Table Of Content
- Curating the Rich, Lived-In Interiors
- Home Alone McCallister House: Unraveling the Surprising Connection to Friends’ Mondler
- “The Power of the Dog” ranch was purposefully built for the movie
- Just How Rich Were the McCallisters in ‘Home Alone’?
- Can today's average American family buy the ‘Home Alone' house? Here's what the numbers show

Further celebrating the iconic Home Alone house, LEGO even made a 3,955-piece building set of the house. With a price tag of $300, the mini replica of the house also includes the backyard treehouse and Harry and Marv’s decoy plumbing van. “I love selecting and finding decor that builds a character, or when collaged together, supports a story visually,” she says. In the film, Kevin sets elaborate traps in order to catch the burglars attempting to break into his home. “It’s the kind of house, if you were a kid, it would be fun to be left home alone.” Columbus then took photos of home’s exterior, sent them to Hughes for approval, and the rest is history. In 2012, the real-life McCallister home in Winnetka, Illinois sold for $1.585 million, a relative bargain compared to its original listing price of $2.4 million.
Curating the Rich, Lived-In Interiors
In 2021, the house was made available as an Airbnb for one night only for fans of the movie who want to experience what it's like to live like a McCallister. Home Alone was filmed in Winnetka, Illinois, around 16 miles outside Chicago. While its exterior was used for the film, not everything inside the house was used. Production only used the interior shots of the living room and the famous grand staircase.
Home Alone McCallister House: Unraveling the Surprising Connection to Friends’ Mondler
Given Hughes’ movies’ location, Home Alone’s production scouted locations in the Chicago area. They eventually settled on the property that would become the iconic Home Alone house. The set team ultimately decided to build the entire interior of the home in the gymnasium of New Trier High School, also in Winnetka.
How rich was the McCallister family in ‘Home Alone’? - KTLA Los Angeles
How rich was the McCallister family in ‘Home Alone’?.
Posted: Sat, 23 Dec 2023 08:00:00 GMT [source]
“The Power of the Dog” ranch was purposefully built for the movie

The real McAllister house is located in Winnetka, Illinois, a mere walk from Lake Michigan. The 2022 action comedy film Violent Night references Home Alone several times, and character Trudy Lightston attempts to emulate Kevin McCallister's fighting tactics against the burglars who take her family hostage. Kate realizes mid-flight that Kevin was left behind, and upon arrival in Paris, the family discovers that all flights for the next two days are booked, and that the phone lines are still down back home in Chicago. Peter and the rest of the family stay at his brother Rob’s apartment in Paris, while Kate stays at the airport.
Just How Rich Were the McCallisters in ‘Home Alone’?
Filming took place between February and May 1990 on location across Illinois. When the film was made, navy blue and dusty pink were popular interior design colors, Cauley said. But she was inspired by Norman Rockwell paintings and antique Christmas cards to use saturated reds, greens and golds in the family home. The silver tuna, or its exterior anyway, is a real-world house at 671 Lincoln Avenue in the Chicago suburb of Winnetka, one of the most expensive neighborhoods in the United States, according to Realtor.com. It appears to have enough space for Kevin and his four siblings to each have their own rooms, but also can accommodate an army of visitors. "We stayed in the house pretty much the entire period that they were filming...In order to avoid appearing on screen, we would have to crawl around under the window line, from room to room, especially in the evening..."
The tacky wallpaper in the master suite has been replaced with a chic grey & white striped print. Additionally, the once hardwood floors are now decked out in white carpeting. The dining room, which featured red walls in the film, is now adorned in a warm cream color painted with vines and pear trees.
Everything You've Ever Wondered About the Home Alone House - Architectural Digest
Everything You've Ever Wondered About the Home Alone House.
Posted: Thu, 14 Dec 2023 08:00:00 GMT [source]
Chicago's O'Hare International Airport served as the filming location for both the Chicago and Paris airport scenes, posing as France's Orly Airport. Other locations seen in the movie were Trinity United Methodist Church in Wilmette and Grace Episcopal Church in Oak Park. In fact, the entirety of the movie was shot in Illinois, despite the plot revolving around a trip Kevin McAllister's had taken to Paris. Watching and quoting the iconic Christmas movie "Home Alone" isn't the only way fans of the movie like to celebrate the holiday season. Directed by Chris Columbus, written by John Hughes, and musically scored by John Williams, "Home Alone" is an incredibly successful production many enjoy watching and re-watching. The film has been nominated for awards six times and has won eleven Film and TV Awards, ranging from Oscars to Golden Globes.

