The Stone Farmhouse in “Christmas in Connecticut”
You may not know this about me, but I love old black and white movies. Especially romantic comedies. And if there’s a little Christmas thrown into the storyline, all the better! One of my favorites to watch at this time of year is Christmas in Connecticut with Barbara Stanwyck. I’ve been in love with the stone farmhouse that it takes place in ever since I saw it as a girl. I love the vaulted ceilings, the walls of windows, the built-in bookshelves, and the big stone fireplace in the living room.
So today, as my Christmas gift to you, I thought I’d show you some photos of the house, which was kind of modern for its time when the movie debuted in 1945. It wasn’t your typical farmhouse, that’s for sure. Take a look around and see what you think. Doesn’t it look like a cozy place to spend the holidays?
Elizabeth Lane (Barbara Stanwyck) writes a popular column in Smart Housekeeping, describing her daily life as a wife and mother, an accomplished cook and home decorator, on a farm in Connecticut. But the truth is, Elizabeth is a single woman living in NYC who needs a recipe to boil water. Her uncle Felix, who runs a successful restaurant, is the one providing her with the recipes, and the farmhouse is based on one built by her architect boyfriend.
When her boss, Alexander Yardley, invites himself to Christmas dinner and wants to bring along war hero Jefferson Jones as a sort of publicity stunt, Elizabeth and her boyfriend–now fiance–have to pretend to be married. She brings Felix along to the farmhouse to cook, and they borrow a neighbor’s baby to play the part of baby Roberta. But then Elizabeth meets Jefferson, sparks fly, and complications ensue.
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- Elizabeth Lane sits in her apartment, writing about her (pretend) life on a Connecticut farm.
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- The view from Elizabeth Lane's New York City apartment window.
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- Elizabeth is engaged to an architect, and this is his Connecticut farmhouse. They're arriving by horse and sleigh because...well, because it's a lot more romantic than driving up in a car, I suppose.
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- Entering the house.
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- Meeting the baby that they'll pretend is theirs.
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- War hero Jefferson Jones shows up at the farmhouse, and Elizabeth is immediately smitten. Maybe she won't marry John Sloan after all!
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- Jefferson helps Elizabeth bathe the baby in the bathroom. "Are you sure the baby's name is Robert?" Oops. "I mean, Roberta!"
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- A view of the living room from the stairs.
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- Sloan and Yardley in the den.
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- War hero Jefferson Jones wins Elizabeth over by singing Christmas carols while she trims the tree.
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- Sloan's den has a fully stocked bar built in.
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- A view of the upstairs hallway.
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- John Sloan's bedroom. There appears to be a fireplace in each one.
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- A view of the staircase.
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- These are the kinds of outfits I like to hang out in when I'm in my Connecticut farmhouse, too.
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- The cow pokes her head through the Dutch door of the kitchen.
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- Felix tries to teach Elizabeth how to flip flapjacks.
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- The kitchen is pretty big and modern for 1945, too.
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- Having breakfast in the kitchen.
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- Felix playing Solitaire in the den.
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- In this shot of Alexander Yardley leaving the bedroom, you can see the fireplace in it.
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- The war hero's fiancee shows up to complicate things further.
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- But everything gets straightened out in the end and Elizabeth and Jefferson fall in love. Unfortunately, when Elizabeth chooses Jefferson, she must leave John's farmhouse behind, so the ending isn't a totally happy one.
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- Roll credits.
(Note: I couldn’t find enough photos of this house on the Internet, so I snapped these myself as I watched the movie on my computer.)
I love the Christmas tree in front of the window, beside the piano. If I had this kind of set-up, you can bet I’d make my husband play carols for me as I decorated the tree in a full-length evening gown, too. The plot of this movie may be a little goofy, but I always enjoy the visuals.
The only thing I’m really disappointed in is the staircase, which kind of looks flimsy and fake to me. This house deserved a nicer one than that, in my opinion.
