Jonathan’s Apartment from “Mannequin”

I wanted to go to Philadelphia for one reason and one reason only – to stalk Mannequin locations.  The 1987 comedy is one of my all-time favorites.  I loved it as a kid and love it even more today.  It has pretty much everything I could ever want in a film.  A mannequin that magically comes to life?  Check.  A dance/music montage?  Check.  A fabulous female lead who goes through countless costume changes?  Check.  Throw in the fact that the story centers around a window dresser, Jonathan Switcher (Andrew McCarthy), who gets to play around in a huge luxury department store while it is closed every night and you pretty much have my dream come true.  So a few months before heading out to the City of Brotherly Love, I started investigating Mannequin filming locations.  Though a few locales had been identified online, namely Wannamaker’s department store which stood in for Prince & Co. and The Dorchester where Jonathan’s ex-girlfriend Roxie (Carole Davis) lived, the apartment building Jonathan called home had yet to be pinpointed.  I spent more than a few days trying to track it down myself, but came up empty-handed.  So I called in the big guns, aka my friend Owen, from the When Write Is Wrong blog, and, per usual, he located the place in record time.

The exterior of Jonathan’s apartment is only shown in two brief establishing shots in Mannequin, during the scene in which Roxie calls to invite her ex to lunch.  In one of the shots, a sign with an address number of 1621 was visible hanging above a neighboring building.  That information in hand, Owen did a Google search for “Mannequin,” “Philadelphia,” and “apartment” and the results yielded a 1987 Philadelphia Inquirer article about the Mannequin shoot.  Sadly, that article is no longer viewable for free online, so I can’t provide a link, but in it The Dorchester was mentioned.  Using Google once again, Owen pulled up a map of the neighborhood around the building and quickly spotted a South 16th Street just a few blocks east of Rittenhouse Square, which was also referenced in the article.  Figuring he’d hit pay dirt, he started looking at 1621 addresses nearby, starting with 1621 Chestnut Street and venturing south, and found the right spot in less than five minutes.

This was in late May, which meant I had to wait over four months, until our trip in mid-September, to actually stalk the place.  Needless to say, I was chomping at the bit and the Grim Cheaper and I headed over there pretty much immediately upon arriving in Philadelphia.

I was floored to see that virtually nothing had been changed since Mannequin was filmed in Spring 1986.

A full shot of Jonathan’s apartment was never shown in Mannequin.  Only a view of the courtyard pictured above and the windows below made it onscreen.

Considering how picturesque the place is, that is rather surprising.

I absolutely love the red doors, wood shutters, and vines that flank the exterior.

Per Zillow, the 1800 building houses a 4-bedroom, 1-bath, 2,026-square-foot condo with a 3-car garage.

The property last sold for $168,000 in February 1986, shortly before Mannequin was made, which means that the people who owned it during the filming still own it today.

I would have bet money on the real life interior being utilized in the film as well, but upon closer inspection the windows that appeared in Mannequin don’t match those of the building.

The inside of Jonathan’s apartment just doesn’t have the feel of a set to me, though, and because it was only featured in two very brief scenes, I am guessing that an actual interior of a different Philadelphia building was used.

Big THANK YOU to my friend Owen, of the When Write Is Wrong blog, for finding this location! 

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Until next time, Happy Stalking!

Stalk It: Jonathan’s apartment from Mannequin is located at 301 South Chadwick Street in Philadelphia’s Rittenhouse Square neighborhood.

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