Feel-Good Friday: The Brady Bunch edition

(Courtesy of HGTV via AP)

Who’s ready for some 1970s nostalgia? If you are in the market for a five-bedroom, five-bath house in Studio City, California and have a cool $5.5 million burning a hole in your pocket, you are in luck. The home used in the 70’s television sitcom, The Brady Bunch, is on the market. The house was used for exterior shots for the iconic 70s show.

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In 2018, HGTV purchased the house at 11222 Dilling Street for $3.5M. At that time it only resembled the Brady home on the outside. The interior scenes were filmed on a soundstage. So, the network gutted the property and used HGTV stars and the six actors who played the Brady kids to transform the house into a replica of the one in the sitcom. HGTV outbid NSYNC member Lance Bass, a Brady Bunch super fan, to purchase the house. Now it’s back on the market after being meticulously renovated on the interior. The asking price is now $5.5M.

There are lots of 1970s touches like an avocado green and burnt orange kitchen in the renovated interior.

Walking into the house now is a blast from the past after original Brady cast members Barry Williams (Greg), Maureen McCormick (Marcia), Christopher Knight (Peter), Eve Plumb (Jan), Mike Lookinland (Bobby), and Susan Olsen (Cindy) reunited for the event series A Very Brady Renovation and put their years as a fictional family to good use.

“As part of the massive renovation, HGTV invested $1.9 million and added 2,000 square feet to the property’s original footprint, including a full second story,” the network said in a statement about the house being put up for sale. “Standout features in the completed home include the iconic floating staircase, the burnt orange-and-avocado green kitchen, the kids’ Jack-n-Jill bathroom and a backyard with a swing set, teeter totter and Tiger’s dog house.”

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The plan is that when the house sells, HGTV will donate a portion of the proceeds to Turn Up! Fight Hunger. That is an initiative of No Kid Hungry. The plan is to fund up to 250,000 meals for children living wtih hunger.

When times are tough, as they are in Biden’s America, it’s human nature to look back fondly on better times. Granted, the 1970s were troubled in their own way, but culturally it was a simpler time, at least on television. There has been interest in this house and the renovation project.

Such is the premium for authenticity. After buying 11222 Dilling Street in 2018, the Warner Bros. Discovery-owned network rejuvenated the facade and gutted its interiors — adding a second story to meticulously re-create the show’s living room, kitchen, bedrooms and yard that all previously only existed on Stage 5 of Paramount Studios. The process was chronicled in 2019 event series A Very Brady Renovation, recruiting surviving cast members and HGTV talent to bring the fictional home to life. It proved to be ratings pay dirt and attracted 28 million viewers across a four-week run.

The Brady Bunch only lasted five seasons, but its cultural footprint has endured. The ABC comedy — which followed a blended family of eight, their live-in maid and, at certain points, a dog — ran from 1969 through 1974 before inspiring TV movies, a satirical feature remake (and sequel) and countless pilgrimages to 11222 Dilling Street. It has been called the second most-photographed home in America, trailing only the White House, though there is little evidence to back up such claims.

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Included in the sale are much of its contents. That includes the green floral living room couch and a 3D-printed replica of the series’ horse sculpture. Never mind thoughts of the Vietnam war, the years of Watergate, and post-war economic upheaval. Today we can remember a simpler time when a blended family came together and every episode ended with a happy ending.

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