I have decided to draft floor plans and elevations of the Chessman House, based on what we see in the film. I am just finishing a drawing of the Front Elevation, which seems to suggest an exterior design divisible into perfect squares 4'x4'. Everything seems to fall into this proportion, including the window dimensions, gables, trim, and even the chimneys. While this may not be historically accurate, it may well have simplified construction of the facade by the set designers. Thus far the rooms we are allowed to see seem to correspond to the facade, but I'm not yet convinced the interior and the exterior are in scale.
Camera trickery aside, the Chessman House would have been immpressive. From the garage to the dining room the house seems to measure 134 feet long, one quarter of that distance the 'Music Room' where Russell works. The imposing Central Hall houses the library, the kitchen, and a large parlour room, as well as the balustraded staircase up to the Second floor. This floor seems to hold the resident family's sleeping chambers, as well as what seems to be a children's playroom (back of the Hall, behind the stained glass panel), and, democratically enough, a publicly-accessible front balcony (nowadays a feature like this is usually only accessed through a 'Master' bedroom or suite). The Third floor is the most architecturally audacious part of the house, as it is naturally illuminated by skylights that run through the ceilings into the attic (the 'birdhouses' at the top).
I did not know they built like that. I don't think they did build like that.
A series of archways and supports confuses our orientations, but one of a series of arched doorways at the back of the Hall's Third floor leads us up the hidden staircase to Joseph's room, the outermost attic window. Presumeably a second such room exists under the roof pitch at the interior corner of the Central Hall. What exists behind can only be guessed at, but following historical design tendencies one might expect a series of balconies, possibly including the third floor. All in all the footprint of the Central Hall is a whopping 2300 square feet, much of that preserved in the upper stories.
Connected to the Central hall is the Left wing (I wanted to call it the 'West' wing, but I don't know which way is west!), which houses the 'Music room' and several smaller rooms leading to the garage (we don't know if there is access, and Russell himself takes the outside route, but of course this is for our benefit, not his), and probably includes other rooms we never see. If the roof pitch is described by a pyramid of four 4x4-foot squares, the wing is thirty-six feet wide; this means a sizeable corridor behind the 'Music room', or a set of small rooms. Assuming the basement looks entirely like what we are shown, this area could be the servant's quarters. Of the Third, attic floor of this wing we are only shown a single long corridor, as Russell stares down its 60-foot length before investigating the Central Hall. The corridor has doors all along its rear face; maybe these are the servant's quarters. Of the Second floor of this wing we are regrettably shown nothing, but it would probably include an entire suite of rooms, probably for guests; this floor has its own front balcony, which forms the roof over the porch outside the 'Music room'. Not including the Garage, the floor plan of the Left wing measures 1872 square feet.
Jutting out from the Central Hall on the right-hand side is the Dining room, which we see both in furnished and unfurnished states. It appears to be square (48 square feet), and about one and a half storeys high, not counting the roof pitch. It appears to be the former carriage-stop, which all large houses of this era would have to have had. Unlike Carmichael's mansion, which preserves its front-positioned carriage-stop, the Chessman House has no provision for such a structure due to its complex front facade, so where the Dining room sits is really the only other option. If this is what is intended, it either indicates that an elaborate backstory of building phases was concocted by the film producers (the Garage, likewise, is of a different proportion and height from the rest of the building, and suggests a later addition), or, they were following a pre-existing model; in other words, this is our best evidence that a house like the Chessman House... actually exists somewhere.
I'll start drafting floor plans in Adobe Illustrator. As soon as I find somewhere suitable to post them, I'll post a link here. Ciao for now.
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OmegaWolf747
11 years ago
When you say a playroom on the second floor, do you mean that large stained glass panel that seemed to be lit up sometimes, just at the part where the second floor curved around the chandelier?
Are the "birdhouses" the two attic rooms at either side of the house?
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House. My room. Can't walk. My medal. My father. Father, don't!
