The Andrew McNally House from “Kingdom Come”

Los Angeles never ceases to surprise me.  Though I feel like I know the city and its environs like the back of my hand and have spent the last decade of my life researching its locations, I am constantly learning of new spots that I had no idea even existed.  Such was the case with an architecturally unique property located pretty much right in my own former backyard.  A fellow filming location enthusiast name Liesel recently asked me why I had yet to blog about the Andrew McNally House in Altadena.  The answer to that question was simple – despite the fact that the locale is historically significant, architecturally important AND a filming location, not to mention the fact that I lived less than three miles from it for over ten years of my life, somehow I had never heard of the place.

The massive Queen Anne-style residence was originally built in 1887 for Andrew McNally (of Rand-McNally map company fame).  It was designed by architect Frederick L. Roehrig, who also designed Stacy’s (Brittany Murphy) childhood home from Little Black Book, Pasadena’s iconic Castle Green apartments, and the Frederick Hastings Rindge House (a locale that I have stalked, but have yet to blog about as I am unsure of its filming history).

The residence was built facing south, away from the street, so the photographs below actually show the rear of the property.  Unfortunately, the front side is not visible from the street.  You can see a picture of what it looks like here, though.

You can also catch a slight glimpse of the front of the home from the 600 block of East Deodara Drive, as shown in the Google Street View images below.

The residence, which was added to the National Register of Historic Places in 2007, boasts 10 bedrooms, 2 baths and a whopping 6,938 square feet.  Though it originally sat on 15 acres of land, the property was subdivided after McNally passed away in 1904 and today measures 0.82 acres.

Though its exterior is striking, the most interesting aspect of the home can actually be found inside.  In 1893, McNally acted as a commissioner for the Columbian Exposition at the World’s Fair in Chicago.  While there, he became so enamored of a Turkish display that upon the Fair’s closing, he purchased said display and had it shipped home.  In 1894, McNally employed Roehrig to build an addition to the southeastern corner of the Altadena residence in order to exhibit it.  The architect wound up constructing a 25×25-foot, one-and-a-half story, eight-sided room that he topped with a conical roof.  It became known as the “Turkish smoking room.”   The space was ornate to say the least and featured a built-in banquette, elaborate screens, tall arches, diamond-shaped paned glass windows, and carved wood paneling.  You can see historic pictures of the smoking room, which is still intact today, here and here and you can check out some more recent photographs of it, as well as the rest of the interior, here.

According to Liesel, the smoking room appeared in an episode of NCIS, but try as I might (and boy, did I try – I spent countless hours searching!) I could not figure out which episode.  If anyone out there knows, please fill me in.

Liesel also let me know that the residence masqueraded as Depew’s Funeral Home in the 2001 dramedy Kingdom Come.

The interior of the house also appeared in the movie.

Several different rooms were used in the filming.  You can see photographs of those rooms here.

Amazingly, the Andrew McNally House is still a private residence.  Yep, someone actually lives there!  I can’t even imagine how cool that must be!

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Big THANK YOU to fellow stalker Liesel for telling me about this location!

Until next time, Happy Stalking!

Stalk It: The Andrew McNally House, from Kingdom Come, is located at 654 East Mariposa Street in Altadena.

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