A split-level home in a Los Angeles, California, neighborhood has just gone on the market — and as the second-most visited house in America (No. 1 is the White House), it’s undoubtedly generating a lot of interest.
Many will likely recognize the five-bed, five-bath home in Studio City as the site of “The Brady Bunch,” where the six children’s day-to-day struggles at home and school were happily resolved within a half-hour. It’s a popular tourist attraction — but it wasn’t actually the filming location for the beloved family sitcom that ran from 1969-1974.
The home was used only for exterior shots, while the actual filming took place on set about 7 miles away. So Mike Lookinland, who played the youngest son, Bobby, told the Deseret News he didn’t actually see the house for the first time until 1990.
“It’s very expensive to gear up and get off the lot and go to a location somewhere, and very expensive and the Brady budget, those were two things that did not go together,” Lookinland told the Deseret News in 2019. “So we almost never left the set.”
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The ‘Brady Bunch’ house goes on the market following renovation
The 5,140-square-foot home actually went through a major remodel in 2019, thanks to the HGTV show “A Very Brady Renovation.” The interior was transformed to replicate room-for-room what millions across the country have seen on their TV sets — floating staircases and all. HGTV invested $1.9 million in the project, according to Architectural Digest.
Airing just a few weeks before the sitcom’s 50th anniversary, the four-part series saw the reunion of the six Brady kids and gave HGTV its highest rating in years, the Deseret News previously reported.
Now, the house is on the market — although it doesn’t look like there’s any public open houses for “Brady Bunch” fans. Showings are by appointment only, and “all buyers must provide proof of funds prior to confirming showing,” the listing reads.
The house is on sale for $5.5 million — $2 million more than HGTV bought it for in 2018, according to the property’s history. HGTV will use a part of the sale’s proceeds to provide up to 250,000 meals to Turn Up! Fight Hunger, per Architectural Digest.
In the meantime, though, fans can peruse through the photos on the listing. The virtual tour includes images of the orange Formica kitchen counters, blue bunk beds in the Brady boys’ room and the Brady girls’ pink twin beds.
The popularity of ‘The Brady Bunch’
Although he didn’t realize it as a child actor, Lookinland said he realized by the time he was 20 that “The Brady Bunch” had staying power.
“It’s like the music you loved when you were 17 or the places you used to go with your family … when you were young,” he told the Deseret News. “Those things that were dear to you are the things that remain dear, more so I think than new experiences.
“If you’re a parent, you can definitely feel good about sitting your children down and putting on a DVD of ‘The Brady Bunch,’” he added. “There’s nothing bad about that. But I think it’s more the kids who see those values. … It’s a show made for children. The struggles we all face seem big, but we can get through it together, and I think kids just really take to that and know that that’s something to value, so that’s why it’s staying on, is because children keep watching it.”
