This charming Victorian Queen Anne Cottage in Pasadena, California, was built in the late 1800s and is on the National Register of Historic Places. The minute I saw those wrought iron gates, the wraparound porch and the red door, I knew I had to see more.

It’s on the market for $1.135 million, so let’s take a look!

Seems like an odd place for a dining room, right inside the front door, but in a cottage you have to make the most of the space you’ve got.

This arched doorway with the pocket doors made me (almost literally) swoon:

The living room:

The powder room:

There are 3 bedrooms and 3.5 baths:

My favorite room in the house has to be the kitchen with the black and white checkered floors and pale green cabinets:

It would be fun to paint the base of that butcher-block island a more vibrant color.

The listing says that the house was “meticulously restored to incorporate its architectural features, such as the original redwood framing and siding, combined with today’s modern amenities. Situated in the Linda Vista area of Pasadena, this house is a landmark property in the neighborhood.”

Want it? Check the listing with Deasy/Penner & Partners for more information and photos (taken by Erik Grammer).

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At the beginning of the drive to Katharine Hepburn’s estate in Old Saybrook, Connecticut, a hand-painted sign politely requested potential lookiloos to “Please Go Away.” If that wasn’t enough to convince them, a “Keep Out” sign was tacked below it. Gotta love it–especially when she posed next to them with flowers and a big grin on her face.

The film legend died at the age of 96 in 2003; her home sold a year later to Barbara and Frank Sciame for $6 million. They renovated it and just put it back on the market for $28m. Here’s how the house looked then:

And here’s how the house looks today, after the extensive renovations:

The waterfront estate had been in the Hepburn family since 1913. The house was built in the late ’30s and Katharine did little to update it over the years. Well, everything has been now. It has been so updated, in fact, that it looks like it could be a brand new house.

The Sciames bought the property as an investment but they say they fell in love with the house and spent summers here. I can see why! I wouldn’t mind having this as a summer home…

Here’s a photo of Hepburn in the kitchen. This little glimpse inside the house gives you an idea of how much work the new owners did to it.

Here’s that same kitchen today, and it’s pretty unrecognizable as the same one:

The renovated pantry:

In this bedroom, it’s all about the view:

The house has 6 bedrooms in all…

…and 7.5 baths.

So much of the house is so white that I wish there were more signs of warmth like there is with the wood around this fireplace. I imagine things were a lot warmer and darker before. (Note the books they have on the coffee table about her.)

The house has over 8,000 square feet. One of my favorite spots has to be this screened porch overlooking the water:

Those of you who remember the houses and sets from movies better than the plots in them probably thought of the Hepburn Estate as it was portrayed in the Leonardo DiCaprio movie The Aviator, right? I remembered loving it when I saw the film back in ’04. I watched it again today to snaps some photos and compare the two.

Here’s how the Hepburn house looked in the movie when Howard Hughes (played by DiCaprio) and Kate Hepburn (Cate Blanchett) pulled up the long drive:

Sadly, a hurricane destroyed the original house shortly after Hepburn and Hughes broke up in 1938. It floated away in the water while the Hepburn family watched it from higher ground. Foundation bricks and a claw-footed bathtub were all that was left of it. They rebuilt this house in the same spot, but higher off the ground. (Source.)

This is the only room of the house that we really get to see in the movie. Boo. Hiss. I wanted to see more.

I kept trying to get a better look at the kitchen over Cate Blanchett’s shoulder. When she ducked under the table at one point, I snapped this photo:

According to the listing, the property has its own private dock and beach, with “a pond opposite side securing privacy.”

You can read more about it and see more photos at The Daily Mail and the listing. Thanks to all of the readers (and fellow Hepburn fans) who emailed, FB’d, and Tweeted me about this listing. You guys rock.

P.S. I loved both Katharine Hepburn and her country house in the classic comedy Bringing Up Baby. You can see my post about those sets here.

