7 Scene-Stealing Onscreen Houses To Marvel At

Who can resist a rambling Regency manor house? The gold leaf, the topiary, the ballrooms, and the lakes with their Mr. Darcys emerging from them. In Jane Austen’s novels, the houses take center stage, with an interiors snoop on practically every other page. The abodes featured in this summer’s film adaptation of Persuasion are no exception, with enough chinoiserie, porcelain and mirrored walls to rival Marie Antoinette’s Versailles – the perfect backdrop for Dakota Johnson’s protagonist Anne Elliot to break the fourth (stuccoed) wall.

Much like Marianne’s family house in Normal People, the achingly stylish home of characters Nick and Melissa in Conversations with Friends could be straight out of the pages of Architectural Digest. It ticks off all the best interiors trends: the walls are a deep navy – as dark as Nick’s moods – while artsy sculptures balance on mid-century sideboards. Not to mention the indoor/outdoor dining nook draped in house plants, which is the stuff of Pinterest-board dreams. Indeed, if a messy love quadrangle has to play out somewhere, please let it be in a place with statement ceramics.

Luca Guadagnino’s coming-of-age film propelled Timothée Chalamet to global stardom – and also gave a moment in the spotlight to wistful and wonderful rural Italy. The home of Elio’s (Chalamet’s) family is Villa Albergoni, a real-life 17th-century estate in Lombardy that Guadagnino discovered and fell in love with. Balancing the faded grandeur of the frescoed ceilings, long-hanging chandeliers, terrazzo tiles and interesting architectural quirks, the house has a well-loved, lived-in feel. Set designer Violante Visconti di Modrone achieved this by piling surfaces with an eclectic curation of books and artefacts (many pieces for the house were sourced from her own family and friends to ensure they felt used), filling it with a miscellany of sumptuously shabby-chic furnishings, and adorning walls with artworks, timeworn maps and era-appropriate posters.

The immaculately presented house is undoubtedly the star of the show in this eerie thriller. Production spared no expense recreating the architect’s minimalist marvel for the TV adaptation of JP Delaney’s novel of the same name, starring Gugu Mbatha-Raw. Think invisible glass walls, poured-concrete floors, a monastic courtyard lined with olive trees, a hi-tech kitchen from the future – and a murderous threat that lurks around each corner.

Nicole Kidman and Hugh Grant took top billing in The Undoing, but also playing a central role was the Upper East Side townhouse where the marital tension played out. Antique furnishings contrast with modern kitchens and icy-toned chinoiserie-style wallpaper (hand-painted with gold by Gracie Studio for the series) provided the non-wanderlust inspiration we all needed during lockdown. We may not have been able to relocate to a New York brownstone, but we could certainly invest in cashmere and satin bed throws.

If locations could win Academy Awards, the sleek house at the center of Bong Joon Ho’s Parasite would have added a fifth Oscar to the film’s roster. Polished concrete, mirrored surfaces and floor-to-ceiling windows framed the lush garden. It also offered up an education in showcasing structural furniture – especially that multi-level coffee table, custom-made for the film by South Korean carpenter Bahk Jong Sun.

While New York was the primary setting for Shonda Rhimes’ screen version of Anna Delvey’s life – with recreations of extravagant hotels and townhouses contrasting with grim prison visiting rooms and drab offices ­– the standout interiors came from the depiction of a now-infamous Morocco trip. Between the palatial and sprawling riad of hotel La Mamounia (yes, you can stay there IRL) and a replica of Pierre Bergé and Yves Saint Laurent’s utterly majestic, art-adorned Marrakech home, complete with verdant gardens, episode six was a feast for the eyes.

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