Homemaking at the Bramford

[cycluxe]

Don't you wish you lived in the Woodhouses's to-die-for apartment from Rosemary's Baby ('68)? As far as I can identify, Rosemary has a bright yellow Frigidaire fridge and Wedgewood gas stove--as well as a kitchen the size of my living room and bedroom combined. Anyone have screen grabs?

I also recall a Frigidaire coin-op washer in the basement. You see the round window in the lid when Rosemary adds her StaPuf.

 

[danemodsandy]

YOU RANG?

Here's a screen grab of Rosemary's kitchen. The range was a Dixie, BTW, not a Wedgewood.

You'll be interested to know that the whole apartment was a set, built at Paramount Pictures. Shooting at the Dakota in New York was not feasible then; 1960s movie-making equipment was huge, with a camera and its mount being about the size of a modern SXS refrigerator and a lot heavier. Also, the residents of the Dakota grudgingly permitted shooting in the courtyard and lobby (charging Paramount $1000 a day for the privilege), but didn't want the moviemakers anywhere else in their building. Set designer Richard Sylbert was a genius at creating aged-looking sets; the Woodhouse apartment looks dead real to anyone but people with movie background.

 

[danemodsandy]

Since....

....People often don't think the Woodhouse apartment wasn't real, here is a shot of filming in process on the kitchen set; you can see a glimpse of the overhead lights and also that the cabinets aren't actually fastened to the floor; they were movable to get them out of the way for certain shots.

You can also see the size of the camera equipment that made such specially-built sets necessary. Everything's much smaller today, so shooting in real houses and apartments is much more feasible.

 

[jakeseacrest]

I love their apartment, but naturally I would need a dishwasher and in unit laundry.

 

[danemodsandy]

Jake:

Good luck with in-unit laundry in a historic co-op building in NYC. That's often not even remotely allowed, due to a combination of ancient plumbing and downstairs neighbors who can easily afford the finest legal representation if your washer overflows and damages their exquisite decor. When it is allowed, it usually costs a fortune; you often have to make plumbing upgrades that begin in another part of the building, meaning you have to make everybody affected happy. Making discommoded New Yorkers happy costs money.

Dishwashers are more doable.

 

[NYCWriter]

A-freaking-MEN!

I'm in the process of planning to install "illegal" Miele washer and dryer units in my kitchen.

Total costs, including units, plumbing and electrical upgrades, as well as cabinetry will run between $10,000-12,000.

 

[firedome]

Co-op apt laundries...

do happen, at least in Brooklyn Heights, the daughter's ex's place at the corner of Pierrepont and Columbia Heights had an in-unit laundry in the quasi "butler's pantry" aka liquor storage going into the kitchen. The place had 4 br, 2 bath, library, fireplace etc. but the aforementioned kitchen was small, cramped, and a real PITA to work in...when she lived there with BF/husband they ordered out a lot.

 

[fido]

To my mind, opting to live in a huge building with loads of other families is "roughing it" so it is not what I would want, however spacious and luxurious it may be. It is probably just as well that the majority of the planets population don't think like me and are contented enough to live in an apartment!

 

[danemodsandy]

Ahem!

If you live in one of Manhattan's truly luxurious co-op buildings, you have "people" to take care of mundane matters like schlepping laundry to the laundry facilities and to the cleaner's, trust me.

There are people leading that life who never, absolutely never, launder anything, cook anything, wash a dish, scrub a floor, make a bed or any other task essential to most of our lives. There is help, there are services, and Manhattan is at your feet. It is not unheard-of for truly wealthy women to have a hairdresser visit them at home during the morning, to fluff them up before they join the other "ladies who lunch."

Come down the ladder a few rungs, and yes, people do get into logistical problems with stuff like that, but not in buildings like the Dakota.