Here’s the story: The ‘Brady Bunch’ house could become an LA monument

One of TV’s most famous sitcom houses has entered L.A.’s landmarking process.

City officials are considering whether to grant a mid-century modern ranch known as the Brady Bunch house historic-cultural monument status.

The owner of the Studio City house is seeking the designation with the backing of preservationists like those at the Los Angeles Conservancy.

“That show would not be the show without that house,” said Adrian Scott Fine, president and CEO of the conservancy.

The living room has been recreated to look like the TV show’s iconic set, with the open staircase and mid-century décor.

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Los Angeles Conservancy

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Used in the show’s establishing shots during its run from 1969 to 1974, the house is instantly recognizable to generations of fans who watched Mike and Carol Brady wrangle their lively brood of six under its gabled roof.

Though interior scenes were shot on a studio lot, the house façade has become as iconic as Peter’s first voice crack and Jan’s immortal wail, “Marcia, Marcia, Marcia!”

Fans make regular pilgrimages to snap photos out front, and limited charity tours of the house sell out.

Fine said the house helped shape how audiences around the world envisioned an idyllic suburban life in Los Angeles.

“It feels like stepping back into your childhood,” said Fine, who watched re-runs of the show growing up in the Midwest. “Comfort, warmth — it's a place that feels good to so many people.”

A mid-century TV Star

Built in 1959 and designed by Harry Londelius Jr., the Dilling Street home was chosen by producers for its close proximity to the studio and its look — the kind of distinctive mid-century house viewers could easily imagine an architect like Mike Brady living in.

As television production consolidated in Los Angeles in the late 1960s, shows like The Brady Bunch relied on actual exteriors used to ground shows in otherwise studio-filmed episodes, according to a report by the city’s Planning Department recommending review of the Brady Bunch house application.

Other Los Angeles homes that became famous through establishing shots include the residences featured in The Adventures of Ozzie and Harriet, The Beverly Hillbillies and The Golden Girls.

HGTV recreated the Brady Bunch staircase for its 2019 renovation show.

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Los Angeles Conservancy

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As part of the HGTV remodel show, The Brady Bunch kitchen was recreated with its orange countertops and avocado-green appliances.

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Los Angeles Conservancy

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HGTV’s Big Makeover

After the show’s five-season run, The Brady Bunch lived on in syndication for decades, with the house imprinting on viewers across generations.

The home-remodel network HGTV helped revive the house's fame with a 2019 show.

For the series A Very Brady Renovation, the network brought back cast members to help rebuild the inside of the house to mimic the sets fans knew from TV, from the open, split-level staircase to the kitchen with orange Formica countertops.

After the series, HGTV sold the house for $3.2 million to current owner Tina Trahan, a superfan who told People in 2023, "It was like, 'I need this house. I have to have the house.’”

“I just felt like it was just part of America and the culture,” she said.

What’s next

Lovingly maintained, the Brady Bunch house is not at risk of teardown like other structures that preservationists have tried to save around town by seeking historic-cultural monument status.

But Fine argues that now is the time to act.

“Ideally, what we should be doing for all of the architecturally, culturally significant places in L.A. is codifying and ensuring that they have some type of level of recognition and protection, so that there isn't a risk down the road where you are scrambling,” Fine said.

Members of the Cultural Heritage Commission are expected to visit the property in the coming weeks, then vote on whether to recommend monument status to the City Council.

With this designation, any major exterior alteration or demolition proposal would trigger review by city staff and the Cultural Heritage Commission.

“It doesn’t mean it could never be demolished,” Fine said. “But it would be very difficult, and there would be a lot of steps to go through before you ever got to that stage.”

A vote by the City Council is expected in the coming months. Years later, the Brady Bunch house still knows how to pull focus.