Where Do Herman and Lily From ‘The Munsters’ Live? Take an Oh-So-Scary Tour of Their Mockingbird Lane Home
How much thought have you given to the homes of some of your favorite sitcom families? Whatever the answer, it probably can’t compare to Marina Coates, the creative mind behind Mockingbird Lane Design, who has painstakingly recreated, via computer, the interior of many of these houses. Maybe you want to take a trip to 1164 Morning Glory Circle (home base for Bewitched), 148 Bonnie Meadow Road (The Dick Van Dyke Show), 623 East 68th Street (I Love Lucy) or, our personal recommendation, 1313 Mockingbird Lane (The Munsters). Well, now there’s nothing stopping you.
Marina, whose efforts are showcased on her YouTube channels Cinematically Inspired Design and Behind the Scenes, focuses on The Munsters in this conversation. As such, she is able to share her feelings for that particular home as both a fan and a designer. “Speaking as a fan, as a child I was fascinated by this spooky home mostly because it had all of the typical haunted house features a kid loves,” she tells Closer. “But, unlike the haunted houses I saw in scary movies back then, this one felt safe. So, it was like getting to explore all of the nooks and crannies of a haunted home, but without the fear.
“Now, as an adult creating the tour of the home on my computer,” she continues, “I was seeing it through different eyes. First of all, in some ways I had more fun creating this home than any of the other TV or movie homes I’ve created, because I got to add things I’d never done before — huge chunks of plaster missing on the walls, stairs that open up with a dragon underneath, crooked paintings, a trap door, etc. But, as I was building it, I was taking note this time at the beauty of the home itself. This home has great bones! That’s why I included the ‘cleaned up’ version of the home in color. I took away all of the macabre, such as getting rid of the electric chair, straightening the pictures, filling in the missing plaster chunks on the walls and things like that. I couldn’t wait to walk around inside of the home that way, too. And it didn’t disappoint. On its own, it holds up. It’s a beautiful, Victorian home. Kudos to the set designers.”
The Munsters originally aired between 1964 and 1966 and, along with The Addams Family, offered up the concept of a standard sitcom being given a supernatural twist. Amazingly, it’s never been off the air since it premiered, continually touching one generation after another.
“It’s fun to see a family that is so different from the norm, having to interact in the same world we live in — and the underlying joke that they are never aware of how others are perceiving them,” suggests Marina in explanation of the show’s ongoing popularity. “And we get to be in on that joke. Here we have a house full of monsters and yet it’s a safe haven. It’s a tight-knit, loving family. It’s also the actors themselves. Who doesn’t love watching Fred Gwynne’s portrayal of Herman? Basically just a big, goofy kid stuck in a monster-sized body. The way he and Al Lewis as Grandpa played off of each other is comedic genius. All of the actors were perfectly cast — they made these unbelievable characters believable and lovable.”
The Tour of The Munsters home begins below and all you have to do is scroll down to experience it.
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