According to the IMDB website, the set was the same one used in the Cary Grant-Katharine Hepburn rom-com “Bringing Up Baby” in 1938. I found that interesting because I loved that house, too. I’ve got to rent it again so I can compare the two! The exteriors were similar, as I recall, but I clearly remember the entry and staircase in “Bringing Up Baby,” and it was completely different from the one in this film. They must have changed a lot around.
Elizabeth Lane’s character was loosely based on the then-popular Family Circle magazine columnist Gladys Taber, who lived on Stillmeadow Farm in Connecticut. But unlike Elizabeth, Gladys was the real deal who wrote something like 50 books about cooking and homemaking.
Do you have any favorite black and white films that featured great houses in them? I’m taking requests and making a list for future movie posts, so let me know if you have one to recommend.
However you’re spending this holiday week, I hope it’s wonderful! Thanks to everyone who has sent me Christmas greetings. I’m sorry I haven’t had time to return all of them individually. I appreciate every single card and comment I’ve received. I feel very fortunate to have so many good blog friends like you.
I’m traveling and spending time with family for the holidays, but I’ll be back at the beginning of January. See you then! -Julia
If You Missed Any of My Other Christmas Posts:
- Old Louisville’s Holiday Home Tour
- Dreaming of a Blue Christmas?
- Home Alone: Kevin’s House in Chicago
- The Holiday: A Tale of Two Houses
- A Christmas Story: Ralphie’s House
- The House from the Movie “Stepmom”
- Hooked on Holiday House Tours: Let the Party Begin!
- 20 Highlights from the Holiday House Tours
December 25th, 2008 at 5:21 pm
One of my all time favorite B/W movies is “Mr. Blandings Builds his Dream House.” Most of the movie is about the house being under construction, so it probably won’t be considered, but I love it. Cary Grant was one of my favorite actors.
December 25th, 2008 at 6:12 pm
Loved the cliff notes! I live in CT, and there is a converted barn/house for sale down the street. Will peek in during the next open house!
Is it me, or does the living room look like it would a perfect retail space?
~Susan
December 25th, 2008 at 7:14 pm
I have been scouring the Internet for this farmhouse! I read yesterday that you were doing a piece on it and have been glued to the site ever since. My presents didn’t get wrapped until after midnight b/c I couldn’t pull myself away from this site. I absolutely love it here! Please rent Bringing up Baby and snap some more pics. I’m dying to see more! I feel in love with this house years ago from the Baby movie!
December 25th, 2008 at 7:33 pm
Just dropping in to wish you a Merry Christmas!!
~Blessings,
Jan & Tom
December 25th, 2008 at 8:27 pm
HOw funny….haven’t seen this one in YEARS…however, we love Bringing Up Baby and just watched it last month…no wonder this house looked familiar!
Enjoy your Christmas Julia!! We’ve so enjoyed visiting you this year!!
Karla & Karrie
December 25th, 2008 at 9:01 pm
My favorite old movie is Sabrina. Remember the amazing Larrabee family estate on Long Island, where Sabrina and her chauffeur father live above the garage? That’s where I wanna live.
December 25th, 2008 at 9:03 pm
In the movie, Mr Blandings Builds His Dream House, there is a dream sequence. Murial dreams of a white colonial type home, I think, while Jim dreams of a hunting lodge, sort of half timbered and stone house. It’s Jim Blanding’s dream home that I would love to see more of. There were no interiors, just that shot of him standing outside. There is a home on the way to our daughter’s that I always call Mr Blanding’s house, because it’s very much like the one he dreams of.
I was wondering where I had seen the Christmas in Connecticut house. Now you’ve solved the mystery. I like the house, very much.
Enjoy your holiday! We’ll be heading to the lake early next week. We had a wonderful Christmas with our children, today.
December 25th, 2008 at 11:12 pm
Thanks for this post, Julia. I just watched this movie for the first time a few months ago.
