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Image Credit: Susan Pickering, Compass Along with the third-floor turret, the impressive exterior of the shingled structure features a wrap-around porch, numerous balconies, and views that extend all the way to the Pacific Ocean and Catalina Island (unheard of in Altadena!).
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Image Credit: Susan Pickering, Compass Originally situated on 15 manicured acres, the surrounding land was subdivided following McNally’s death and currently measures in at 0.79-acres. On the lush grounds is an aviary (which McNally filled with golden pheasants during his tenure), a four-car garage/carriage house, and a smattering of palm, cedar and citrus trees.
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Image Credit: Susan Pickering, Compass Though its exterior is striking, the most interesting aspect of the home, which is on the National Register of Historic Places, can actually be found inside. While acting as a commissioner for the World’s Columbian Exposition in Chicago in 1893, McNally became enamored of an ornate Arabesque display, so much so that upon the fair’s closing, he purchased portions of it, including most of the furnishings, and had them shipped home to Altadena.
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Image Credit: Susan Pickering, Compass The following year, he commissioned Roehrig to return to the estate to build a space to showcase his new purchases. The architect constructed a grand octagonal-shaped addition, 24-feet in diameter with a conical roof and canopied ceiling, on the southeastern corner of the residence. The grand hall became known as the “Turkish Room” or “Smoking Room” and it remains intact today!
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Image Credit: Susan Pickering, Compass The space is an absolute masterpiece of color and design, featuring diamond-shaped glass windows, carved finials, elaborate screens, and floor-to-ceiling embellishments!
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Image Credit: Susan Pickering, Compass Though nowhere near as ostentatious, the rest of the residence is no less impressive.
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Image Credit: Susan Pickering, Compass With exquisite detailing, extraordinary millwork, and unique ornamentation throughout, it is no surprise the McNally Estate made its way to the screen.
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Image Credit: Susan Pickering, Compass In the season one episode of “Entourage” titled “The Script and the Sherpa,” which aired in 2004, the home plays the supposed Bel Air residence/marijuana farm of The Sherpa (“Even the carpet is made of hemp!”), where Vinnie Chase (Adrian Grenier) and his friends spend a rather unusual afternoon.
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Image Credit: Susan Pickering, Compass The episode makes extensive use of the abode, filming in the Turkish Room as well as outside, and it is a toss-up as to which makes a bigger impression – the house or Kilmer’s performance!
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Image Credit: Susan Pickering, Compass The aviary – or as Johnny Drama (Kevin Dillon) calls it, “The field of f*ckin’ dreams!” – where The Sherpa grows his “100% organic – no herbicides, no pesticides” marijuana – is also featured.
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Image Credit: Gramercy Pictures The property boasts many additional cameos besides “Entourage.” In 1995, it popped up in a flashback sequence as the Turkish home of Keyser Söze in the 1995 thriller “The Usual Suspects.”
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Image Credit: CBS Television It is the residence where an entire family, save for one daughter, is killed via carbon monoxide poisoning in the season four episode of “Ghost Whisperer” titled “Cursed,” which aired in 2001.
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Image Credit: CBS Television The episode even featured a dollhouse version of the McNally Estate, which was said to be haunted by the family that died.
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Image Credit: Searchlight Pictures That same year, it was utilized extensively as Depew’s Funeral Home – “Your pit stop to the afterlife!” – where the Slocumb family pays their respects to their despised patriarch in the comedy “Kingdom Come.”
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Image Credit: Paramount Pictures It also pops up a funeral home, where Claire Colburn (Kirsten Dunst) takes Drew Baylor (Orlando Bloom) to shop for urns, in the 2005 drama “Elizabethtown.”
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Image Credit: Disney-ABC Domestic Television And it portrays a funeral home once again in the season three episode of “Body of Proof” titled “Skin and Bones,” which aired in 2013.
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Image Credit: Comedy Central It played the far-less macabre role of the White House during the Woodrow (Derek Waters) and Edith Wilson (Courteney Cox) era in the season two episode of “Drunk History” titled “First Ladies,” which aired in 2014.
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Image Credit: MTV The estate masks as the Kappa Alpha Omega fraternity house that Jules Thomas (Eliza Bennett) breaks into to seek revenge on a campus rapist in the pilot episode of “Sweet/Vicious,” titled “The Blueprint,” which aired in 2016.
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Image Credit: Hulu It’s the home of Gert Yorkes (Ariela Barer) and her family on the Hulu series “Marvel’s Runaways,” which started airing in 2017.
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Image Credit: NBCUniversal Television The McNally Estate portrayed the Correspondence Center in a couple of episodes of “The Good Place,” staring with season three’s “Janet(s)” which aired in 2018.
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Image Credit: Amazon Studios That same year, it was utilized as the interior of the supposed San Francisco drug rehabilitation facility Nic Sheff (Timothée Chalamet) enters at the beginning of “Beautiful Boy.”
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Image Credit: Susan Pickering, Compass It is quite an exceptional resume for quite an exceptional house!
Until next time, Happy Stalking! 🙂
Stalk It: The Andrew McNally Estate is located at 654 East Mariposa Street in Altadena. Disclaimer: Please remember this is a private home. Do not trespass or bother the residents or the property in any way.
For more Dirt on the Andrew McNally Estate, click over to the main page.