The listing calls the Brady Bunch House “the second-most photographed home in the United States,” after the White House. The house was made famous in the iconic TV show “The Brady Bunch.” For years, the house featured in the popular sitcom has drawn in a steady stream of fans hoping to pose for photos in front of the property. And now, the home is up for sale for nearly $1.9 million.
The Brady house today.
The two-bedroom, three-bathroom split-level home in Los Angeles’ Studio City neighborhood was put up for sale for $1.855 million after the children of the original homeowners, George and Violet McCallister, decided to sell the property when their parents died. The McCallisters purchased the home in 1973 for $61,000, records showed. The roughly 2,500-square-foot home, located at 11222 Dilling St. in Studio City, sits on a 12,500-square-foot lot in a residential district and borders the Los Angeles river.
But before they moved in, the house already gained notoriety as the exterior of the Brady family home, as seen on “The Brady Bunch” during its run between September 1969 to March 1974. The show has become one of the most popular shows in reruns, next to The Big Bang Theory and other, more contemporary shows, that have not yet made it into pop culture hall of fame like The Brady Bunch. In fact, in polls, TV viewers say they wish there were more shows today with the innocence of the Brady’s.
That may explain the phonemail interest in the house as it goes on the real estate block.
Ernie Carswell, a Douglas Elliman agent who listed the house, told the Los Angeles Times he’s expecting an “avalanche” of offers.
The house appeared in “The Brady Bunch” series until the show went to reruns in 1974. (CBS)
“Emails, telephone calls — we may see upwards of 500 calls a day,” Carswell said.
The real estate agent said the house has been updated and upgraded, but is still a “postcard” of what 1970s homes looked like with vintage touches of a rock-wall fireplace, wood-paneled walls and floral wallpaper. Like on The Brady Bunch, the garage was converted to a den.
For those hoping to see the same interior design and layout filmed in “The Brady Bunch,” they’re out of luck. Interior scenes in the sitcom were shot in a studio. The garage of the Studio City house, however, has been turned into a recreation room that somewhat mimics the garage-turned-den on the show.
Carswell did not rule out the notion that the house on the 12,500-square-foot lot would be torn down, as the Los Angeles Times reported that several properties in the area have been torn down in recent years for new developments. But he said the owners will give first dibs to those who don’t have plans to demolish it.
“I have several buyers already interested,” said Jodie Levitus Francisco, a realtor with Berkshire Hathaway. “They’re developers for the lot size. They might tear down, but the listing agent said the family was hoping to get someone to preserve the house, and at $1.85, I don’t know if a developer would pay that much.”
CHECK OUT THE BRADY KIDS INTERVIEWED LAST YEAR ON THE TODAY SHOW
“We’re not going to accept the first big offer from a developer who wants to tear it down,” Carswell said. “We’re going to wait a few days, in case there are others who want to purchase it as an investment to preserve it.”
The “Brady Bunch” home attracts 30 to 50 visitors on a daily basis, and it even has its own Yelp page with a 4-1/2 star rating, the agent said.
“The house looks exactly the same as it was in the show with the exception of the paint color and the gate which was probably installed to keep tourists away,” one Yelp user commented.
Another user who heard about house being put up for sale said: “Gorgeous!! Home!!! A must-see for sure[.] If I had the money I would definitely buy it to preserve it!”
It’s not the first show from TV’s golden age to go on sale. Last August, the Clampett Mansion from The Beverly Hillbillies hit the market at a price of $350 million. That home is still on the market.
The Associated Press contributed to this report.