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File this house under “They don’t make ‘em like this any more.” The stunning Queen Anne Victorian was built in 1897 in Osceola, Iowa, and is listed on the National Register of Historic Places. It’s known as “The Banta House” and was designed by the popular Victorian-era architect George Barber.

The house, which features 4 bedrooms, 4 baths, 3 fireplaces, and 3 porches, is on the market for only $300,000. It has been restored, but it needs some decorating help. As I was looking through the photos, I was plotting how I would redo everything. Take a look and see what you think!

It has only had two owners since it was built, which is pretty amazing for a house of its age (114).

This is called “The Greeting Room.” I like the sound of that.

The front parlor is completely dominated by the wallpaper, which really needs to go.

The kitchen has old-time charm. I’m sure it would need some judicious updating, but I wouldn’t want to see it go too modern here.

The listing says the house has 2,423 square feet, which surprises me. It looks larger than that from the outside.

The formal dining room has potential with the big windows and the fireplace, but I’d love to see the carpet pulled up.

One of the bedrooms, where the third fireplace can be found:

One of the four baths:

This room seems to have a bridal theme to it. Love all the windows and the light coming in:

The basement has exposed-stone walls:

The architect George Barber sold about 20,000 house plans during his career, marketed worldwide through mail-order catalogs. Over four dozen Barber houses are now listed on the National Register of Historic Places. You can learn more about him and see photos of other houses he designed here.

Thanks to Amanda for finding this one. She says, “I am dying to know what is behind that attic dormer window above the tower.” Me, too!

For more photos and information, check the listing by Mary Erickson at Re/Max.

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Last summer I showed you an 1885 Victorian for sale in Kansas City, Missouri, for $150,000. It’s known as the James W. Bryan house, and this picture of it was published in the Scientific American Architects and Builders Edition in 1887. The publication reported that the house cost $7,500 to build.

Sadly, the house and its neighborhood are no longer what they used to be. Here’s how it looks today:I just learned about a couple who found the original plans for this house from the 1880s and decided to build a new version in Nebraska. Here’s how theirs turned out:

Is that cool or what? And they have a beautiful website devoted to it where you can read all about their venture: Castle Victorian. (You can see interior photos of the original house, built in 1885, here.)

If you could build a new house from old plans, which era would it be from? I think it would be fun to recreate this one!

(Castle Victorian photo by Light-Works Studio. Thanks to Derek for the info!)

A reader named Karen wrote me a lovely letter about this old house for sale in her Wisconsin neighborhood. They’re asking only $99,000, but it needs a new owner who is willing to love it back to life with some hard work and creativity.

I thought it would be perfect for our 5 Changes Game. If you haven’t played before, it’s simple–take a look at the house and then tell us what 5 changes you think would make the biggest difference.

Karen writes, “We live in the CUTEST neighborhood in Wisconsin, called Appleton. We’re on the Fox River and still have block parties and Sunday night soup parties in winter. Our beloved neighbor Charlie, who was 93 years old, passed away and left a home that has tons of potential.”

“Charlie met his wife Georgianna in Africa during WW2. They were avid readers and travelers (I must have bought 50 books at their auction when they passed). They lived happily in this house until she failed with Alzheimer’s.  Even when ‘Georgie’ had to go to a home, Charlie drove to pick her up every day and bring her home with him during the day.”

It was built in the late 1800′s and was the first home in Appleton to have aluminum siding (1950′s).  Across the street is a museum called Hearthstone House–the first to be powered by hydroelectric power in the U.S.

The master bedroom looks a little more modern with the woodwork painted and lighter floors:

The house has 3 bedrooms, 2 baths, and 2 fireplaces:

Karen ends her letter by saying, “Please find me a cool neighbor!” If you’re cool and interested in being her neighbor–or just want to see more photos–check out the listing. (To see all the photos, click the “Real Advantage Tour” button on that page.)

Now that you’ve taken a good look at the house, tell us. If you bought it, what are the first 5 changes you’d make?