Built in 1920, the Winnetka, Illinois house used for the first Home Alone movie belonged to John and Cynthia Abendshien. Home Alone, the cult classic comedy that turned Macaulay Culkin into one of the most recognizable child actors ever, is as present on our TV screens now as it was when it was first released in November 1990.
Uncle Rob paid for the flights.
On the plane, dining in first class, he tells his wife to slip the crystal salt and pepper shakers in her purse. Flying 15 people to Paris is expensive, especially with the four adults flying first class, but Kevin’s parents don’t pay for the airplane tickets. Early in the film, Kate McCallister tells a police officer — who is actually Harry in disguise — that her husband’s brother paid for the flights. Another Hughes' film that stayed true to his North Shore roots was "Sixteen Candles." The homes the high schoolers lived in were located in Evanston, Highland Park and Northbrook. Glenbrook North High School was where the teens attended, and nearby Glencoe Union Church was where Sam found her crush, Jake Ryan, waiting for her.
On the 30th anniversary of the movie, a woman who actually lived inside the home where "Home Alone" was filmed sat down for an interview to discuss some of her memories from that time. Lauren Abendshien was six years old when production for the movie began, and her parents' home was picked for the location. When creating the holiday classic, Hughes used his own experience getting ready for a family trip as a source of inspiration. After making a list of every item he didn't want to forget, which included his children, Hughes started to wonder what his son would do had he been left home alone. "Home Alone" is a classic family comedy released in 1990 and beloved by countless people across the world. The plot follows eight-year-old Kevin McCallister, played by Hollywood star Macaulay Culkin, 43, who is accidentally left alone at home by his family on Christmas Eve.
In a delightful throwback, Laura Abendshien, a former resident whose family’s home served as the filming location, reminisced during an interview with the U.K. She shared amusing anecdotes about Macaulay Culkin, who played Kevin, using her room for study sessions with his tutor while his brother Keiran hung out during filming breaks. On Christmas Eve, Harry and Marv finally realize that only Kevin is in the McCallister home, and Kevin overhears them discussing plans to break into the house that night. Kevin starts to miss his family and asks the local Santa Claus impersonator if he could bring them back for Christmas.
Kevin tricks them into thinking that his family is still home, forcing them to postpone their plans to rob the McCallister house. Hughes, the director, lived in the area during his high school years and graduated from Glenbrook North High School. An acclaimed director who is credited with reinventing the teen movie through his coming-of-age films, he did film some movies elsewhere — but time and time again came back to the Chicago area.
While the Airbnb experience is no longer on the table, you can stream the original Home Alone, Home Alone 2, and the rest of the sequels on Disney+. According to an article written in 2015 for the Chicago Sun-Times, writer Richard Roeper stopped by the house in the winter of 1991 and reported that 400 vehicles had lined up outside 671 Lincoln Ave on both Christmas Eve and Christmas Day. Some curious tourists went as far as knocking on the front door, or even venturing into the backyard in hopes of catching a glimpse of the tree house. It then sold in 2012 for a reported $1.585 million, closing the chapter on the Abendshiens’ 25-year residency. 671 Lincoln Avenue instantly became a destination for fans of the movie, with hoards of tourists flocking to the home hoping for a little taste of movie magic. But it wasn’t the McCallisters that had to put up with the newfound attention—it was the Abendshien family, who owned the home.
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