One of the biggest mysteries amongst film location aficionados is the identity of the building that portrayed the Brooks Memorial Home for the Aged in “Miracle on 34th Street.” As of yet, no one interested in such things has been able to locate the supposed Great Neck, New York-area convalescent hospital where Kris Kringle (Edmund Gwenn) lived in the 1947 Christmas classic. But if there is anything the film has taught audiences over and over again since its debut more than 70 years ago, it is never to lose faith!
Adapted from a short story written by Valentine Davies, the heartwarming tale (which is currently streaming on HBO Max) centers around Kris, a department store Santa at Macy’s Herald Square who believes he is the actual Saint Nick and, throughout his Christmastime stint, winds up making a believer out of virtually everyone he comes into contact with including Macy’s executive/single mom Doris Walker (Maureen O’Hara), her six-year-old skeptic daughter, Susan (Natalie Wood), and their charming lawyer neighbor, Fred Gailey (John Payne).
According to “Natalie Wood: The Complete Biography,” years after the movie premiered, the actress said, “I remember very clearly that at that time, at Fox, they were doing many, many pictures. They had no high hopes for ‘Miracle’ whatsoever. It was just a little extra picture that was sort of done on the sideline.” The film definitely superseded expectations! Despite its relatively meager budget, summer release and divorcée leading character (a plot point that caused the Legion of Decency to rule the film “morally objectionable”), audiences fell in love with “Miracle on 34th Street.” Not only did it go on to win three Academy Awards (for Best Adapted Screenplay, Best Story and Best Supporting Actor for Gwenn), but it is now largely considered one of the seminal holiday classics, withstanding both the test of time and the fickle nature of audiences.
In her 2004 autobiography “‘Tis Herself,” O’Hara attributes the movie’s timelessness to its warmth, charm, sentimentality and overall Christmas spirit. She writes, “Everyone felt the magic on the set and we all knew we were creating something special. I am very proud to have been part of a film that has been continually shown and loved all over the world for nearly 60 years. ‘Miracle on 34th Street’ has endured all this time because of the special relationship of the cast and crew, the uplifting story and its message of hope and love, which steals hearts all over the world every year.”
A few of the film’s locations have also managed to withstand the test of time, miraculously remaining untouched from their cameo more than seven decades ago! Macy’s Herald Square, the flagship store at the center of the film, is still in operation at 151 W. 34th St., bearing many of the same architectural details that were in place when the movie was filmed, including the original wooden escalators. And the New York State Supreme Court Building, where Kris’ Lunacy Commission hearing is held, stands unchanged from its ‘Miracle’ appearance at 60 Centre St.
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Image Credit: 20th Century Studios But the biggest holdover is the traditional Cape Cod-style home featuring “a backyard with a great big tree to put a swing on” that Susan asks Kris for as a Christmas gift. In real life, the pad, which audiences first get a glimpse of via a catalog image, can be found looking much as it did onscreen at 24 Derby Rd. in Port Washington, about 25 miles outside of Manhattan. (Please remember this is a private home. Do not trespass or bother the residents or the property in any way.)
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Image Credit: 20th Century Studios -
Image Credit: Google The actual house isn’t featured until the final scene, as Susan, Doris and Fred leave the Brooks Memorial Home for the Aged Christmas party and happen upon the residence, which Susan immediately recognizes as the dream home she asked Kris for. Of filming the segment, O’Hara recalls in “‘Tis Herself,” “New York remained bitterly cold that winter – so cold, in fact, that the cameras froze on one occasion and wouldn’t turn over. We were shooting the sequence at the end of the film in which Natalie sees the house that she asked Kris Kringle for, and she says, ‘That’s it! Stop! That’s It!’ Luckily, a very kind woman, Vaughn Mele, lived across the street from where we were filming and offered us her home to thaw out the cameras. We gratefully accepted, and I was happy for the chance to thaw out myself as well. The cameras got the preferred treatment, in front of the fire, and we were all seated in the back, away from its warmth. I consider Vaughn Mele’s generosity one of the ‘miracles’ of ‘Miracle on 34th Street.’ I was so grateful for her hospitality that I took her and her husband to dinner at the 21 Club that night. She was so thrilled that she couldn’t eat a bite and only drank a glass of milk!”
Though measurement details are a bit scant online, the charming 1943 abode boasts 1,703 square feet of living space, two bathrooms and a 0.28-acre lot. The current owners, Orrie and Goodie Frutkin, who purchased the place in 1980 having no idea of its celebrity status, now relish the pad’s prominent role in cinematic history. As the New York Post reported in 2011, “The Frutkins said they occasionally name-drop where they live — just to get a kick out of people’s reactions.” Their daughter also bought a cane identical to the one Kris Kringle carried in the movie and put it on permanent display in the home’s living room.
Little of the pad’s exterior has changed in the 70+ years since ‘Miracle’ was lensed, aside from the addition of a large dormer on the home’s second story. The alteration was made at some point in the 1950s or 60s, long before the Frutkins purchased the property, but was instrumental in the sale. As Orrie explained in a comment on the Hooked on Houses website, “I’m sorry that so many people feel the dormer ruins the house, but it was an important factor in our buying the house. We needed a house where we could have a living space for an elderly relative. She always loved living in a bright place, and the dormer won her over.”
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Image Credit: 20th Century Studios Only the outside of the residence was utilized in ‘Miracle.’ The interior of Susan’s dream house was a set designed by art directors Richard Day and Richard Irvine inside of a soundstage at 20th Century Fox Studios in Culver City. According to Orrie, the Port Washington pad’s actual interior is far smaller than what was portrayed in the movie and, in real life, lacks French doors opening out to the backyard as was depicted onscreen.
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Image Credit: 20th Century Studios -
Image Credit: Redfin For John Hughes’ 1994 “Miracle on 34th Street” remake, which is also available to stream via HBO Max, producers pegged a much larger property at 771 Washington Rd. in Lake Forest, Illinois to portray the dream home of Susan Walker (Mara Wilson). Why didn’t the production make use of the house from the original, you ask? Hughes grew up in the Chicago area and always preferred to shoot close to home rather than on location in other states. Even his beloved Manhattan-set 1992 feature “Home Alone 2: Lost In New York” was largely lensed in the Windy City! As stated on The Worldwide Guide to Movie Locations website, “This is a John Hughes production and if it can be shot in Chicago, it will be.”