The Mansion of The Addams Family.


If you go to 0001 Cemetery Lane, you're likely to find a family that is creepy, kooky, and altogether spooky -- in other words, you'll find an incredibly fun group of people. Ever since I can remember, I've been enamored of The Addams Family. Morticia and Gomez are two of my favorite characters, TV or otherwise, and their family's unique perspectives are hilarious. As someone who admires set design, their mansion remains the gold standard. Let's take a look, shall we?

Outside of the house, you can find the ever-helpful Thing collecting the mail.


When I get my own house, I am definitely making a sign like this to warn visitors. 


The iron gate is very polite -- it opens and shuts (and locks!) itself to save you the trouble.


The porch is quite lovely, and the front yard is perfect for moonbathing.




In my opinion, the best room of the house is the living room, which is the room you see the most of. Because of its spaciousness, there are many details -- there are so many, in fact, that it takes multiple episodes to see everything. The show also moved different decorations around, sometimes to fill the frame and other times to make a joke. For example, the roaring polar bear rug that led people from the foyer to the living room jumped around at least three times. One of these occasions was so a visitor would step on it and freak out on the other side of the room.


Of course, who needs a polar bear rug to greet you when you have the adorable and vivacious Lurch?


The rest of the room contains a giant stuffed bear, crows in a cage, a two-headed turtle, and a grand staircase.



The living room is the place where the family gathers for lots of quality time, where they can enjoy Lurch playing the harpsichord, Morticia can sit in her favorite chair and knit, and Thing can readily answer the phone.



The Addams family doesn't use their fireplace for something as dull as fire. Instead, it usually has a big pot brewing some strange concoction -- or Cousin Itt needs it to hide and reflect.



Uncle Fester doesn't typically use the stairs because he has his own handy fireman's pole.


We can't overlook the smaller things, though, like this cuckoo clock:


This moose head:


This fish that changes legs:



And my personal favorite, the thing I will one day ask an artist to make, this magnificent giraffe painting:


The living room is home to all sorts of intriguing activities, from cello practice to fencing to whatever whimsical thing that tickles Gomez's fancy:






Leaving the living room, we enter the conservatory, arguably one of Morticia's favorite spots. Sometimes used as a place for breakfast, the conservatory is home to Pugsley's pet octopus, birds, and a magnitude of plants, including Morticia's baby, the meat-eating Cleopatra.





In almost every room, you can see a noose hanging from the ceiling. One of the show's most popular bits of iconography, the noose is pulled to release a house-shaking gong sound that calls Lurch. Sometimes he appears so fast, the puller still has their hand on the rope!


We'll now go to the study.



The study, the dining room, and Gomez's office were actually three adjoining walls of one set, so parts of each room can sometimes be seen in scenes set in these rooms.


Whereas the conservatory is Morticia's domain, Gomez's office is his place to excitedly watch the ticker tape of the stock market, make important calls, and do one of the things he loves best: blowing up toy trains.



One of the mansion's most beloved rooms is the play room, which some people might call a torture chamber. Not totally sure why...




The family's lion, Cat, has his own little cave that you access through a door in this room. Looks cozy, right?


We don't really see much of the master bedroom (maybe if the show had lasted more than two seasons, we would have), but here's a darling moment from the room anyway. The cracked mirror is a nice touch, don't you think?


The children's rooms are actually relatively normal. Well, except for the vultures on Pugsley's door...


And all of his signs that mention explosives. Hey, at least the kid is warning you.




Wednesday is the queen of bizarre dolls. (Her beheaded Anne Boleyn is amazing. Oh wow, I just discovered something about myself.)


You'd be forgiven for mistaking Uncle Fester's bedroom for the play room. The Salvador Dali rip-off is interesting, especially since it spills over onto the frame.


The mansion wouldn't be complete without a room for Cousin Itt! The ceilings may be low, but he's comfortable and that's all that matters.


The guest room is perfect for any and every visitor. You've got a cactus, a spiked ball and chain on the wall, a caged crow, a buffalo hide to keep you warm, and a mattress made out of the finest knotty pinewood you can find.


Elsewhere on the grounds, there is a small cottage. Can you spot the photo of Gomez?


Like the kids' rooms, the kitchen is pretty normal. And it comes with an antique stove!




There is an abundance of other rooms, such as this one, where the family can send messages. When you look at the window in the upper right corner, you can tell that this is the set from the play room -- no one can accuse The Addams Family of not being economical!


It's hard to tell exactly how big the mansion and its grounds are. I'm sure I didn't photograph all of the parts of the mansion that the show illustrated. Places that we hear about are the tunnels, the dungeons, the ravine, the bottomless pits, the abyss, and the swamp. Grandmama has a room, naturally, but I'm not sure if we ever see it. I have no doubt that if the show had had a longer life, we would have seen so much more. Fortunately, I'm pretty thrilled with what we have now.

__________________


This is my entry to the Favorite Film and TV Homes Blogathon, co-hosted by myself and Phyllis Loves Classic Movies. Check out the roster here.

Comments

  1. I didn't realize this only ran for two seasons! It's been a while since I've seen this show but most of the rooms are pretty memorable. It was fun to see the more normal looking rooms though. And I like how you shared up close shots of some of the decor.

    Thanks so much for co- hosting this with me. It was a lot of fun and I wouldn't mind doing it again sometime :)

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Isn't it a crying shame that it was only given two seasons? And there was no way I could ignore those close-ups. All of the little touches that the show came up with are just so brilliant and imaginative, especially since Charles Addams's original cartoons took place in a dilapidated mansion, not the one that we know and love!

      I loved co-hosting! I'm so glad you asked me and I wouldn't mind doing it again, either. :)

      Delete
  2. I've also loved The Addams Family for many years! Considering their home, I love how they take care of their plants and animals so well. And, girl, that giraffe painting is GOALS.
    Amazing post, with wonderful images.
    Thanks for hosting this fun event!
    Kisses!
    Le

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. The Addams Family will always be near and dear to me. So glad you love it too! And I'm kinda obsessed with that giraffe.

      Thanks for being a part of it! It's been a blast!

      Delete
  3. You can watch both seasons on Hulu

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. I actually just got a Hulu account and discovered that! I was surprised to see that Hulu has a pretty great selection of classic TV shows.

      Delete
  4. On Pluto, another wonderful free app, they have an entire Addams Family channel. You can watch it any time.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Oh, good to know! I own the series on DVD but one of my discs is defunct. I was hoping to watch it on Amazon Prime for the Halloween season and was sad to find out it was taken off of there and placed on Paramount+.

      Delete
  5. The 1964 version of the Addams Family was loaded with social satire. It followed the rule of comedy set by Chaplin. Generally Carolyn Jones and Ted Cassidy switching of as the straight anchor. Aston was perfect for the part of Gomez, he also played a similar satirical role in The Evil Roy Slade.

    I am living in North Arkansas. I have observed that many of the references are nest understood in the Arkansas Ozarks. This is similar to that other great work of satire, The Beverly Hillbillies.

    ReplyDelete
  6. Felix Silla who played Cousin It had an email over a decade or more ago and I wrote to him to tell him how much we as kids enjoyed the show and that his character made many Halloween costumes. He was quite pleased. I never noticed the rope that called Lurch was a noose!

    ReplyDelete

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