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Etherdave
11 years ago
Yes and no. What I call the 'birdhouses' are the structures built into the roof pitch, between the twin chimneys, over the Central Hall. These are the sources of natural light coming through skylights in the roof of the Third Floor. There are two smaller structures on either side; I am fairly sure they are intended as skylights also. We can't know what the opposite pitch looks like, but given the era and the architectural style it seems sound to assume a certain amount of symmetry. Then again, the opposite pitch could go down to the Second Floor, and that would explain the need for the skylights. As I stated, it is entirely possible this structure has a real-life counterpart somewhere. But I honestly didn't think they built like that.
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OmegaWolf747
11 years ago
http://i.imgur.com/XQI7miY.jpg
Do you mean the parts I circled? (Sorry for the poor image quality.)
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House. My room. Can't walk. My medal. My father. Father, don't!
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Etherdave
11 years ago
Yes, and of course the central dormer structure with its three openings arranged in a pyramid. The real question is how these features might manifest themselves on the rear roof pitch (the part that never existed), and of course this will influence the floor plan of the Central Hall's Third Floor. What the hell was it used for? Or does the roof of the Second Floor rise up to this level? If the Third Floor of the Central Hall exists only as a lower landing to the Attic Rooms, then what was the original purpose of the Attic Rooms? And why are they each reached by a separate staircase?
I shall try out this 'imgur' of which you speak. Many thanks.
http://i.imgur.com/vtVgpRI.jpg
There. How's that?
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OmegaWolf747
11 years ago
I never even noticed those two smaller dormer rooms before. Good eye.
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House. My room. Can't walk. My medal. My father. Father, don't!
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Etherdave
11 years ago
Observing the front elevation of the Central Hall, one sees a deep central cut back into the structure, providing the footings for the Second Floor balcony, as well as redefining the corners of the structure to appear as towers. Using my theory of fours, if the cut goes back 12 feet, the resultant area is reduced from 4x4 to 4x3, enabling either a double-pitched roof with a considerable flat surface between them (12 feet wide), or two different-sized pitches, with the rear pitch (the one we never see, because it never existed) running down two floors, and even forming an overhang over the rear First. Dormer windows could provide views and illumination on this side of the house, or there could be a single large architrave that projects outwards from the center of the Hall; this would include our children's Playroom, which would now boast a magnificent view of the back of the property. Below would be an equally impressive bay for the kitchen, allowing for more room for correspondence between the Hall and its adjoining Wings. We must also consider the possibility of a second set of corridors, for exclusive use by the servant staff. Claire and Russell seem to use such a corridor when transiting from the library to the 'Music Room', as they appear from behind the room, rather than directly through the Central Hall.
Understanding the design of the Chessman House necessarily means understanding its lay on the property. Ostensibly the house is aligned to the points of the compass, with a city road passing in front of the property that appears to be part of a conventional North American grid. If we can trust the shadows presented at Russell's arrival at the house, the sun seems to be in the correct position for an early afternoon in early March, were the house facing south; perhaps Claire is a late riser. On the other hand, if the house faces east, the house gets a more equal exposure of available sunshine, but the appointment with Claire is now in the morning. Perhaps Claire is an early riser (if she likes horses, she almost certainly is).
If the house faces south the majority of the windows would likely be on the southern side. If it faces east the house gets a more even exposure on both sides, with daytime shadows tending to fall away from the 'Left Wing'(which I would now have to call the South Wing!). One thought: if the house faces east, then through most times of the year evening sunlight, shining through a putative bay window into the children's playroom, would manifest itself as a beautiful golden glow when seen through the stained glass on the second floor. The carriage-stop, in its original conception, would be perpetually in the shadow of the Central Hall, and be a naturally cool refuge for horsies in the heat of summer.
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OmegaWolf747
11 years ago
When you talk about the children's room and stained glass, do you mean this? http://i.imgur.com/yBLMiPH.jpg
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House. My room. Can't walk. My medal. My father. Father, don't!
