Mr Blandings Builds his Dream House

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[Note: This location is a private residence, not open to the public.]

This Spokane home has a Hollywood pedigree. It was built to promote the 1948 film, Mr. Blandings Builds His Dream House. Seventy-three similar Blandings homes were built across the country. The homes were built by different contractors and the styles varied greatly by location. In contrast to the film these homes not only came worry-free, but also fully furnished and with all of the latest household gadgets.

The film Mr. Blandings Builds His Dream House released to theaters in 1948 and starred Cary Grant and Myrna Loy. This comedy chronicled the Blandings family's move out of New York City to the countryside in Connecticut. The Revolutionary-era home they bought ended up being a tear down, just the beginning of their problems. The new home they decided to build was far more expensive than anticipated and the plot follows as everything goes wrong in the completion of the new homes construction.

Tours of this South Hill home took place over two weeks in September of 1948. In some locations a small fee was charged for entrance to view the home, but in Spokane entrance was free. The New England style farmhouse listed for sale for $75,000 came fully furnished by the Crescent and boasted three bedrooms, three and a half bathrooms, and a den.

The latest household gadgets that would have saved any housewife hours per day were included in the purchase price, those gadgets being a garbage disposal, clothes washer and dryer, and electric dishwasher. But there was also something for husbands, an automatic garage door opener in the two-car garage.

The Spokesman Review reported: "Visitors seemed most impressed by the luxurious master bedroom with its canopied bed and connecting dressing room and bath." The house still stands in Spokane's Comstock neighborhood, with few changes besides a paint job and the addition of a backyard pool.