My Mom said that the bathroom shown in the movie wasn’t very modern. Her mother built a bathroom during WW II in what used to be a coal room. It had a walk-in shower and a separate tub. Of course, my grandmother was particularly fashionable and it had to be very new!
December 26th, 2008 at 12:02 am
Julia - Christmas in Connecticut is one of my all-time favorites! We just saw it for the umpteenth time the other night, and I turned to Greg and said, “just LOOK at that house. It’s like my dream faux-rustic place in Connecticut!” Thanks so much for the perfect post. Happy Holidays to you and yours.
December 26th, 2008 at 12:36 am
Julia, this is my favorite Christmas movie although I have been unable to watch it this year. I even did my own blog post about it at http://robinsblessednest.blogspot.com/2008/12/true-meaning-of-christmas-from-funny.html! Thank you for posting these pictures…what a beautiful house and pastoral setting. I would love to curl up in one of those chairs in the living room, wouldn’t you? I would love to know how you snap pictures while watching a movie…didn’t even know that was possible! Merry Christmas!
December 26th, 2008 at 3:13 am
I love that movie! The stone on the outside of the house is dreamy! And I too love to wear long dresses and fur shrugs when I hang out around the house. I hope we don’t bump into each other wearing the same thing. How embarrassing!
If you love old b&w movies with an awesome house (lots of views of the house int he movie) and a holiday theme, you NEED to do a video tour the house in Holiday Inn. Best. Christmas. Movie. Ever. We watch it every Christmas Eve. It’s the movie that the song White Christmas was first sung in. It’s got Bing Crosby and Fred Astair. What’s not to like? Interestingly, the farm house in Holiday Inn looks remarkably like the farm house the General owns in White Christmas (which IMO is a poor man’s Holiday Inn). Oh, and they do a movie within a movie thing, so you get to actually see the set, which thrills me. So many people have never seen or even heard of this movie. It distresses me. I’m on a mission to make everyone want to watch it. If you’ve never seen it, please do so! You will not regret it. Plus, the house! Dreamy!
December 26th, 2008 at 6:06 am
Hi Julia - I love the window by the piano and all the furniture of that era. A lovely old home !
And don’t you love the clothes they wore from that era ? Bring back the hat I say !!
Another brilliant post !
December 26th, 2008 at 8:41 am
This is one of my all-time favorite movies! I’ve always loved the farmhouse in the film, and would love to build one like it someday (I may have to tweak the kitchen just a little, though). That fireplace in the living room is to die for!
December 26th, 2008 at 8:59 am
I just love old B$W movies as well. I hope that you and your family had a Wonderful and Merry Christmas!
Blessings,
Melissa
December 26th, 2008 at 9:56 am
OH MY GOSH. You had me at Dutch door.
Love this house. Also loved the one that Nicole Kidman lives in as the modern Bewitched. As well as Lucy and Ricky’s Connecticut house (minus the kitchen which I always thought lacked personality) and the house in the original version of Father of the Bride (1950).
Happy New Year!
Dawn
December 26th, 2008 at 9:58 am
Gotta add, although it’s not a house. . . the Columbia Inn from White Christmas!
Dawn
December 26th, 2008 at 9:59 am
I have just recently found this amazing “blog world” and yours is one that I love to pieces. I have always loved the houses in movies, pretty much more than the characters,but don’t forget TV houses. As a child, I wanted to live in the houses from “Leave it to Beaver”, “Donna Reed”, and “Father Knows Best”, and especially “Ozzie and Harriet”. The farmhouse from “I Love Lucy” was fantastic, too. Some of my friends think I’m weird, but I always notice the houses and decorating in movies, to the point that I kinda want to push the actors out of the way when they’re blocking my view. It’s nice to know that there are others out there that understand my “sickness”. Thanks and Merry Christmas!
