A place where it is Halloween every day of the year? Sounds divine! But, sadly, such a magical world only exists onscreen in the 1998 Disney Channel Original Movie “Halloweentown.” The utterly charming film, currently streaming on Disney+, revolves around Marnie Piper (Kimberly J. Brown), a 13-year-old who discovers she is part witch one fateful Halloween night and, along with her siblings, Dylan (Joey Zimmerman) and Sophie (Emily Roeske), follows her grandmother, tenured witch Aggie Cromwell (Debbie Reynolds), back to her native Halloweentown to learn all that she can about her powers and heritage. Since its debut over two decades ago, the tale, which spawned three sequels, has become a beloved classic with many considering it requisite annual October viewing.
Much of the sweet film’s appeal has to do with the town where it is set, an otherworld so bewitching it almost serves as a main character in the story. As described by Aggie, Halloweentown is “a magical place where many different sorts of creatures live together in peace” – “exotic” creatures such as monsters, goblins, ghosts, vampires, gnomes and skeletons, not to mention dozens of dybbuks and banshees! And, of course, witches!
To create the fictional hamlet, the production team descended upon St. Helens in northern Oregon, transforming the Old Towne area, now referred to as the Riverfront District, into a Halloween wonderland complete with a massive jack-o-lantern at its center. According to director Duwayne Dunham, the town square was largely vacant at the time of the filming, which allowed the cast and crew to make use of the place as their “own private backlot,” suitably dressing all of the buildings and storefronts with fall-themed décor. The result of their efforts was an orange and black-hued Shangri-la so revered that, 23 years after the film’s debut, fans still venture to St. Helens each fall for its annual Spirit of Halloweentown celebration, during which the downtown is transformed back into its onscreen self, large jack-o-lantern centerpiece and all!
But don’t go looking anywhere in the area for the majestic Victorian that served as Aggie’s house in the movie. Said to be “just two streets over” from downtown Halloweentown and “up a quarter-mile past the old movie theatre,” in truth the pad can be found a good 30 miles south of St. Helens in Portland’s Eastmoreland community.
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Image Credit: Realtor.com Tucked behind a wall of trees looking like something straight out of a fairy tale, the dwelling is situated just a block south of Reed College at 3814 SE Martins St. (Please remember this is a private home. Do not trespass or bother the residents or the property in any way.)
According to the website The Bee, the house was originally designated as being in the Woodstock community but when area boundaries were re-established in the 1970s, it was rezoned as an Eastmoreland dwelling. As such, the pad has the distinction of being “both the oldest house in Eastmoreland as well as the oldest surviving house in the Woodstock subdivision.”
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Image Credit: Ruum Media Known as the Russell House, the glorious three-story dwelling was originally built in 1892 by John Russell Jr., Woodstock’s first postmaster and owner of the area’s earliest grocery store, at a cost of $3,500.
Featuring five bedrooms and two baths in 4,956 square feet, both the exterior and interior of the residence are nothing short of stunning!
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Image Credit: Ruum Media Living areas include a formal entry, a parlor, a dining room and a living room, all of which are handsome, spacious, dynamically laid out and dotted with unique touches.
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Image Credit: Ruum Media The kitchen, which still boasts its original walk-in pantry, is especially whimsical – not to mention entirely befitting a witch with its cacophony of open shelving featuring plenty of room to store such necessary ingredients as vampire’s fang, hair of a werewolf and sweat of a ghost. No word on if the microwave has settings for Bubble, Toil and Trouble à la Aggie’s, though.
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Image Credit: Ruum Media The attic is also quite bewitching with a sloping roofline, exposed beams and an open staircase situated mid-room.
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Image Credit: Ruum Media Original detailing abounds throughout the Victorian, with built-ins outfitting each nook and cranny and bird’s eye and tiger eye maple wood framing at nearly every turn.
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Image Credit: Realtor.com Capping it all off is a wondrous third-story turret topped by a mansard roof that previous owners had fashioned as an artist’s retreat/sitting room.
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Image Credit: Realtor.com The property, which is situated on a leafy 0.46-acre lot dotted with cherry trees, remained in the Russell family through 1926. It most recently hit the market on October 29, 2018 (just in time for Halloween!) with a $1,365,000 price tag. It was then delisted and relisted several times before ultimately selling this past April for $1,195,000. Though the marketing materials made mention of the home’s appearance in “a Disney movie,” it was not noted that said appearance was in one of the best-loved Disney Channel Original Movies of all time!
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Image Credit: Realtor.com The Victorian, said to be where Aggie has lived for 200 years, is only featured twice in “Halloweentown,” but, with its charming tower and wraparound corner porch, is thoroughly memorable nonetheless.
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Image Credit: Disney Channel The filmmakers attempted to cast a spell on audiences when it came to the location of the house in the movie. Shown to be on a hilltop overlooking a river, in reality, the Victorian is not situated within views of any waterways. To fulfill the illusion, the scene in which Marine and her siblings initially show up at Aggie’s house upon first arriving in Halloweentown was shot in two different places. The portion showing Benny the taxi-driving skeleton (voiced by Rino Romano) dropping the kids off was lensed in front of the Nob Hill Bed and Breakfast in St. Helens, with the camera facing east toward the Columbia River. The opposite side of the scene showing Aggie’s house was then filmed some 30 miles away at the Victorian and the two bits were later seamlessly blended together in post-production. Looks like Hollywood has just as much magic up its sleeve as the Cromwell witches!
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Image Credit: Realtor.com The interior of the Victorian was also featured in the production, namely the kitchen where Aggie and her grandchildren concocted a special witches’ brew to save Halloweentown. The open shelving certainly provided a delightful canvas for production designer Alfred Sole to fill and dress with countless spirited elements for the shoot.
As perfect a backdrop as the Portland property proved to be, it was only utilized in the first installment of the “Halloweentown” franchise. For the 2001 sequel, “Halloweentown II: Kalabar’s Revenge,” filming moved to Vancouver. (Fun fact – Kimberly J. Brown is now dating Daniel Kountz, her co-star from the flick!) The third and fourth movies, 2004’s “Halloweentown High” and 2006’s “Return to Halloweentown,” were subsequently lensed in Utah. None of their settings are nearly as charming as the sites seen in the first film, though, especially when it comes to Aggie’s idyllic homestead!