[Editor's note: While your Flavorwire editors take a much-needed holiday break, we'll spend the next two weekends revisiting some of our most popular features of the year. This post was originally published July 20, 2011.] Tiny bathrooms, creepy Craigslist roommates, mice-infestations — typical apartment living is nothing like the movies. Our fifth-story walk-up is a far cry from the spaces we dreamed of when still living with Mom and Dad; there isn’t even one spiral staircase or floor-to-ceiling window. Looking back, we realized that many of our dream apartments were inspired by our favorite films. As a follow up to our list of the best movie bedrooms, we’ve rounded up 15 big-screen flats that are simply too good to be real, from Auntie Mame’s city splendor to Patrick Bateman’s minimalist bachelor pad. Add your suggestions in the comments.
Brontë Mitchell’s apartment in Green Card
While Green Card is a fairly forgettable romantic-comedy from the ’90s, we could never forget environmentalist Brontë Mitchell’s unbelievable New York City apartment. Kitschy, homey, and featuring a greenhouse, it defies the popular notion of Manhattan as a colorless, concrete jungle. Hell, if it would help us score an apartment with a hand-tiled pond and indoor atrium, we too would be willing to marry Gérard Depardieu.
Comments (58)
Can’t believe Danny Boyle’s first film Shallow Grave was omitted. Even The Toy should have been taken under consideration.
ah! glad you included aunti mame’s apt. when i was little i especially envied her remote-controlled sofa and chairs, that raised up to the ceiling.
What about the Kathryn and Sebastien’s apartment in Cruel Intentions?!
you missed derrick webb’s (james marsden)apartment in “gossip”.
not to be too much of a film nerd, but that’s gigi’s grandmother’s apartment, not great-aunt alicia’s.
was just thinking of Auntie Mame’s apartment today, but I would have included Laura’s apartment in Laura–and Clifton Webb’s bath in the same film
@ Molly–thanks for the correction; I was pretty unsure of the tag myself.
[...] Flavorwire has a list of 15 apartments from the movies that they wish they could own. I’ve always been partial to Josh Baskin’s apartment in the movie Big. [...]
Thanks for the inspiration. I highlighted your ’80s picks on the Stuck in the ’80s blog. http://bit.ly/o68KQe
[...] a thing for movie real estate, so it comes as no surprise that I would find a list of the “15 Apartments on Film That We Wished We Owned.” Highlights include Patrick Bateman’s killer pad in American Psycho, Molly [...]
The Beatles’ shared-flat with the sunken floor from the 1965 film “Help!”
You folks really…no, I mean REALLY…need a proofreader! Manhattan is a concert jungle? Don’t you mean a concrete jungle? This is but one example of your sloppy editing.
Contact me if you’d like a professional to review your work.
Felix and Oscar’s apartment in “The Odd Couple.”
Jeff Jeffries’ (James Stewart) apartment in “Rear Window.”
Erica’s (Jill Clayburgh) apartment in “An Unmarried Woman.”
you missed Janice and Bill Templeton’s apartment in “audrey Rose” with the beautiful paintings on the ceilings and the great Staircase.
Wow…no Woody Allen film apartments? Really?? (I also always loved Glenn Close’s place in “Fatal Attraction”.)
I loved the apartment in Miss Pettigrew lives for a day!
@JennBarnesy–This list originally included Hannah’s apartment from Hannah and Her Sisters (which was, in actuality, Mia Farrow’s apartment) but, during my search, I couldn’t find any pictures of it. Oh the internet, always ruining everything.
I said why no Woody Allen apartments? SOMEONE ANSWER ME NOW!
@christocc–Thanks for the correction..and the snark! That was just an additional bonus!
Thanks Colette, you calmed my nerves. Guess I don’t need to shoot up afterall :)
Where the Royal Tenenbaum’s place???
Matthew and Isabelle’s Paris apartment in The Dreamers, of course. Such beautiful decay.
@Colette: You’re welcome! It’s always nice to be appreciated! Oh! The love we proofreaders get…sometimes it’s just too much for words!
Erica Boyer’s apartment in Almost You – a large Gramercy Park aparment that’s been in her family for years, and you get the sense that multiple generations – different personalities, different eras – have lived there.
Seconding the Beatles’ flat in Help! I have been longing to have John Lennon’s bed-in-the-floor since the age of seven. Also, I would die to live in Celine’s Paris apartment from the end of Before Sunset.
Agree with Woody Allen movie apartments!
Catherine Keener and Oliver Platt’s Manhattan apartment with midcentury furnishings in Nicole Holofcener’s Please Give.
Also many great Paris apartments from French movies — Nelly and Monsieur Arnaud, even Emmanuelle Beart’s little studio in Un Coeur en Hiver, Louis Garrel’s great loft apartment in Love Songs.
I hated the movie (and book), but Juliette Binoche’s London apartment in Damage was pretty nice.