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Etherdave
11 years ago
Of course. The idea makes sense in the context of this floor: the private inner sanctum of the resident family. Dad occupies the Master bedroom (where Russell sleeps), while Mom has her own private digs (with boudoir/changing room and bathroom) just behind. The kids occupy similarly-oriented rooms on the other side of the Hall, with the playroom in the middle, plus room for a couple of bathrooms, maybe some closets, and, of course, the correspondence to the guest suite in the South Wing (I made my choice, the house faces east). When Russell begins his investigations, we see not only the glass, but a series of doorways surrounding it, including an arched passageway that could be the aforementioned correspondence:
http://i.imgur.com/iN2liWW.jpg
http://i.imgur.com/vLS4R6S.jpg
http://i.imgur.com/y5Sda7T.jpg
http://i.imgur.com/bcYj5Zc.jpg
What a shame we never see the rooms behind! Alas, in reality they probably didn't exist, and any illumination behind the stained glass is likely stage lighting. But if this house is to be fully realized in design, these things must all be carefully considered.
http://i.imgur.com/pAm7ylH.jpg
Sorry, I couldn't resist.
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OmegaWolf747
11 years ago
Did you edit the brightness of the pictures? I never really noticed those two doors on either side of that stained glass window before.
LOL @ the last one.
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House. My room. Can't walk. My medal. My father. Father, don't!
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Etherdave
11 years ago
These are all screencaps from the HBO home video DVD; they have been brightened, heightened, and colour-corrected in Photoshop 6.
The two doors are telling because they don't make much sense if they both open into the same room. So we may have at least two rooms back there, suggesting a rather large projection off the west face of the Central Hall. Or, perhaps a closet. But victorians of that era liked their symmetry, especially from what we see in the east face.
The north face of the Hall, at least on the Second Floor, appears to be blank, which we would expect, since this is the location of the roof over the dining room (originally the carriage-stop). The absence of light in the Third Floor staircase leading to Joseph's Room strongly indicates the absence of a window, even a dormer window, on that side of the house. The staircase itself, which would likely have its twin on the other side of the Hall, as well as the apparent absence of cresting on the main roof of the Hall, is our best evidence that the west side of the Hall includes a roof pitch that descends down to the Second Floor, and would almost mandate a large bay projection built out of it.
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Etherdave
10 years ago
So... here is my basic layout for the house as it exists in 1980. Note this is only a layout of the basic structures, and only shows the main floor. Some dimensions and proportions may change over time as I get a better understanding of the aesthetic:
http://i.imgur.com/N3UkwMs.jpg
Next: basic division of the main floor rooms, and likely support structure.
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OmegaWolf747
10 years ago
Shouldn't the music room be to the left of the main room?
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House. My room. Can't walk. My medal. My father. Father, don't!
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Etherdave
10 years ago
It IS to the left of the Central Hall (audience left; stage right), and extends about two-thirds of the way to the end of the South Wing (the interesting impingement of the South Corner, as well as the line of the Front Porch, describes the location of the south wall of the Music Room). I believe the room beyond the Music Room (note the door on the wall) is an antechamber featuring a staircase upstairs, a servant's separate staircase (possibly one of those wrought-iron spiral types popular throughout the period), and correspondence to the garage; given heating technology of the period it is reasonable for this 'antechamber' to be thus isolated from the rest of the living spaces.
I am thinking the Central Hall is the only part of the building with a basement. This would account for the robust supports visible in the foyer area, versus the much lighter construction of the South Wing. The house appears to be steam-heated, with a boiler running on fuel oil, a common arrangement for the period. My plan for the South Corner includes a parlour room on the building's west side, with windows facing north and west, offering a sitting and dining space offsetting the public rooms on the east side. Possibly this room was the original Dining Room, back when the carriage stop was still a carriage stop.
I may have placed the garage too far back. As soon as I plan the staircases I'll have a better idea where the door most likely goes.
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OmegaWolf747
10 years ago
I see the labels Front Porch and South Wing left of the Main Hall. The music room would be in the South Wing, right?
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House. My room. Can't walk. My medal. My father. Father, don't!
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Etherdave
10 years ago
Correct. In the music room you can see several doors on the west wall; these undoubtedly provide access to a servants' corridor running between the kitchen and the South Corner. If I were a victorian-era designer I'd put spiral staircases at either end of the corridor, with dumbwaiters to carry food and other amenities to the resident and guest living quarters on the second floor.
