4 memorable real-life residences featured in this awards season’s nominees

Within the prestigious compound was the 20,000 sq ft residence, with 12 bedrooms and 12 baths, as well as a tennis court, an outdoor kitchen, a pool, and a private garden with a Koi pond and a waterfall. 

In 2008, it underwent major renovations, but great care was taken to preserve its original detailing, such as the traditional chandeliers, the Italian marble fireplaces, French parquet flooring, and antique fixtures in the bathrooms–most of which were imported all the way from Europe.

It went on the market in 2017 for US$175 million before it was snapped up at the tail end of 2021 for US$105 million.

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While the multi-award nominee Bradley Cooper took six years to learn how to conduct an orchestra like Leonard Bernstein did in 1976 for six minutes and 21 seconds in Ely Cathedral, one of the Maestro “stars” had been “in the making” for its screen time in the film since 1950.

The late maestro’s real-life family home was located in Fairfield, Connecticut, which he bought in 1950 after his marriage with Felicia Montealegre (played by Carey Mulligan), which served as a country house retreat away from his Dakota apartment in the city.

Upon his death in 1990, the “eccentric house that started out as a New England saltbox” was passed on to their three children, Jamie, Nin and Alexander, who are the current residents.

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When they offered the home as one of the shooting locations for Maestro, production designer Kevin Thompson noticed that the kids had kept the interior as is, “like a shrine, almost,” he told Conde Nast Traveler.

While the more contemporary furnishing had to be emptied out for filming, the home was an 80s relic haven. Most of the wallpaper in the rooms, handpicked by Montealegre, was still there, alongside her paintings, needlepoint pillows and wicker chairs, as well as Bernstein’s baby grand Steinway, a gift from his childhood piano teacher and later his secretary.

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The Fleetwood Mac-influenced sextet may be fictional, lifted off the pages of Taylor Jenkins Reid’s 2019 novel of the same name, but the iconic John Sowden House featured in the Amazon Prime series was not.

It had been the go-to location for many past award-nominated films (Martin Scorsese’s The Aviator) and shows (Patty Jenkins’ I Am The Night), with the ornate Mayan-themed textile block as the backdrop, which earned its “Jaws House” nickname due to the likeness to the open mouth of a great white shark.

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The 5,600 sq ft residence was built by Californian architect Lloyd Wright–not to be confused with his father and renowned architect, Frank Lloyd Wright, Sr–for painter and photographer John Sowden, who would like the site to be the stomping ground for his friends in the Hollywood film industry.

The concrete textile blocks framed the front entrance, leading down a rectangular plan of narrow, tomb-like staircase and corridors towards the central courtyard–the decorative Mayan revival blocks prominent throughout the interior walls and arches.

There were seven bedrooms and four baths in the Los Feliz home. All private rooms opened out to the 32’ long pool and fountain, which was removed in the late-1930s, presumably after the 1933 Long Beach earthquake.

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Wright’s architectural transgressions and the scandals that linked to its previous owner, Dr George Hodel (of the infamous Black Dahlia murders) were perhaps the reasons why the John Sowden House was on the market throughout its lifespan. 

After extensive renovations, it was listed on the market for the umpteenth time in 2016 for almost US$4.8 million. Its most recent owner bought the historic place–both celebrated and ill-reputed, for US$6.16 million.

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The 127-room mediaeval mansion located southwest of Northamptonshire, England was described by architectural historian and journalist Gervase Jackson-Stops as “one of the best-kept secrets of the English country house world,” before award-winning filmmaker Emerald Fennell shone the spotlight on its grandeur, when she used the Grade I listed grounds as the location for her psych-thriller Saltburn.

The estate was believed to have come to be in the 14th century when Sir Simon de Drayton gained a licence for crenellation–construct walls for a building with battlements. It had since been passed down by inheritance only, before it reached the Stopford-Sackville family in the late-19th century, the current family residing in the 200-acre estate.

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They were a notoriously private family who kept the premises closed to the public, other than pre-arranged guided tours and private parties. Cast members, including Rosamund Pike, were invited to stay at the property during filming.

Agent Advice had recently valued the vast property at approximately £42.5 million, following its numerous transformations over the centuries. Many of the existing rooms were refurbished with ornate Baroque façades, with two of them redecorated in the 18th-century Neoclassical “Adam style,” and some with lacquer closets with Chinese Coromandel screen panels.

There was also a mediaeval great hall with 6-foot wide walls, a 13th-century solar undercroft, and three dining rooms, but unfortunately, not including the topiary maze garden featured in the film, a recreation that was stripped down after shootings were done.

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