Jack Lemmon’s fully-automated bachelor pad in Under the yum Yum Tree
Bulge Ogier’s Parisian two-story apartment – the bath tub has a glass base with live water snakes in it! amazing
Eddie Murphy’s place in Boomerang
Rosemary Woodhouse’s apartment, minus the satanists …
Even though I’m not a fan of the movies, I’ve always loved Derek Flint’s Manhattan penthouse in “Our Man Flint” and “In Like Flint.” And since the kids’ flat in “The Dreamers” was taken, I’ll take Paul Newman’s Montmartre apartment in “A New Kind of Love,” with its seemingly unlikely view of Sacre Coeur.
Oh!! I’ve got a good one. Faye Dunaway’s Halston-era penthouse in THE EYES OF LAURA MARS!!!
The red, white and black room in Nine and a Half Weeks.
[...] by this great article from Flavorwire, ‘15 Apartments on Film That We Wish We Owned‘ by Colette [...]
moving to new york became a goal of mine, just so the dream of owning tom hank’s apartment in big could be alive. STILL WORKING ON MY DREAM! thank you based tom hanks god.
umm…the lover’s flat in wonderwall….KINDA FRIGGIN’ AWESOME!
Gorodish’ loft in Diva…
Come on…how could Suzy’s palace from Juliet of the Spirits not be included. It had a waterslide. A WATERSLIDE
what about tom selleck, ted danson and steve guttenberg’s mega bachelor pad in 3 men and a baby? that was an AWESOME place!
What about the expanded loft from the movie Ghost?
Someone on etsy sells a clawfoot tub sofa… i am tempted every time it comes up as a suggestion for me…
What about Jack Lemmon’s apartment in The Apartment? Minus the various extra-marital trysts…
I’ve only seen four of these films. Haven’t there been any decent movie apartments in, say, the last 10 years?
My ultimate favorite: Maggie Gyllenhaal’s Chicago apartment in Stranger Than Fiction. Every time I see it I long to recreate it (impossible, because it’s filled with one-of-a-kind vintage pieces). Runners up: Reese Witherspoon’s (then Mark Ruffalo’s) apartment in Just Like Heaven and Kim Novak’s shop/apartment in Bell, Book and Candle.
It’s Doris Day (1 “r”)
It’s not a movie, but the apartment in Family Affair, a butler’s quarters, study, terrace, made me want to leave Colorado surbia and live in New York. Also,the TV Odd Couple apartment. Perfect location and the parts Felix cleaned looked perfect.
I loved Meg Ryan’s apartment in You’ve Got Mail.
Jonathan Rhys Meyers and Emily Mortimer’s London pad in “Match Point” with the floor-to-ceiling windows overlooking the Thames.
http://www.imdb.com/media/rm1765773056/tt0416320
OMGosh! What about the luxury, buttery, creme de la creme that was the apartment in A Perfect Murder! I would marry a controlling murderous money hungry bastard 30 years older than me too, just to take a bath in that bath-tub! HELL, the kitchen still looked gorgeous with blood all over it!!! DROOL!
What about Demi Moore and Patrick Swayze’s apartment in Ghost. Now that’s an apartment to die for!
[...] I was extra pleased to discover a compendium of desirable film apartments over on Flavorwire. It had some of the usual suspects – the man-trap apartment in which the models lived in How [...]
[...] After our post on dream movie apartments generated so much discussion, it occurred to us that another installment was in order. Television is just as responsible as films are for our unrealistic apartment fantasies. Sunken living rooms, hardwood floors, and skyline views were all common fixtures in the homes of our favorite characters — rarely did we see a protagonist wrangle with poor water pressure or get stuck with windows that faced brick walls. With that in mind, we’ve complied a list of the best apartments on television, from the Bass-Van der Woodsens’ swanky uptown abode to Fraiser’s chic Seattle sprawl. Share your own picks in the comments. [...]
Doris Day’s apartment in Pillow Talk.
Zooey Deschanel’s apartment in (500) Days of Summer.
Audrey Tautou’s apartment in Amelie.
[...] was inspired by Flavorwire’s recent article titled, 15 Apartment on Film That We Wished We Owned, written by Colette McIntyre. It covered some of my favorite apartments and homes in movies as [...]
any of the apartments in the 30′s movies of ginger rogers and fred astaire.
or vampire’s Mick apartement from the TV show “Moonlight”
Carrie Bradshaw’s apartment in Sex and the City: the Movie and her and Big’s apartment in S&C:2 are Manhattan at its chic-est.
[...] may or may not find apartments similar to what we see in the movies and TV (detour: check out this montage of NYC apartments from TV shows as compiled by the [...]
[...] Flavorwire » 15 Apartments on Film That We Wish We OwnedDec 24, 2011 … was just thinking of Auntie Mame’s apartment today, but I would have included Laura’s apartment in Laura–and Clifton Webb’s bath in the same … [...]
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