Scary architecture: 8 horror mansions

A journey through the architectural icons of horror movies, perfect examples of how a peaceful sweet home can turn into the worst nightmare.

01 / 16

Henry Janeway Hardenbergh, Dakota Building, New York, USA 1884 (Rosemary's Baby)

Located on Manhattan's Upper West Side, this neo-Gothic and neo-Renaissance building with its pitched roofs, balconies and balustrades was the scene of the disturbing events in Roman Polanski's film that unfolded within the walls of a flat inside, amid nightmares of madness and satanic rituals.

Ralph Selden Wornum, Palacio de los Hornillos, Las Fraguas, Arenas de Iguña, Cantabria, Spain, late 19th century (The Others)

The English Eclectic style mansion with austere ashlar masonry and pitched roofs, which hosted the filming of Alejandro Amenábar's film, is located on a large estate where the adjacent 18th century Casona de las Fraguas also stands. The imposing and severe character of the complex does not help to distract from the idea that someone is constantly staring at us from behind the windows.

Pietro Fenoglio, Villa Scott, Turin, Italy 1902 (Profondo Rosso)

Photo by Enryonthecloud from Wikipedia in Italian, CC BY 4.0

The house of the screaming child in Dario Argento's film is an eerie villa in the hills of Turin. With an articulated layout and a triumph of loggias, bow-windows, stained-glass windows and floral decorations, the building is characterised by an eclectic language between neo-Baroque and Art Nouveau, which gives the construction a decidedly deadly aura.

Giuseppe Sommaruga, Grand Hotel Campo dei Fiori, Varese, Italy 1908 (Suspiria)

For what, according to Dario Argento himself, is not a remake but "another version of the facts" of the very famous 'Suspiria', Luca Guadagnino in 2016 chose to set up his eerie settings in a late-liberty and vaguely futuristic building, where the ravages of time emphasise the leaden and sinister air of the place.

Giuseppe Sommaruga, Grand Hotel Campo dei Fiori, Varese, Italy 1908 (Suspiria)

Frank Lloyd Wright, Ennis Brown House, Los Angeles, USA 1924 (The Black Cat)

The last and most monumental of Wright's buildings in California, this villa made of precast concrete blocks, with its articulated volumes and rich ornamental apparatus of Mayan inspiration, was included in the exterior shots of the 1934 film 'The blak cat' by Austrian director Edgar G. Ulmer. Ulmer, heavily indebted to European Expressionism.

Frank Lloyd Wright, Ennis Brown House, Los Angeles, USA 1924 (The Black Cat)

Work Progress Administration, Timberline Lodge, Clackamas, USA 1938 (The Shining)

If you want to breathe in the Oregon mountain air, or if you want to retrace the dark events narrated by Stanley Kubrick in 'The Shining', this mighty building with stone walls and sloping roofs, with its vernacular flavour, is the ideal destination. Just don't panic if you meet two diaphanous little twins standing still and looking eerily at you in the corridors.

Work Progress Administration, Timberline Lodge, Clackamas, USA 1938 (The Shining)

John Lautner, Malin Residence (Chemosphere), Los Angeles, USA 1960 (Body Double)

Resembling a water tower, a telecommunications tower or a flying saucer rather than a dwelling, this modernist and vaguely futuristic octagonal-shaped mansion, raised on a single central pillar and suspended over Mulholland Drive, has repeatedly been the architectural backdrop for film shoots, from the 1964 episode 'The Duplicate Man' of 'The Outer Limits' to Brian De Palma's 'Body Double'.

John Lautner, Malin Residence (Chemosphere), Los Angeles, USA 1960 (Body Double)

Rural house in the Padana plain (La Casa Dalle Finestre Che Ridono)

There would be nothing disconcerting about a rural brick house with some smiling 'murals' in the low Po Valley if it were not for the horror it symbolises, amidst the eerie dirges, grotesque figures and sinister shots of Pupi Avati's disturbing 1977 film. The farmhouse, which no longer exists, was located in the countryside of Malalbergo, near Bologna.

Rural house in the Padana plain (La Casa Dalle Finestre Che Ridono)

House 657 Boulevard, Westfield, New Jersey (The Watcher)

The real star of the Netflix series 'The Watcher' by Ryan Murphy is the imposing and intimidating mansion at 657 Boulevard, the dream home whose 'well-being' - in defiance of the owners' anxiety crises - is supervised by an eerie watcher. The building, situated in the midst of a meticulously manicured garden, amidst sloping roofs and stately Ionic columns supporting the portico, seems to enjoy excellent health.

Sahil: G.T.DESIGN's Eco-conscious Design

At Milan Design Week 2025, G.T.DESIGN will showcase Sahil, a jute rug collection by Deanna Comellini. This project masterfully blends sustainability, artisanal craftsmanship, and essential design, drawing inspiration from nomadic cultures and celebrating the inherent beauty of natural materials.

Sponsored content

Cinema has always weaved relationships with architecture, which can enter filmic language in various ways: as a simple scenic backdrop or as the main protagonist of the story. Particularly in films noir, thrillers and so-called ‘horror’ films, this relationship between narrative and space gives rise to a disturbing imbalance, especially when the source and theatre of alienation and panic is the ‘home’, the place par excellence where, in theory, one can find a safe haven not only from the dangers of the world but also from one’s own nightmares.