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OmegaWolf747
10 years ago
A dumbwaiter gives me an idea for TC. John could be drifting off to sleep when he hears a dumbwaiter being hoisted up and down inside the walls.
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House. My room. Can't walk. My medal. My father. Father, don't!
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Etherdave
10 years ago
Here's a better idea: Joseph liked to play with the dumbwaiter when the help wasn't looking. Later, when the Bernards are occupying the house, CORA is the one hearing the spectral dumbwaiter being hoisted up and down. Why should Russell have all the fun?
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Etherdave
10 years ago
Here's another better idea: Joseph's fascination with the dumbwaiter arouses the ire of his father, who warns him of inevitable misfortune. Joseph, like all young, slightly mischievous boys, decides on one more 'trip'... in which he loses control, and plunges to the main floor... breaking both legs in the process. He always was a fragile kid; now he's an invalid, traumatized by his accident, withdrawn, and confined to a wheelchair until his legs heal... if they heal. Get the picture?
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Etherdave
10 years ago
And finally: Young Cora, herself fascinated by the dumbwaiter for reasons that can't easily be explained ('Joseph told me to'), attempts to crawl inside, as Joseph did so many years earlier. Will she suffer a similar accident as Joseph? Is some force trying to get young Cora into Joseph's old room, where a childsize wheelchair awaits, seemingly in need of a new occupant? Why should Ryan Reynolds have all the fun with spectral mesmerism and possession?
Because one can't forget a basic truth about all this, one that has already been thoroughly discussed elsewhere:
A remake will suck. Mightily, just as 'The Amityville Horror' did, in 2005.
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OmegaWolf747
10 years ago
I don't think a remake that follows your ideas for Joseph, Cora and the dumbwaiter would suck at all.
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House. My room. Can't walk. My medal. My father. Father, don't!
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Etherdave
10 years ago
It's not a remake. I believe the word being bandied about these days is prequel. A prequel wouldn't necessarily suck, nor suck mightily, nor would even a sequel, though the odds of suckery are somewhat higher than a prequel. Here's an idea for a sequel:
In 2014, a musician and composer named Ellis H. Russell (H for Hunter... did you see how I did that), the son of John Russell and Claire Norman (Trish Van Devere was 37 in 1980), decides to visit his dad's alma mater... and runs into a young lady named... Carmichael. The two immediately take to each other...
Is this a romance or a horror story? 'The Notebook', or 'The War Of The Roses?' Either way I'm vexed that Lee Marvin can't sing the opening number. Maybe some other life, when we are reborn as cats.
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OmegaWolf747
10 years ago
A prequel? This is the first I've heard of this. All articles I've read have indicated a remake. May I have a link?
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House. My room. Can't walk. My medal. My father. Father, don't!
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Etherdave
10 years ago
There is no link. There is no prequel, and as far as I can determine, there is only an unofficial sequel, the Italian film 'Per sempre' (1987), AKA 'The Changeling 2', which sucked. And sucked mightily, per my earlier observances regarding Relative Suckage.
Choosing titles for projects such as these might be just as critical to the films' success as the content therein; Relative Suckage, or, RS, may thus depend as much on marketing, or even the relative absence of such. 'The Changeling 2', 'The Changeling: The Next Generation', and 'Son Of The Changeling' seem destined for failure (high RS factors there), so we should dismiss them altogether.
Were I penning a script for a prequel, I might be inclined to call it 'The Carmichaels And The Bernards', but it might be better titled 'Joseph And Cora', were it to focus on a relationship between two small, doomed, children, one of them already deceased. 'The Boy In The Well' sounds just too damned creepy, and reminds us, regrettably, too much of trained simians, and roast beef sandwiches. 'The Dumbwaiter', for no fair reason of its own, just sounds 'dumb', as it is a word long passed from general usage. 'Come Play With Me' sounds pleasantly disturbing enough for a horror film, but a little too european at the same time. Still, it might be amusing to add another film to this title, alongside a british softcore porno (1977), and an only slighly-less lurid softcore pycho-sexual thriller (1968). Either way RS factors seem to suggest a careful marketing campaign. It may well take more than one dame, one pack of cigarettes, and just one bottle of scotch.
