Opa! There’s exciting news for “My Big Fat Greek Wedding” fans! The whimsical house that figured at the center of the hit 2002 romantic comedy has just come up for sale for the first time in over 40 years! Said to be located in a Chicago suburb in the film, in reality the dwelling can be found at 73 Glenwood Cres., just steps from the picturesque Woodbine Bridge in the O’Connor-Parkview neighborhood of Toronto, Canada. (Please remember this is a private home. Do not trespass or bother the residents or the property in any way.) Repped by the Blue Door Realty Group, owning the unique piece of movie history comes with a $1,999,999 price tag. Not bad for a property that the listing notes was “really a character in itself” and “one of the most unforgettable things from the film!”
Streaming now on HBO Max, “My Big Fat Greek Wedding” tells the story of Toula Portokalos (Nia Vardalos), the youngest daughter in a large Greek family who meets and falls in love with a “xeno” American professor named Ian Miller (John Corbett), much to the chagrin of her traditionalist parents and many well-meaning aunts, uncles and cousins. The semi-autobiographical movie, which Vardalos wrote based upon her relationship with her then-husband, actor Ian Gomez (who plays Ian’s best friend – but not best man – Mike), is not only the highest-grossing romantic comedy ever made but one of the highest-grossing independent films of all time! Shot with a budget of $5 million, the flick brought in an incredible $241.4 million domestically, per Entertainment Weekly. That’s a 4,728.00% ROI!
The house that played the Portokalos family residence has also done quite well for itself over the years. The one-and-a-half-story property last sold in 1978 for $69,000 and is now being offered for about 30 times that! Yamas!
-
Image Credit: Zillow In real life, the pad features five bedrooms and three baths in approximately 3,400 square feet. The interior is chock full of patterned wallpaper, cascading curtains and other colorful ephemera that is, ironically, very befitting of the Portokalos family. The living spaces include a sunroom, an eat-in kitchen and a combination living, dining and family room complete with a fireplace. Two of the bedrooms and one bath are on the ground floor, with two additional bedrooms, each with its own balcony, and a full bath located upstairs.
-
Image Credit: Zillow Below ground, the dwelling boasts a large finished basement offering an additional bedroom and bathroom, as well as a wet bar, a fireplace, a recreation area, a combination laundry and furnace room and a unique rock and shell wall that looks like it was ripped straight out of the “My Big Fat Greek Wedding” set. A second kitchen with plenty of cabinetry can also be found on the basement level and you know what that means – there’s plenty of room on the premises for storing myriad bottles of Windex!
-
Image Credit: Zillow The residence is situated on an expansive 0.25-acre lot with an attached one-car garage, a driveway with parking for five cars, a front porch that stretches the width of the house and a large grassy expanse that encircles the entire property. Eagle-eyed readers have likely noticed that the sea-shell-covered three-tiered fountain that was featured prominently in the home’s front walkway in “My Big Fat Greek Wedding” is now positioned at the rear of the backyard. No word on whether or not the quirky piece is included in the sale.
-
Image Credit: IFC Films -
Image Credit: Zillow According to a New York Times article, “My Big Fat Greek Wedding” location manager John Kenyon scouted for a month to find the perfect property to portray the Portokalos home before finally landing on 73 Glenwood Cres. “When you find it, you know,” he said.
In the movie’s opening, Toula describes the residence as such, “We lived in a normal, middle-class Chicago neighborhood of tasteful modest homes. Our house, however, was modeled after the Parthenon, complete with Corinthian columns and guarded by statues of the gods.” Quite a lot of the exterior had to be altered to achieve the look detailed in the narration, so production designer Gregory P. Keen and art director Kei Ng worked their magic on the place.
-
Image Credit: IFC Films -
Image Credit: Zillow The home was made to look considerably larger than it is in real life for the shoot with an entire second-story façade added to the top of the structure. While the gold medallions decorating the roofline, Corinthian columns lining the porch and many of the statuaries dotting the yard were actual elements of the property and remain in place today, the production team ramped up the ornamentation even further by adding such embellishments as the aforementioned cockle-covered fountain. As noted in the New York Times, the crew was instructed to turn everything Greek “up to 11,” causing one neighbor to proclaim, “Wait, wasn’t it Greek enough before?”
-
Image Credit: IFC Films -
Image Credit: Zillow The home’s driveway, located on the west side of the property, was also covered with sod in order to expand the front lawn area and the real garage was masked with a prop window. A fake garage, donning the Portokalos family’s “subtle tribute to the Greek flag,” was then installed on the east side of the residence, complete with a faux gravel driveway. The alterations resulted in a hilariously eccentric backdrop that perfectly set the tone of the film.
-
Image Credit: IFC Films -
Image Credit: Zillow Only the exterior of the residence was utilized in the production. The actual inside of 73 Glenwood Cres. is much smaller than what was shown onscreen.
-
Image Credit: IFC Films -
Image Credit: Zillow Interestingly though, the real kitchen does bear some resemblance to its onscreen counterpart, even all these years after the fact. With its retro cream-colored fridge and dated raised panel cabinetry, the space is vaguely reminiscent of what appeared on film.
-
Image Credit: Universal Pictures In 2016, all of the extensive ornamentation and alterations seen in the first movie were reinstalled at the house for the filming of the sequel, “My Big Fat Greek Wedding 2.” And being that a third installment of the franchise is currently in the works, the home might find onscreen fame once again, not to mention secure some film revenue for the future buyers!