Drama over ‘Brady Bunch’ house
The sale of the “Brady Bunch” house is nearing an end, but not without a drama that has left at least one interested party crying “Marcia, Marcia, Marcia.”
“It got down to a horse race,” listing agent Ernie Carswell said of the pending sale, which is expected to close next week.
According to Carswell, the Studio City property received eight offers from buyers including entertainers, corporate buyers, individual family groups and investors. The seller of the home, listed for $1.885 million, has since selected a prevailing bid and a backup.
Among those in the bidding was NSync singer-dancer Lance Bass, who publicly announced on social media that his offer for the Studio City house had been accepted. But a day later, in a subsequent message, Bass said he was “heartbroken” to learn of a “corporate buyer (Hollywood studio) who wants the house at any cost.”
Carswell said that the sale to Bass was not a done deal and that the seller had not made a final decision at that time. He declined to identify the parties behind the two accepted bids. However, Discovery Inc. Chief Executive David Zaslav on Tuesday announced on an earnings call that cable network HGTV had won the bidding war.
“I’m excited to share that HGTV is the winning bidder and will restore the Brady Bunch home to its 1970s glory as only HGTV can,” he said.
The two-story house was used for outdoor representations of the beloved television family’s abode. That included the show’s opening and closing scenes as well as numerous interludes to denote the time of day. Interior scenes for “The Brady Bunch” were filmed in studio.
The 2,500-square-foot home’s interior bears little resemblance to the layout familiar to TV viewers. A rock-wall fireplace and woodpaneled walls are among classic details in the living room, which has a wet bar. There are two bed-
rooms and three bathrooms — a tight fit for even one-half of the Brady Bunch.
The lot on which the house sits, a 12,500-square-foot parcel that abuts the L.A. River, led some to speculate that a developer might swoop in and tear down the house to build a multimillion-dollar residence.
However, Carswell told The Times last month that consideration would be given to buyers who wanted to preserve the iconic property.
“We’re not going to accept the first big offer from a developer who wants to tear it down.”
Violet and George McCallister bought the two-bedroom, threebathroom house in 1973 for $61,000, records show.
The series ran from September 1969 to March 1974 before moving into reruns in syndication. The McCallisters are both deceased and their children are selling the home.