And so horror films are enriched with domestic settings that lend themselves to hosting sinister events: this is the case of the leaden and deadly eclectic and Art Nouveau buildings that have hosted the scenes of the films by Polanski, Amenábar and Argento, or the austere and apparently reassuring buildings with a vernacular flavour that have been the filming locations of films by Kubrick, Avati and Murphy. But even the history of architecture sometimes enters into the script: this is the case of works by great masters who, with some of their unusual realisations, vaguely evocative of pre-Columbian sacrificial rituals (Wright) or alien flying saucers (Lautner), have offered the director (Ulmer, De Palma) intentionally disquieting settings: who knows if those who have actually lived there have ever had any bad dreams.

Henry Janeway Hardenbergh, Dakota Building, New York, USA 1884 (Rosemary's Baby)

Ralph Selden Wornum, Palacio de los Hornillos, Las Fraguas, Arenas de Iguña, Cantabria, Spain, late 19th century (The Others)

Pietro Fenoglio, Villa Scott, Turin, Italy 1902 (Profondo Rosso)

Photo by Enryonthecloud from Wikipedia in Italian, CC BY 4.0

Giuseppe Sommaruga, Grand Hotel Campo dei Fiori, Varese, Italy 1908 (Suspiria)

Giuseppe Sommaruga, Grand Hotel Campo dei Fiori, Varese, Italy 1908 (Suspiria)

Frank Lloyd Wright, Ennis Brown House, Los Angeles, USA 1924 (The Black Cat)

Frank Lloyd Wright, Ennis Brown House, Los Angeles, USA 1924 (The Black Cat)

Work Progress Administration, Timberline Lodge, Clackamas, USA 1938 (The Shining)

Work Progress Administration, Timberline Lodge, Clackamas, USA 1938 (The Shining)

John Lautner, Malin Residence (Chemosphere), Los Angeles, USA 1960 (Body Double)

John Lautner, Malin Residence (Chemosphere), Los Angeles, USA 1960 (Body Double)

Rural house in the Padana plain (La Casa Dalle Finestre Che Ridono)

Rural house in the Padana plain (La Casa Dalle Finestre Che Ridono)

House 657 Boulevard, Westfield, New Jersey (The Watcher)

A Brutalist masterpiece frames the novelty signed 24Bottles

Giancarlo De Carlo's Collegi in Urbino is hosting a campaign for a signature product of 24Bottles: the brand's first titanium bottle, designed under the banner of essentiality.

Sponsored content

Scary architecture: 8 horror mansions

A journey through the architectural icons of horror movies, perfect examples of how a peaceful sweet home can turn into the worst nightmare.

Henry Janeway Hardenbergh, Dakota Building, New York, USA 1884 (Rosemary's Baby)

Ralph Selden Wornum, Palacio de los Hornillos, Las Fraguas, Arenas de Iguña, Cantabria, Spain, late 19th century (The Others)

Pietro Fenoglio, Villa Scott, Turin, Italy 1902 (Profondo Rosso)

Giuseppe Sommaruga, Grand Hotel Campo dei Fiori, Varese, Italy 1908 (Suspiria)

Giuseppe Sommaruga, Grand Hotel Campo dei Fiori, Varese, Italy 1908 (Suspiria)

Frank Lloyd Wright, Ennis Brown House, Los Angeles, USA 1924 (The Black Cat)

Frank Lloyd Wright, Ennis Brown House, Los Angeles, USA 1924 (The Black Cat)

Work Progress Administration, Timberline Lodge, Clackamas, USA 1938 (The Shining)

Work Progress Administration, Timberline Lodge, Clackamas, USA 1938 (The Shining)

John Lautner, Malin Residence (Chemosphere), Los Angeles, USA 1960 (Body Double)

John Lautner, Malin Residence (Chemosphere), Los Angeles, USA 1960 (Body Double)

Rural house in the Padana plain (La Casa Dalle Finestre Che Ridono)

Rural house in the Padana plain (La Casa Dalle Finestre Che Ridono)

House 657 Boulevard, Westfield, New Jersey (The Watcher)

Sahil: G.T.DESIGN's Eco-conscious Design

Henry Janeway Hardenbergh, Dakota Building, New York, USA 1884 (Rosemary's Baby)

Ralph Selden Wornum, Palacio de los Hornillos, Las Fraguas, Arenas de Iguña, Cantabria, Spain, late 19th century (The Others)

Pietro Fenoglio, Villa Scott, Turin, Italy 1902 (Profondo Rosso)

Giuseppe Sommaruga, Grand Hotel Campo dei Fiori, Varese, Italy 1908 (Suspiria)

Giuseppe Sommaruga, Grand Hotel Campo dei Fiori, Varese, Italy 1908 (Suspiria)

Frank Lloyd Wright, Ennis Brown House, Los Angeles, USA 1924 (The Black Cat)

Frank Lloyd Wright, Ennis Brown House, Los Angeles, USA 1924 (The Black Cat)

Work Progress Administration, Timberline Lodge, Clackamas, USA 1938 (The Shining)

Work Progress Administration, Timberline Lodge, Clackamas, USA 1938 (The Shining)

John Lautner, Malin Residence (Chemosphere), Los Angeles, USA 1960 (Body Double)

John Lautner, Malin Residence (Chemosphere), Los Angeles, USA 1960 (Body Double)

Rural house in the Padana plain (La Casa Dalle Finestre Che Ridono)

Rural house in the Padana plain (La Casa Dalle Finestre Che Ridono)

House 657 Boulevard, Westfield, New Jersey (The Watcher)

A Brutalist masterpiece frames the novelty signed 24Bottles

Latest on Architecture

Latest on Domus