The House Brady Built

July 5th, 2017 by

Mike Brady, an architect at a firm, he eventually rose to senior partner, but never moved out of the two story, three bedroom home he designed once he moved in with his blended family. A ranch house in Northern Hollywood was used in establishing shots of the Brady abode, a window placed on the facade to provide the illusion of the house having two stories.

One of the things that puzzled most people, a family with three boys, and three girls only had one bathroom, and that bathroom never had a toilet. It would be bad enough that the girls and boys had to share a bathroom, but no toilet.

During the Episode 23 of season 1 “To Move Or Not To Move” the size of the house became an issue, and Mike debated selling the house and moving up the block to a larger house. Fortunately the children realized their mistake, and tried to haunt the house to prevent the sale. In the end, the family remained, and the size of the house only came up a few times when Greg wanted his own room. Eventually he moved into the attic, which was one inconsistency within the series.

The real location of the house used is easy to find with a simple Google search and a Zillow assessment pops to the top, very nice house, and expensive. There is one tour company that offers a customized tour package that might take you to the location. Just do not go to the address Carol Brady read during the “Lost Locket, Found Locket” episode, 4222 Clinton Way. The address does not exist, and if you go to 4222 Clinton Street on Google Maps, it is not a great place to be.

When the Brady sequels and movies were being filmed, the outside of the original house had been altered, and the owners refused to allow new establishing shots or work to alter the front to be done, so the studio had to build a shell around an existing house. The interior sets were modernized and revised for the sequels of sorts. The attic room was never mentioned again.

In the movies that were parodies of the show, the house became a sort of joke. Mike being only capable of designing buildings that looked like the house, and the fact that it had an artificial turf backyard the kids seemed to mow was part of the jokes. In the backyard was the doghouse, Tiger disappearing from the series, but the doghouse remained.

What was interesting was the carport. It was open air, and the Brady’s stored stuff in the carport. Even putting a valuable pool table in there temporarily. Though no one ever seemed to walk off with anything from the carport, like bikes, etc. or the box from Driscoll’s Toy Store.

The house in the Brady Bunch series became a second home to many viewers. A place to escape for a half hour and forget about life around them.

Thanks for stopping by.