‘Friends’ Boss Reveals Chandler & Monica Lived in ‘Home Alone’ House
On Christmas Eve, a Friends fan discovered an easter egg in the episode of the beloved sitcom where Monica (Courteney Cox) and Chandler (Matthew Perry) show Joey (Matt LeBlanc) around their new house, and it includes a surprising connection to a holiday movie classic.
Instagram user Scott Westwood shared a clip of the Season 10 episode, “The One with Princess Consuela,” in which Monica and Chandler invite Joey to come and visit their new home in upstate New York. But Westwood noticed something familiar… the house looks just like the McAllister’s mansion from Home Alone!
Westwood delivers a forensic investigation of the footage, using clips from both Friends and the 1990 comedy film and pointing out the similarities. Zooming in on shots through the windows, Westwood highlights the same garage on the neighbor’s property and the same wreath hanging from another neighbor’s front door.
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The video has amassed more than 14 million views and over 600,000 likes. But, most importantly, it reached Daren Janes, who worked as the art director on Friends for 209 episodes, including the episode in question.
“This is hilarious. You caught me,” Janes commented on Westwood’s post, where he confirmed the Home Alone connection.
“I was the Art Director on FRIENDS & the house was a set. The actors walked in the front door, so we saw outside,” Janes explained. “We used the backing from a company called Pacific Studios which was made for Home Alone because it looked the best through the door & windows. Great eye my friend!!!!”
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The Home Alone house has received much attention over the years, with the New York Times just last week publishing an article on how much it would have cost the McAllisters to live there today. According to financial experts, the six-bedroom house, which is located in Winnetka, Illinois, would have cost the family $665,000 to live in in 2022 ($305,000 back in 1990).
Fans from around the world have visited the property at 671 Lincoln Avenue, and in December 2021, Airbnb listed a one-night-only stay in the house, complete with Kevin McAllister-style booby traps that he used to take down the Sticky Bandits in the movie.
“Many Christmases ago, the McCallisters went to Paris–well, most of us,” read the listing, purportedly written by Buzz (Devin Ratray), who served as host of the event. “Though we’re older and wiser now (I’ve even got my own security firm), we’re never too old for holiday hijinks.”
The listing continued, “So while we’re away on vacation (all of us, this time), I’m inviting one crew of mischief makers to let their inner 8-year-olds run free in my childhood home.”
In a 2015 interview with Entertainment Weekly, Home Alone director Chris Columbus said, “We needed to cast a house that would work for the stunts and also a house that was visually appealing and, if this makes sense, warm and menacing at the same time. It’s the kind of house if you were a kid, it would be fun to be left home alone.”
While the house was used for a lot of the exterior shots, Columbus explained it wasn’t big enough to use for all the interiors. “It was far too small to get the crew in the door,” he said, noting that many shots were filmed at the abandoned New Trier Township High School, where the crew built a two-story set inside the gym.
According to Parade, in 2012, the then-owners, the Abendshiens, sold the Winnetka house for a reported $1.585 million.
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