December 26th, 2008 at 11:02 am
Thanks for sharing! I love the old movies! If I am correct, it seems that the house in “All that Heaven Allows” (Jane Wyman) is pretty cool for it’s time. And I’m sure the house from “Mommy Dearest” is pretty sweet too!
Hope you had a merry Christmas!
~angela
December 26th, 2008 at 12:00 pm
I love that you posted all these photos from the house. I looked for them as well online when I posted for your holiday house tour but there were none to be found. I see I’m not the only fan of this great old film!
December 26th, 2008 at 3:46 pm
I’m enjoying reading about the old homes. Think I want one.
Thanks for your scoop on your Wii. It helps subside my guilt.
Blessings…lylah
December 26th, 2008 at 4:44 pm
I’ll second the mentions of the inn from White Christmas! It’s been a LONG time, but I remember thinking the house in North by Northwest with Cary Grant was cool - one of those modern, mostly glass ones built into the side of a mountain. It wasn’t b&w, but I also got a kick out of the two houses in Christmas Vacation. The Griswold’s was a slightly more classic, while the neighbors’ was pure 80s “modern.” Thanks for the Christmas present, Julia!
December 26th, 2008 at 5:03 pm
You guys are giving me some great ideas for future movie/TV posts. I’m writing them all down. Thanks!! -Julia
December 26th, 2008 at 5:49 pm
Merry Christmas Julia ~ I just thought that I would swing by and say howdy and wish you and yours a blessed and rest~filled holiday. Great post! I am know off to bake cookies and watch movies…two of my favorite ways to pass the time…besides blogging around the Universe.
So good to know you!
Smiles ~ Ramona
December 27th, 2008 at 2:11 am
Thanks so much for these pictures. I, too, have always loved this movie and the house. It was wonderful getting to “study” it. All the old movies have great houses. They all seem to have huge bedrooms with sunny window seats and fireplaces in all the rooms.
Yes, I do have a request. The farm house in the movie “The Great Lie” with Bette Davis. I LOVE that house. Her bedroom has a wonderful balcony that looks out on the back lawn. I’d LOVE to see this house. Thanks. LOVE your blog!
December 27th, 2008 at 10:37 am
This is my favorite so far. I miss the days of wallpaper and oval portraits and elaborate drapes. Not that I lived them, but you know what I mean!
December 27th, 2008 at 1:13 pm
The house… set… reminds me of the house that Ricky and Lucy moved to in the Country… from I Love Lucy!
Hope you are ENJOY this holiday season!
Fifi
December 27th, 2008 at 2:27 pm
Love these movie house posts!
I want to suggest Mary’s country house from the orig The Women(1939) - her city house isn’t too shabby either!
Also - how about Auntie Mame?… her apt decor corresponds with any new interest and changes many times thruout the movie.
December 27th, 2008 at 7:12 pm
Great Post! I love old movies too! I think one of my all time fav’s is “Don’t eat the daisy’s” staring Doris Day-I am a big fan of her movies. My kids and husband say her personality (crossed with Lucille Ball) in her movies are just like mine-silly people I don’t know about that! Lol! Well maybe just a little-haha! But as I remember that was a very interesting home in that movie as well. Hope you and your family had a wonderful Christmas!
Happy New Year Dear Blogging Buddy!
~Smiles~Tam!
December 27th, 2008 at 7:20 pm
P.S. Lol! I know that Doris Day movie is not a Christmas movie -but it is a fav of mine. You know what house I really liked in TV land was Samantha Steven’s home in Bewitched! As a kid I thought it was pretty high tech and cool-the oven and stove did some very cool things! If you ever get to see an episode where they are using it you will see what I mean. And in fact those very stoves were actually a type that was sold. Of course they didnt do everything the Steven’s stove did. Funny how those kinds of things would stick in my little kid mind huh? Anyhow just had to add that!
