What I wouldn't give to grow up in a sitcom... sure, things weren't always perfect (remember the episode of The Cosby Show where Cliff's friend's kid gets into drugs? Or when Bobby told his friends he knew Joe Namath on The Brady Bunch?) but at the end of the day, lessons were always learned and laughs were always had. I guess the closest you can get to living in a sitcom is at least checking out the houses where some of America's most beloved families and groups of friends lived (but pls remember that these houses are private property and that trespassing is illegal, so admire from afar!)
Roseanne's House: Of course, the show was filmed in LA, but the establishing shots of Roseanne's home are of a real-life house in Evansville, Indiana. Seriously, it doesn't get any more middle-America authentic than that! It was recently on the market but was snatched up...possibly by a fan of the show?
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The Full House House: The door may not be red anymore, but this famous Painted Lady was the home of the Tanner family (and Uncle Jesse!) I bet this house is super full of warm, fuzzy feelings, so if you need a dose of sass to go with your visit, Kimmie Gibbler should live nearby as well.
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The Brady Bunch House: The good news: the house is real, and still standing! The bad news: it wasn't actually designed by architect Mike Brady. And I don't think the yard is actually astroturf. Either way, this is the home where the group had somehow formed a family...and that's the way they all became the Brady Bunch!
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Friends Apartment Building: Once you're done checking out the Greenwich apartment building that served as the exterior of the apartment building where Chandler, Phoebe, Rachel, Ross and Joey lived, you can drown your sadness over the fact that the cafe located on the ground floor isn't called Central Perk in a lattè. On the serious, though... I wonder if any apartments there are available?
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Jerry's Apartment: This one came as a shock to me-- the apartment building used for exterior shots of Jerry's place from Seinfeld is actually in LA, not New York-- probably because it does look more like the kind of building you'd be more likely to find in NYC. If you visit, be on the lookout for Kramer and Newman as well. Or if you happen to be in New York, stop by Tom's Restaurant-- better known as Monk's, the gang's usual hangout!
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Phil & Claire Dunphy's House: Phil and Claire are the most traditional of the modern families on the show Modern Family, and their classic house reflects this. That being said, they're still preeeeetty wacky.
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Fresh Prince of Bel Air Mansion: If only we all had aunts and uncles in Bel Air that we could go live with...especially if they have mansions as nice as the one used in the show. I mean, look at the place!!
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Ray & Debra's House: Do you love Everybody Loves Raymond? Then check out the house that starred as Ray and Debra's home! And you know what that means...Frank and Marie's house is right nearby too, so watch out!
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The Golden Girls House: When I get older, I will find a way to buy this house and move in with my friends. Until then, I'll just watch reruns of Golden Girls and decide who gets to be the Blanche, Dorothy and Sophia to my Rose.
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The Sheffield's House: The home of the rich family that hires tough, born and raised New Yorker Fran Fine to be the nanny in...yep, you guessed it! The Nanny!
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The Arnold's House: The Wonder Years depicted an average suburban family in the 60's, so it makes sense that the establishing shots of the family's house appear to be in a quaint suburban neighborhood. It does seem like a pleasant place to grow up... and possibly fall in love with your childhood friend.
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The Cunningham's House: If I move in, can the Cunninghams be my parents too? Stop by the house from Happy Days, which is right around the corner from the lot where the sitcom was actually filmed, and you can even see the upstairs where The Fonz lived... as cool as he is, I'm not convinced he'd make a great roommate, though.
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The Huxtable's House: This was the exterior for the brownstone where the Huxtable family lived in The Cosby Show. If you remember, Dr. Huxtable's office was in the basement as well. The show itself was actually filmed nearby, in Brooklyn... but the cool thing about the exterior building is that it's really close to the Friends apartment!
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The Three's Company Apartment: We've all had that weird roommate situation at some point in our lives... the one that shouldn't work out, but kind of did in a weird way. Personally, I'd deal with any weird living arrangement if it was in the right apartment, like the nice Santa Monica building from Three's Company. It's actually a house in real life!
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Archie Bunker's House: I'm kinda glad Archie Bunker doesn't actually live here... he seems like the kind of guy who'd chase you off his lawn. But as it is, you can visit the All In The Family house without fear of being innundated with Archie-isms.
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The Who's The Boss House: I'm not really sure who the boss of this house is now, but I can definitely say that when the house was being used for exterior shots of the upscale Connecticut home that Tony took care of, Angela totally was.
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The 'Family Matters' House: The Winslow family lived at this cozy little house, but the real star of the show was their neighbor, the delightful Steve Urkel. The house that currently sits next door wasn't there when the show was being filmed, but it's actually a really cool building as well.
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The 'Step by Step' House: Looking at it again, I'm not sure this house could hold the entire Lambert family. Not only do they have all of those kids, but Carol's beauty salon is in there somewhere too. And yes, it is a little soul-crushing to realize that the house isn't atcually in Wisconsin.
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The Boy Meets World House: The saga of Cory Matthews and Co. as they navigated the perilous waters of middle school, high school, and eventually college, was so relatable that this house could have been anyone's house... and I'm sure at times we all wished it was.
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Will's Apartment: Will from Will and Grace lived in the New York City apartment, and at times, Grace and Jack also lived here as well. The apartment complex is located on Riverside Drive, which means that he has had some pretty famous fictional neighbors as well!
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Spellman Manor: Home of Sabrina, her aunts (the logical Zelda and the wacky Hilda), and of course, Salem the sassy black cat in Sabrina the Teenage Witch. All kinds of crazy magic happens in the huge, quirky mansion... although I'm still not convinced that the linen closet is just a linen closet.
What do you think? Did we miss your favorite sitcom house? Let us know in the comments below, and follow us on Facebook for more TV geekery!
Header via Flickr/Nan Palermo
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