AHS Murder House

The first season of American Horror Story premiered in October of 2011, and, after an additional six more seasons, it continues to be the most popular one. The beautiful brick home with stained glass windows is referred to as the "Murder House" in AHS terms, but in real life it is the Rosenheim Mansion. It is located at 1120 Westchester Place in Los Angeles and was built by the German-American architect Alfred Rosenheim in 1908.

Location scouts took a liking toward the mansion, as they were looking for a place that resembled the Bailey House in Hartford, Connecticut. This season of the show was heavily based on the haunted Bailey House, along with most of the seasons. The creator, Ryan Murphy, takes inspiration from real life locations, situations, and people quite often, like how he did both with Coven, which had many characters that were based off of historical figures, and Hotel Cortez, which was based on the story of The Cecil Hotel.

A tall black gate was added out in front of the mansion for the show, to bring a little more modernness to it. In the opening scenes, which take place in the 1970s, vines are placed through the gate and even across the front of the building itself. This is to add the initial fright and mysteriousness of what the mansion may include when the two twin boys begin to enter, even after a little girl with down syndrome explicitly says:

"You are going to die in there."

If you look closely at the windows, you can see that the state of them is actually exactly the same and hasn't been repaired. The bottom right window in the middle section of the house has specific areas that have been broken, and it was that way both in the show and in real life.

Although it is most recognized for its presence in American Story, it has also has been featured in an endless list of other shows and movies, including CSI Miami, Alfred Hitchcock Presents, Buffy the Vampire Slayer, Dexter, Dragnet, Hill Street Blues, Six Feet Under, Crime Story, The Twilight Zone, The X-Files, Wiseguy, Law & Order, Ghost Whisperer, NCIS, The Closer, Nurse Jackie, CSI New York, Miami Vice, The Unit, 90210, Cold Case, Angel, The Mentalist, 24, Police Story, CHIPS, Criminal Minds, Law & Order: Special Victims Unit, SWAT, ADAM 12, Monk, Las Vegas, Grey's Anatomy, Bones, Californication, and many, many, many more.

It was spiced up with flowers and other decorations for Buffy the Vampire Slayer, as shown below.

This house has been on my bucket list since I was 13, so being able to finally visit was a dream come true, even if it was fenced off.

Sources:

https://roadtrippers.com/stories/alfred-rosenheim-mansion-the-murder-house-american-horror-story-vacation-rental