December 27th, 2008 at 8:20 pm
This was one of my all time favorite movie houses too! But Mr Blandings Builds his Dream house is tied along with the house in Baby Boom!! And “The Father of The Bride House” … Did you know that they remade Christmas in Ct with Dyan Cannon in the 70’s? Her house was fabulous too!
If you look very carefully at the original movie set, some of it looks like the CT. Living room and kitchen of Lucy and Ricky fame!
Maybe they “recycled some components of it for the show?!
Have a wonderful New Year!
December 28th, 2008 at 1:35 am
Hi Julia! Merry Christmas!!! I’m so busy and so behind on blogs, but I enjoyed the tour of the darling stone cottage very much. I am a sucker for Dutch doors. Great house- wish it were real, instead of just “reel”! Best wishes to you and yours.
December 28th, 2008 at 11:59 am
Wouldnt that be just the funnest house to decorate and live in? Although it looks great as is…
I hope you had a great holiday, and an even more terrific new year, Dear Julia!
i love that weve met, here in blog land!!!
xoxo from the beach
lisa
coastalnest
December 28th, 2008 at 5:37 pm
Thanks for doing this movie. One of the lesser know Christmas movies.
Now do My favoriate. The Bishops Wife , with Cary Grant and Loretta Young.
December 28th, 2008 at 9:30 pm
I vote for Holiday Inn too! Love that movie- and the house is to die for. My husband and I have joked about having someone design a house for us based on the movie- when we have the $$$ for it of course.
December 29th, 2008 at 12:32 am
Julia, I love old movies, too, and can’t believe I’ve never seen this one. It almost seems like a movie that could be adapted for today, huh?
I’m trying to think of an old movie or two that I’d like to see more of, but I’m at a loss. Actually, “Sleeping with the Enemy” has a couple of neat homes. The first one is that contemporary beachfront property Julia Roberts shares with her mean husband. The second one is the little cottage she escapes to far away from said mean jerk.
December 29th, 2008 at 7:53 am
Awesome photo’s it sure looks like a cozy place to spend the holidays. How I wish I could have a holiday in such a nice place (of course if it was real).. thanks for these memorable pictures.
December 29th, 2008 at 4:32 pm
This is my all-time, hands-down, favorite Christmas movie. EVER!! I have it on my dvr and it’s NEVER going to be deleted. I’m shocked to see how many of your commenters haven’t seen it before! AACK! lol I also loooooove Little Women (the version with June Allyson), White Christmas (where they go help the owner of an inn in Vermont…I want to stay at the inn in the worst way!! lol)
December 29th, 2008 at 6:54 pm
Ive never seen this movie before, so I enjoyed the tour of this old home. So pretty and charming. I love the tinsel all over their Christmas Tree, no one uses tinsel anymore… why not? Sure it’s messy, but it’s oh so pretty!
December 29th, 2008 at 8:02 pm
Julia,
I love the name of your blog but really, you should issue a warning to go along with the name…..a girl like me needs to know that I WILL GET HOOKED on “Hooked on House”. Your blog is wonderful! I love these old movies as well but have not seen this one for quite a long time. I had FORGOTTEN how much I loved that outfit Elizabeth wears in the visit to the farmhouse scene. I want that little white jacket!
Happy New Year!!
December 31st, 2008 at 9:37 pm
Thank you so much for posting these pics. If we ever rebuild, this is the house for me. I had already bought both “Christmas in CT” and “Bringing Up Baby” just so I could drool over the house, but your putting photos on here is just great. I love the Blandings house and the “Holiday Inn” house, too. In fact almost any Hollywood set of farmhouses in the 30’s and 40’s are wonderful.
January 4th, 2009 at 9:37 am
I’m glad someone has posted something about this house! One of the best parts about black and white movies - after the crazy house dresses and hair the women wear as everyday attire - are the houses and their contents. Since Mr. Blandings has gotten plenty of mention I’ll add Holiday Inn (before Bing turns it into an inn/club). My husband is a builder and each time we watch movies like this I’m constantly hitting pause so he can remember a detail as if they are able to be replicated in real life.
