Inside the Saga of ‘The Brady Bunch’ House

It’s one of TV’s most famous houses.

The iconic exterior of “The Brady Bunch” house — a real home with real, non-Brady residents in Los Angeles’s San Fernando Valley — was featured in the credits of every episode of the classic sitcom (after the pilot episode). And ever since the show’s run from September 1969 to March 1974, the house has symbolized TV family wholesomeness. People travel from around the world get a glimpse of it.

Recently, the home went on the market, and a frenzy broke out among potential buyers. They all wanted a piece of TV history, not to mention a pretty great slice of Los Angeles real estate.

Here’s the story behind the house itself, and the stir is caused when it went up for sale. And why you’ll see it on your TV again starting Sept. 9, 2019.

Though much of the show was filmed at Paramount Studios, the house itself sits in the middle of a residential neighborhood between Studio City and North Hollywood, in Los Angeles’s San Fernando Valley. The exact location is 11222 Dilling Street, in case you’re in the area and want to commune with your childhood.

The series creator picked the house because he thought it looked like one an architect would design and live in. When the exterior shots were taken for the show in the late 1960s, the house seemed to embody all the modern trends of the day.

A rock wall is prominently featured, which was a popular trend of the era. The salmon color hinted at the somewhat louder yet earthy color palettes of the day without being too obnoxious. And the large slanted roof had some individualism to it, which was a popular trend in the late ‘60s and ‘70s as Americans began rebelling against societal norms.

The property sale listing says the house was originally built in 1959. When it went on sale in 2018, it was the first time it had been up for grabs in decades.

The house was built by Luther B. Carson. He and his wife, Louise, were forced to move from their original home because of the construction of a Los Angeles freeway. By the time calls went out in 1969 for an exterior of a home for this (soon-to-be-iconic) TV show, Luther had passed away and Louise was living in the home by herself. She answered the call. The show’s creators were smitten.

The show creators loved the home’s look, but there was a slight problem. Though the exterior epitomized so much of what they wanted in a home, the actual home is a split level and not a two-story home. It would be way too crowded with the Brady clan if it were only one story, and people may have a hard time believing so many people could fit into a home of that size. Their solution: add a false window to the exterior to make it look like a two-story home.