To See More Houses That Need Your Help: 5 Changes.

When I spotted this 1885 Victorian in the Connecticut real estate listings, it stopped me in my tracks. Wow. This Greenwich property has over 8,000 square feet and sits on a beautifully landscaped lawn “with water views.” The owners renovated it in 2000, and I’d love to see what it looked like before, when all of the woodwork was probably dark.

There’s definitely a light, beachy vibe here–something you don’t expect from an old Victorian.

The dining room light fixture looks a lot like the one in Sarah Jessica Parker’s Hamptons house, doesn’t it?

I think the curved wall in the kitchen with all of the big windows overlooking the water is lovely:

What do you think–do you like this updated Victorian? I’d love to see some more color on the exterior to make some of the details stand out.

It’s on the market for $14.5 million. There are 6 bedrooms, 6 baths, and 3 fireplaces in the house. More photos and information in the listing. Any takers?

Love Victorian houses? Check out a couple of fabulous ones from the movies: Meet Me in St. Louis and Practical Magic.

Areader named Lisa wrote me about an old house she found in Pittsburg, Kansas, that she’d like to “save.” It’s in a great historic neighborhood where the houses around it are selling for much more. This one is on the market for only $149,900 and has a lot of things going for it: over 3,000 square feet of living space, to start with, including 4 bedrooms and 2 1/2 baths. Marble in the entry. Hardwood floors under the carpet. Two fireplaces. A big yard.

However, it also has a lot of strikes against it. Outdated decor (an understatement). Cracks in the walls. What appears to be years of neglect.

Lisa says the house looked worse in person than in the photos (possibly because these are a little blurry?). “I was so sad after walking through this house. I just couldn’t understand how anyone could let this beautiful house get as bad as it was.”

She likes the kitchen, which she considers “a blank slate.” Other rooms in the house are, well, not quite as blank as far as slates go:

I actually like this original green-tiled bathroom. It’s like stepping back in time! Looks like there’s an arched wall over the tub in here, too:

Lisa says she can’t stop fantasizing about saving the house: “I wish I could be the one to breathe life back into this historic home.” But, she asks, do we think it’s worth saving? “What would you do?” Cast your vote below and tell her!

You can see the rest of the photos and get more information about the house from the listing.

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Remember the Practical Magic-inspired kitchen I showed you last week? I thought you might like to see the rest of this amazing Gothic Revival house. It was designed by Derek of Derek M Design, who says his clients wanted a new house with an old soul. I think he pulled it off. If you drove past this house, would you guess that it was finished last year?

“It has truly fooled some people,” Derek says. “The greatest compliment I have gotten so far is when a member of a local historic society asked what year the home was built, and I shocked her with the year 2007-2009. She honestly thought is was a renovation project of a house built in 1860.”

I’m in love with this blue room. I’ve been working on a post about Manderley, and this room reminds me of the “morning room” in Rebecca:

The bedroom has vaulted and beamed ceilings similar to those in the Practical Magic movie house, which inspired them:

How fabulous is this window with the interior shutters?

Here’s the kitchen I showed you last week. You can see the rest of the photos and see side-by-side comparisons with the Practical Magic kitchen that it was inspired by here.

There’s even a charming back staircase similar to the one in Practical Magic. I always wanted one like this off my kitchen:

Many thanks to Derek for sharing this house with us! For more information, visit Derek M Design or check out the entire gallery of photos at Oviatt-Pratt & Associates.

If you could build a new house with the character and spirit of an old one, what style and era would you go for? This one looks pretty good to me!

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A couple of years ago, I was lucky enough to take a tour of about ten historic homes in St. Louis. It was in the Lafayette Square neighborhood–an entire block filled with grand old homes like the ones from Meet Me in St. Louis. I thought I had died and gone to house heaven!

If you’re a long-time reader of my blog, you may remember that my original header was a photo I took there. Watching this movie is like going back in time and seeing how that neighborhood must have looked like in its heyday.

