printed horse sculpture.
Fans still flock to the home to take pictures from the avenue, but Trahan and Elbrecht opened it to the public for the first time in November, providing a restricted run of excursions for $275.
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