House of Horrors: The Bramford in Rosemary’s Baby (1968)

This post is part of the Favorite Movie and TV Homes Blogathon, hosted by Phyllis Loves Classic Movies and Love Letters to Old Hollywood. Read more posts from this event HERE!

Setting is of primary importance in a horror film. Usually, we imagine a creepy mansion, or a graveyard, or the basement lair of a serial killer.

Rosemary’s Baby’s house of horrors is a rent-controlled, 4-room apartment in a popular pre-war building facing Central Park West.

There’s hardly a New Yorker who wouldn’t make a deal with the devil to live there.

The Dakota apartment building in Manhattan is most famous for being the location of John Lennon’s assassination. Before that, however, it did a stellar job of portraying the Bramford, location of most of the action in the film Rosemary’s Baby.

Young couple Rosemary and Guy Woodhouse find themselves with a unique opportunity to get into the “Bram,” as the residents call it. An elderly tenant has suddenly passed away. Modern and vibrant people, nevertheless they are eager to move into the gloomy Bram, with its “character” and larger-than-normal rooms for New York City.

The elegant (and creepy) entrance:

The mysterious broom closet that was blocked by the previous tenant:

“Whoever she locked in got out,” quips Guy. (Hahahaha–only it’s not so funny later in the movie.)

The large living room with ginormous windows, for people to jump out of if they care to (as one does during the course of the film):

Nice kitchen. Except for the dated appliances and lack of a dishwasher, I would love to have this kitchen. Subway tile is my favorite. It’s a great place to snack on a chicken heart, as Rosemary does at one point.

Gloomy living rooms can be turned mod with a little work:

The laundry room in the basement is a downer, though. Rumor has it a dead baby was found there once:

The way the hallway is set up it’s easy to have secret phone conversations even if  you leave the door open to the living room:

You’d hardly know this was a room in a gothic style building. So mid-century modern. So perfect for an impromptu home birth:

The living rooms are big enough for a coven meet–er, I mean, a big party.

Oh, dear. I think she just found out the building is going co-op:

O.K., so there are witches living in the building who literally consort with the devil.

But it’s on CENTRAL PARK WEST.

I’d put up with way more than that.

Advertisement