The story takes place at the turn of the century in St. Louis, Missouri, when the World’s Fair was right around the corner (1904). The Smith family lived in this grand Second Empire Victorian home on 5135 Kensington Avenue with their five children (and Grandpa!).

Kensington Avenue, lined with beautiful, stately homes, was constructed at great cost by MGM for the movie. Known as “St. Louis Street,” it can also be seen in films like Cheaper by the Dozen, In the Good Old Summertime, and Good News.

Judy Garland was 21 years old when she played Esther Smith. She famously turned down the role at first because she was tired of playing the ingenue and wanted a “grown-up role.” She was finally talked into it by the screenwriter, Irving Brecher, who was a friend of hers.

The movie changed her life because she met–and married–the director, Vincente Minnelli. (His real name: the less romantic-sounding Lester Minnelli.)

Rose Smith was played by newcomer Lucille Bremer, who only spent four years in Hollywood before retiring from show business to start a family.

A lot of the action takes place around this beautiful staircase in the entry:

At the end of the movie, when they are packing up their belongings to move to New York, we get this view of the staircase looking kind of bleak and sad with the paintings removed:

The movie was based on Sally Benson’s collection of short stories for The New Yorker.  Benson (whose maiden name was Smith) wrote about her life on Kensington Avenue where her family lived from 1891-1910. The stories were adapted for film by Irving Brecher and Fred F. Finklehoffe . She helped the filmmakers get all of the period details right, from the clothes to the sets.

Benson’s home in St. Louis was demolished in 1994 after standing empty and uninhabitable for years. Here’s what it looked like:

Here’s where it used to stand, on what is now an empty lot (photo taken by Poptarticus, who has more photos of it on her site, and sent to me by Holly):

Here is a house that just sold on the real Kensington Avenue, a few doors down from where Benson lived. It was built in 1903, and you can see similarities to the illustration above (asking price in 2009: a paltry $24,000):

Back to the movie, which is so much prettier than reality…

In this scene, the family gathers to discuss the move to New York City. The dad, played by Leon Ames, has decided not to take the job in New York after all because he realizes how important home is to his family.

In reality, Sally Benson’s dad had no such revelation, and her family did move to New York, leaving their beloved Kensington Avenue house behind. They didn’t return for the World’s Fair.

A sequel called Meet Me in Manhattan was talked about, but it never came about.

I was surprised to read that Leon Ames, who played Mr. Smith, was only 42 when it was filmed.

I love all the detail over the fireplace and the windows flanking it:

The dining room:

Rose gets a long-distance phone call during dinner, which is a big deal (I love how they shouted into the phone at each other). The family listens in:

There’s a pass-through into the kitchen that the maid used (Marjorie Main, of Ma and Pa Kettle fame):

A glimpse of the back hall that leads to the kitchen:

“Nowadays,” Esther Smith says in the film, “you can’t get a maid for less than $12 a month!”

I read that pots and pans were usually stored on open shelves because they were  greasy. Closed cabinets would attract mice and other critters.

I wonder if there was really a bird in that birdcage by the window?

The movie’s costume designer reportedly created many of the movies costumes right out of the Sears & Roebuck catalog from the time period.

The house as it looked at Christmas time (the striped awnings are gone):

The snowman scene wasn’t the most realistic in the movie. There were no tracks in the snow where they walked in it, and no sign of snow having been scooped from the ground to build their snowmen. But it sure was pretty to look at! Love the neighbor’s house in the distance:

The upstairs landing:

A scene was cut that had taken place inside the master bedroom. Unfortunately, the film they took no longer exists. I would have loved to have seen that room!

The bathroom was only in the movie for less than a minute, but it wowed me with that window!

Grandpa’s room–with all of his hats:

Tootie, the youngest Smith, was memorably played by Margaret O’Brien. She turned 7 during the filming, and went on to star as Beth in Little Women a few years later.

