The “10 Things I Hate About You” House

As I was going through my stalking archives today, I realized that there are countless Seattle-area locations that I stalked during my recent trip up to the Pacific Northwest that I still have yet to blog about.  I figure it’s better to be late than never, though, right?  One of the locations was the house where the Stratford family – sisters Kat (aka Julia Stiles) and Bianca (aka Larisa Oleynik) and their father, Walter (aka Larry Miller) – lived in the movie 10 Things I Hate About You.  I found this location, as usual, thanks to fellow stalker Owen who somehow managed to track down a whole slew of locales from the 1999 romantic comedy, which was billed as a modern adaptation of the William Shakespeare classic Taming of the Shrew.  Ironically enough, I didn’t remember liking the movie all that much when I first saw it in theatres a little over a decade ago, but after Owen emailed me the list of the flick’s many filming locales, I decided to give it a re-watch and ended up really enjoying it.  And my favorite part about it was, of course, the Stratford’s beautiful Victorian-style home. 

The 10 Things I Hate About You house is actually even more gorgeous in person than it appeared in the movie, if that is at all possible.  Part of what makes the residence so magnificent is its setting.  The home is situated high up on a large, corner lot of a grassy, little knoll overlooking the clear blue waters of Puget Sound. 

We were lucky enough to visit the residence during the one very brief moment of sunshine we experienced while in Seattle and the blue skies coupled with the blue of the water made for a striking view.  In fact, the setting was so incredibly picturesque it didn’t seem real.  I definitely felt as if I was standing right in the middle of a movie set.  So, it is not at all hard to see why filmmakers chose the property to be featured in the flick.  Ironically enough, though, 10 Things wasn’t the first time Hollywood location scouts came a’knockin’ on the home’s front door.  According to an article which appeared in the May 31, 1998 edition of Seattle-Tacoma’s local News Tribune newspaper (which I can’t link to because there is a fee to access it), William and Joan McGovern, the owners of the 10 Things house, were approached by location scouts in 1991 about their residence being used as the main home in The Hand That Rocks The Cradle.  The McGoverns ultimately turned down the proposal after finding out that filmmakers wanted to cut holes in several interior walls, paint over some of their interior woodwork, and move out all of their furniture and other personal effects.  But when 10 Things producers scouted the house seven years later, in May of 1998, they told the McGoverns that they wanted to use the premises exactly as-is.  The couple agreed and filming began a few weeks later on June 9, 1998.   The shoot lasted a mere eight days before moving on to nearby Stadium High School, which I also stalked and will be blogging about in the coming weeks.  

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The 10 Things house, which was originally built in 1906 and boasts 5 bedrooms, 2 bathrooms, and 4,330 square feet of living space, was used quite extensively in 10 Things I Hate About You.  The exterior appeared numerous times;

as did the property’s real life interior along with the homeowners’ actual furniture.

The back balcony . . .

. . . and the front porch area were also used in the flick.

The house is absolutely beautiful in person and I honestly can’t recommend stalking it enough.  Even if you weren’t a fan of the movie, the residence is worth a drive-by.

Big THANK YOU to fellow stalker Owen for finding this location!  🙂

Until next time, Happy Stalking!  🙂

Stalk It: The 10 Things I Hate About You house is located at 2715 North Junett Street, at the corner of 28th Street, in Tacoma, Washington.