Viola’s Mansion from “Monster-in-Law”

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The second Monster-in-Law location that I set my sights on tracking down this past weekend was the gargantuan mansion owned by Viola Fields (aka Jane Fonda) in the flick.  Once again, fellow stalker Nick had done most of the legwork on this one by discerning that the house was located in Pasadena and had been built in 1927 by famed Los Angeles-area architect Wallace Neff, the very same man who was responsible for designing King Gillette Ranch (aka the Biggest Loser Ranch) and the dwelling where Brad and Jen lived during most of their five year marriage.  But even though Nick had provided me with that wealth of information, for some reason, I had a very difficult time finding this particular residence.  As fate would have it, not only did Wallace Neff design quite a few homes in the Pasadena area, but the vast majority of them were Mediterranean in style and extremely similar in appearance to the Monster-in-Law mansion.  So, I once again headed over to fave bookstore Vroman’s with the hope that it could provide me with some Wallace Neff insight.  And, sure enough, it did!  As was the case with Kevin’s house from Monster-in-Law, which I blogged about yesterday, Viola’s mansion was chronicled in the very first book in which I looked – Wallace Neff: Architect of California’s Golden Age.

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In real life, the Monster-in-Law mansion is known as the “George O. Noble House” and, as I mentioned above, it was designed by Wallace Neff in 1927.  The Spanish Revival-style abode boasts six bedrooms, five bathrooms, and a whopping 8,971 square feet of living space.  And, while it once sat on over three acres of land, much of the parcel was subdivided in later years and the property currently encompasses “only” 1.2 acres.  Sadly, though, not much of the residence is visible from the street.

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But, as I’ve said before, that’s why God created aerial maps!  😉  As you can see in the above image, the George O. Noble House is not only stunning, but absolutely ginormous!

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The mansion was featured quite a few times in Monster-in-Law . . .

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. . . most notably in the scene in which Charlie Cantilini (aka Jennifer Lopez) and Kevin Fields (aka Michael Vartan) get married.

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And, thanks to a photograph provided in the book Architectural Realism, you can see that the mansion’s real life interior was also used in the flick. 

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The George O. Noble House also appeared in the 2009 horror flick Drag Me to Hell as the residence belonging to Clay Dalton’s (aka Justin Long’s) parents.  And, as was the case with Monster-in-Law, the real life interior of the residence was also used in the movie.

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A few other Monster-in-Law locations can also be found in the Pasadena area, including the Ross House, which I blogged about yesterday, and the Bundy House, aka the Governor’s mansion from Benson, which was used as the home of one of Charlie’s dog walking employers (pictured above).  And, yes, I did also find Charlie’s apartment building from Monster-in-Law.  Tune in tomorrow for that location.  🙂

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Big THANK YOU to Nick for helping me find this location!  🙂

Until next time, Happy Stalking!  🙂

Stalk It: The George O. Noble house, aka Viola’s mansion from Monster-in-Law, is located at 675 Burleigh Drive in Pasadena.  The Governor’s Mansion from Benson is located at 1365 South Oakland Avenue in Pasadena.

The Governor’s Mansion from “Benson”

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A few weeks ago while out stalking in Pasadena I stopped to take some pics of the mansion that was used as the home of Governor Gatling in the 1979 television series Benson. I had actually stalked this mansion eight years before when I first moved to Southern California, but had yet to blog about it. So here goes. 🙂 Growing up, Benson was one of my very favorite shows, but to tell you the truth it’s been so long, I barely even remember what it was about now! But I sure do remember loving it as a kid. 🙂 The series, which ran from 1979 to 1986, was a spin-off of the show Soap. Jerry Seinfeld’s very first acting gig was actually on Benson, where he played a character named Frankie. According to IMDB, Jerry was unknowingly fired from the show after three episodes. He apparently showed up to work one morning only to find out that he no longer had a job and that producers had forgotten to let him know! LOL Sounds like a plotline straight out of Seinfeld. 🙂

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In reality, the Benson mansion is known as the Bundy House, named for its original owner, Harlow E. Bundy, inventor of the time clock. Harlow, a resident of Endicott, New York built the mansion in 1914 after deciding he wanted to retire to Pasadena. After retiring to the West Coast in 1915, he became involved (surprise, surprise) in the motion picture industry. Sadly, though, he passed away in 1916, a brief year after moving into his Pasadena mansion. The Bundy House is absolutely HUGE – almost unbelievably so! According to Zillow, the ten bedroom, ten bathroom home is a whopping 15,878 square feet and sits on an 87, 070 square foot lot. I highly recommend stalking the place as pictures just simply don’t do it justice.

Until next time, Happy Stalking!

Stalk It: The Benson house is located at 1365 S. Oakland Avenue in Pasadena.