I rather like the title 'Music Box' for a sequel, as it is simple and evocative. As the relationship between the younger Russell and young Ms. Carmichael deepens, and knowledge of their elders' entanglement is discovered, like the repeating tune of the music box, they are drawn back to the vacant lot where the Chessman House once stood. There, a tiny music box sits, waiting for a resonant soul to discover it... and begin the cycle of haunting, and vengeance, anew.
Naw, that's too 'Jumanji'... and anyways, Robin Williams isn't making films like that anymore.
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OmegaWolf747
10 years ago
Well, hopefully nothing like that ever gets made. Although a film about the Bernard family living in the Chessman House could be intriguing.
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House. My room. Can't walk. My medal. My father. Father, don't!
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Sewaat
10 years ago
You've got some very good ideas there, EtherDave. My only objection to your dumbwaiter theory is that the film does specify Joseph's disability was due to illness, not a physical accident. Unless your intention was to tell a different side of the story, in which case...that's fine. (And if that's your own interpretation of what really happened, you'll get no judgement from me there.) Otherwise, the rest of what you suggested is pretty plausible.
I've always been very receptive to the idea of a prequel to TC that takes place before, during and right after Joseph's death. Including an explanation for the events leading up to Cora being accidentally killed as well. After all, the clues that the original film give us are at best, quite vague. So I think it would be quite fascinating to see what was really going on during that period of the canon timeline.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Real is good. Interesting is better.
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cgrill8
10 years ago
Hmm... I don't know about a prequel... I'd like to keep the mysteries of the family alone. But the idea of the music box being found or passed on is interesting... maybe another musician/symphony director picks it up and becomes haunted. And mentally giving instructions for the haunting victim to kill the newest great grandson of the politician's bloodline.
Tired of people telling me how young I am when I feel so old...
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OmegaWolf747
10 years ago
Sort of like that lamp in the Amityville sequel.
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House. My room. Can't walk. My medal. My father. Father, don't!
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Etherdave
10 years ago
Underlying causes of atrophic scarring and arthritis include diseases, skin conditions, surgery, and accidents.
On a completely unrelated note, the actual location of the Chessman House is 1268-1270 West 57Th Street, in Oakridge, Vancouver. The property appears to have been subdivided and is nearly unrecognizeable; however, the corner Claire rounds on her way to the property is very recognizeable, and the house on the corner opposite the 'Chessman House' block appears to have changed very little since 1980. You can see the whole works, and the nice view of the mountains, in Google Earth. Cheers.
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Sewaat
10 years ago
A random question: do you think you could give us your best estimate of exactly how high The Chessman house stands? I'm curious.
All things once are things forever, soul once living lives forever.
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OmegaWolf747
10 years ago
The house is four stories tall and each story is usually ten feet, so 40 feet?
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House. My room. Cant walk. My medal. My father. Father, dont!
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Sewaat
10 years ago
Thank you!
All things once are things forever, soul once living lives forever.
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sinanserpen
10 years ago
I've found some vintage aerial shots of South Vancouver before 1979 showing the former dwelling on the site. But the resolution is too low. But seems that it used to be a densed tree lot as in the movie. If any one can get a detailed vintage photo from anywhere the maze will be solved.
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OmegaWolf747
10 years ago
Would you be so kind as to provide a link to the photos? My curiosity is piqued.
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House. My room. Cant walk. My medal. My father. Father, dont!
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sinanserpen
10 years ago
The house was facing south and it was early afternoon when John waits for Claire in front of the gate. The shadow of the street light on opposite pavement drops over John's car.
And the mountains seen from the back proves the facade facing south.
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sinanserpen
10 years ago
The question is why they didn't burn down the right wing (Dinning Room) at the end.
Was it a part of the original house behind?
By the way there were two dwellings on the site when they built the facade for filming.
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