When watching a movie, the architecture and interior design shown on it always catches my attention and I like even to do a little research about the film locations.
Sometimes directors use renowned buildings to tell the story around them but many other these buildings are just sets.
This is the case of the famous ‘Vandamm House’ from the film ‘North by Northwest’ a classic directed by Alfred Hitchcock in 1959. This beautiful house on top of Mount Rushmore, is actually not real. The exterior was a matte painting and the interiors were created on a soundstage.
Alfred Hitchcock wanted the house to be luxurious and recognizable to audience, therefore he asked the set designers to make the set resemble a house by Frank Lloyd Wright; the most famous Modernist architect at that time. This option was cheaper than paying Lloyd Wright his fees and also easier, as it would’ve been quite a challenge to build that structure on top of the national memorial.
More recently, in 2013, Italian architect Federico Babina created a series of great illustrations of famous movies and their iconic buildings, and ‘Vandamm House’ is among them.
You can see his complete ‘Archicine’ collection here and more fascinating info about the movie at: hookedonhouses.net.
Thanks for reading!
Eva
MyTimeInDesign 
