When it comes to contentment and feeling settled, the saying that “Home is where the heart is,” gets thrown around a lot. Chances are you already know exactly what your perfect dwelling is to be like, or you are very well happy with your own version of cozy. But then again, even when you are happy with your own snug living room, your pool surrounded by perfectly warm sandstone paving, or your manicured lawn, there is something about seeing houses in movies that makes you go…
Movie characters truly know how to take living to the next level, and we are fortunate to have occasional two-hour opportunities to live their lives vicariously by catching some films. Below are some of the ridiculously huge, massive, humongous, ginormic mansions we have seen on screen.
1. Tony Stark’s House
My house is so big, I had to design a jet propelled suit just to get around.
Tony Stark’s spankin’ Malibu house… about to go BOOM in 5, 4, 3, 2…
On top of earning two masters degrees at 19, creating an extremely powerful suit of armor, and fighting crime to save the world, Tony Stark is also a billionaire. Yes, a billionaire who lives in a stylish, shiny, and massive mansion in Southern California. The best part is that the sparkling, glass-clad Malibu home allows him a sweeping view of its entire surroundings, including the Dume Cove.
2. Greystone Mansion
My house is so big, everyday is a discovery.
Greystone Mansion
Conveniently located in Beverly Hills, the Greystone Mansion has made many a debonair cameo in different film productions, especially Hollywood ones. The 16-acre, 19th Century English-style estate has been a home to Robert Angier in The Prestige, and to the Osborns in Spiderman. It was also the Lebowski Mansion in The Big Lebowski.
3. Wayne Manor
Batman’s (Mom and Dad’s originally) crib
My house is so big, I haven’t slept in the same room since I was 4!
Showing warmly furnished interiors and limestone finishing, the Wayne Manor is among the most lavish and ornate mansions seen on film. All interior sequences of Christopher Nolan’s Batman Begins were shot in the Osterley Park House in London. The exteriors of the Wayne Manor, however, were all based on the Mentmore Towers in Buckinghamshire, which features distinct Gothic architecture. As seen in the film, the Wayne Manor is where Bruce Wayne built up his operations as Batman in the Batcave.
4. The Great Gatsby Mansion
My house is so big, I ran 1 lap around the house and lost 20 lbs! Cheers to that!
Great Gatsby mansion
Inspired by the Beacon Towers, a Long Island mansion that was destroyed in the ‘40s, the Great Gatsby mansion was characterized by unmistakable Gothic architecture as in the Beacon Towers. The interiors featured a vast ballroom for Gatsby’s legendary functions, furnished with grand chandeliers and gold latticework on the ceilings. The bedrooms were shown to have distinct and glamorous 1920s furnishing as well.
5. Sheats Goldstein Residence
My house is so big, I just did 300 back flips and I still haven’t hit a wall!
Sheats Goldstein Residence
Said to be a 1960s modernist masterpiece, the Sheats Goldstein Residence has appeared in films such as The Big Lebowski and Charlie’s Angels: Full Throttle. Built into a sandstone ledge of the Los Angeles hillside, with the structure paving and blending almost perfectly with its natural environment. Both the architecture and the interiors were designed to embrace the love for open space, featuring more clear glass windows that allow for the natural surroundings to flow freely as part of the interiors. Not only is this mansion huge, it also makes you feel like the open space surrounding it is yours to dwell in as well.
6. The Burghley House
My house is so big, when we play hide and seek, nobody ever wins.
The Burghley House
Known to be one of the largest and most magnificent structures built during the Elizabethan Era, the Burghley House exhibits a very square structure, and asymmetrical towers, all faithfully based on Elizabethan architecture. The mansion houses boasts of its staple wooden furniture, gold accents, and the heavy use of brocades and damask. Both its exteriors and interiors were used as the mansion seen in the adaptation of Jane Austen’s Pride and Prejudice as the palatial home of Lady Catherine de Bourg. Talk about ostentatious and intimidating.
7. Marie Antoinette’s Mansion
My house is so big, it’s… just… so… BIG!
Palace of Versailles
Sofia Coppola’s highly stylized rendition of the life of the controversial Queen of France, Marie Antoinette, makes perfect use of another grand architectural masterpiece. With special permission granted by the government of France, the film was shot on location at the Palace of Versailles. The vast mansion was filled with ornate printed upholstery, gold-accented furniture, and chandelier after chandelier. In all its Rococo opulence, it was nothing but grand and fit for a queen.
All practicality, functionality and common sense aside, it would truly be a privilege to own and live in such mansions. However, while we all have our dreams of living it up in a grand and extravagant home, it is an entitlement reserved for the rich, famous, and (mostly) fictional.