I’m a fan of the house int he first season of the Doris Day show as well.
January 4th, 2009 at 3:29 pm
Julia,
I just love this movie and was lucky enough to watch it with my 91 y.o.parents this year. Don’t you wish you could go out for a ride in a sleigh( even if you did get arrested)?? Love the house and Uncle Felix and sometimes find myself in what I call “my Elizabeth Lane frame of mind”
Happy New Year and thanks for 340 great posts.
Janet
January 10th, 2009 at 10:29 pm
Does anyone know the real names of the two babies in the 1945 version of Christmas In Connecticut?
January 25th, 2009 at 11:01 pm
[...] The Stone Farmhouse in “Christmas in Connecticut” [...]
February 2nd, 2009 at 12:14 am
I luckily found this thread trying to locate some information on the house in “Bringing Up Baby” and “Christmas in Connecticut”. As seems to be the consensus here, I think that’s a great looking house! It seems to me to be a timeless design, and would work just as well with a very contemporary interior as the more rustic look found in “Baby”. I also agree the interiors between “Baby” and “Connecticut” do not look like the same house, and I wouldn’t be surprised if it was completely different from one film to the other–perhaps it’s just the exteriors that are the same?
I can also shed a bit of light on two of the other houses mentioned in this thread, those being the house in “Mr. Blandings” and “North by Northwest”. The NbyNW house was pretty much a matte painting, with some of the base of the house and the cantilever beams constructed for Cary Grant to climb around on. It was designed to look like a Frank Lloyd Wright house, which, before I learned tht the house never really existed, is what I thought it might have been!
http://www.flickr.com/groups/mid-century/discuss/72157594261231182/
http://www.jetsetmodern.com/modatmovies.htm
The Blandings house (at least one of two that were constructed–one for the “finished” home and one for the “under construction” home) still exists. It’s used as a park headquarters building in Calabasas, California.
To see a very good arial view in Live Maps, go to maps.live.com and enter the coordinates:
Las Virgenes and Waycross Dr, Calabasas CA
In the image window, click on “Bird’s Eye View”. (Bird’s Eye gives you a closeup arial view.) You’ll see an orange arrow box at the intersection of Las Virgenes and Waycross, and immediately to the south of that intersection, you’ll see a group of two buildings surrounded by some parking areas. The larger building is the Blandings House itself. You may recognize the dormer windows in the roof of the smaller end of the house, and the gently “s” curved walkway up to the front door. And the tree at the corner of the house shown in the ending frames is huge now-bigger than the larger half of the house, and covering much of the southwest corner of the lot. It looks like there’s been an addition to the rear, but I’m not sure we ever got a look at that area in the film, so it, too, may be original. Unfortunately, the upper storey has been painted “Forest Service Brown”, completely destroying the look of the house–leave it to the government, huh?
And immediately to the west (maybe a mile or so?) is the location of the set of MASH (the TV series, not the film AFAIK.
If anyone lives near there and can get some shots of the current state of the house, it would be great to see them posted somewhere! I’ve searched Google as thoroughly as I can without any success.
Ron
February 19th, 2009 at 9:55 pm
[...] charming cottages with Dutch doors that I’ve always wanted one. Remember this scene from Christmas in Connecticut? (If you missed my post about that house, click here.) In my fantasies, I also live in a stone [...]
April 12th, 2009 at 8:01 pm
clinton indiana hicks ville u s a
the living room looks alot like the house lucy and ricky buy in the later years of I love Lucy
April 27th, 2009 at 4:25 am
I also love the house in “Holiday Inn” starring Bing Crosby. One of my favorite interiors is the apartment in “Eyes Wide Shut” with Tom Cruise and Nicole Kidman. Strange movie but wonderful set decoration for their apartment.