Sally Benson, the author of the stories that the movie was based on, was called “Tootie” as a child. In real life, Tootie’s older sister Agnes pulled most of the pranks attributed to Tootie in the film.

Esther’s room is so girly, there’s even lace on the mantel:

This scene between Esther and Rose primping at the vanity mirror was the first one Minnelli shot. I read that he had to do many takes because he couldn’t get Judy Garland to be as “sincere” as he wanted her character to be. Once she understood what he was going for, the rest of filming went much more smoothly.

The movie took 5 months to shoot, from December 1943-April 1944.

Some of the kids’ antics on Halloween night seem bizarre to us today. Instead of trick-or-treating for candy, the kids carried bags of flour to the homes of their “enemies.” Back then, if you hit someone with flour on Halloween night, you could say that you “killed them.” Grandpa advises Tootie to get the flour wet first so it’ll stick.

The night was filled with mischief and bonfires in the streets.  (I think I prefer our current Halloween traditions…)

Tootie pulls some pretty serious pranks and tells some pretty big lies that cause trouble on Halloween night. Her punishment? She only gets one bowl of ice cream for a treat. That’ll teach her!

The house in summer (at the end of the film):

All the Smith women were dressed in white and ready to go to the World’s Fair:

Sweet Sunday Mornings is a blog that does a really nice job with movie posts, including one about Meet Me In St. Louis that I enjoyed. She also gets into the costumes, which is interesting. I used a few of her screen shots here.

Here’s a photo of how the Meet Me in St. Louis house looked years later, in 1970, just before it was demolished:

St Louis Street, the MGM back lot where the streets were lined with Victorian homes built for Meet Me in St. Louis, is now sadly gone.

In 1970, MGM auctioned off most of its property, including St. Louis Street. Lot 3 was 80 acres with a lake, where they filmed Meet Me in St. Louis and all the MGM features. Now it’s lined with condos instead. (Thanks to Derek for the photos and information. I swear he knows everything!)

Vincente Minnelli’s childhood memories of his grandparents’ house in Delaware (below) was the inspiration for the house in the movie. It’s where he spent a lot of time when he was growing up. Vincente and Judy’s daughter Liza Minnelli says he wanted the house in Meet Me in St. Louis to be similar, with a “rolling front yard and big front porch.” (Read more about it here.)

Here’s a clip of Judy Garland singing “Have Yourself a Merry Little Christmas” to her little sister Tootie (Margaret O’Brien)–the first time it appeared in a film. If this doesn’t get you in the holiday mood, nothing will!

Have you taken the Christmas Movie Quiz yet? This was the answer to question #10! I’ll be featuring the movie from #8 next Monday.

P.S. My Hooked on Holiday House Tours party is still in full swing. Feel free to add your link if you haven’t already, and check out what everyone else has to share!

Visit my TV/Movie Houses page for links to more that I’ve featured, from Pollyanna to Practical Magic.

I have what some might consider a slight obsession with porches. I photograph them wherever I go. Seriously. I make my husband pull over when I spot a good one so I can roll down the window and snap a picture. Here are some of my favorites that I photographed over the last year.

Remember my post about the Storybook Gardener’s Cottage? A few of these homes were taken in that same neighborhood in Ohio.

I like the yellow rocking chairs on this porch:

This was a new home built to blend into an older neighborhood:

After I posted a photo this house (below) earlier this year, I got an e-mail from a woman who said she grew up in there.  She said she was thrilled to see that it seems to be so well-cared for by its current owners:

You can peek inside some beautiful old houses from this old neighborhood here.

Did you miss my tour of this yellow three-story home (below)? You can see it here:

You can take a tour of this pink painted lady here.

Do you have any favorites?

I hope you enjoyed this tour of some of my favorite front porches (all photos taken by moi). Want more? Check out one of my very first blog posts from the archives: In Praise of Porches.

P.S. Love the big front porches on older homes? The Plan Collection website features dozens of historic house plans so you can build a new house that has all the charm and character of one that’s been around a lot longer.