The Tragic Story of the 'Real Life' Simpsons House

After seeing that recently a couple have decided to turn their kitchen into a replica of The Simpsons’ kitchen (impressive as it is), it got me thinking about the original real-life Simpsons house. I wondered to myself, “Does it still exist? If so, how can I buy it?” Well I did a little research and unfortunately came across a most gruesome discovery…

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Back in 1997, Pepsi, FOX and Kaufman & Broad Homebuilders held a competition that would make any Simpsons fan’s dreams come true. First prize was the choice between either $75,000 cash or a life-size replica of The Simpsons house. Yes you heard right, a LIFE-SIZE REPLICA of The Simpsons house. Just thinking about it makes me giggle with excitement. I mean can you imagine? It’s 1997, The Simpsons are at essentially the peak of their popularity, and you’d be the only person in the world with a real-life Simpsons house. It’d be amazing… or so you’d think.

As I said, the winner got the choice of either prize; the money or the house. Unbelievably, the winner, Barbara Howard, chose the money. Can you believe it? The amount of time and effort that went into this house all went to waste, although I guess it’s understandable given the winner’s situation (she lived on the other side of the country, and didn’t really feel like moving to Nevada). Oh and then there was the catch that the house’s exterior needed to be painted to meet the guidelines of the residential estate. All that aside, it’s still the bloody Simpsons’ house!

More than 50 hours were spent analysing old episodes of the show, ensuring as much detail was implemented as possible. At 2,200 square foot, the house was built and furnished almost exactly as it appears on TV. Quite an amazing feat really. The only notable difference being that the address was 712 Red Bark Lane, as opposed to 742 Evergreen Terrace. It took 49 days in total to build and it was unveiled to the public on August 1, 1997.

Apparently the contest winner was a retired factory worker, which makes sense considering they weren’t interested living in the house of TV’s most famous family at the time. However the house was still estimated to be worth at least $120,000 US, so wouldn’t you think that even if you didn’t want the house, you’d at least accept it and then sell it? Doing so would allow the house to at least be treated with the respect it deserved by a loyal fan of the show. It truly puzzles me, no, it upsets me, because after hearing what eventually happened to the house is incredibly depressing.

After the decision was made that the house wasn’t wanted, the interior was apparently then stripped down and sold for parts. It’s hard to imagine how anyone could come to the decision to simply gut it out, I mean, surely there would have been die-hard Simpsons fans out there who would have paid much more than what the house was really worth? I don’t know the finer details behind the decision to “un-Simpsonize” the home, but being a nostalgia geek myself, hearing of the house’s demise really frustrated me. It just seems like such a wasted opportunity. If only there were a video tour of the home in its original form, as these pictures seem to be the only known memory of this amazingly cool house.

Did YOU ever get a chance to see the house in its original state? It’s still around, however owned privately and not open to tours. Here is a shot of how it looks today:

In fact, to this day the owners claim to still receive junk mail, obviously a prank from some diehard Simpsons fans…

You can also check out this video of YouTuber Adam The Woo as he does a somewhat creepy “tour” of the house from the outside, one can only assume the police were called when the residents noticed a man with a camera walking through their yard.

Anyway, thankfully FOX made up for the travesty of losing this glorious house by installing Springfield at Universal Studios. Speaking of, have you been there yet? If so I’d love to hear all about it! Thanks for reading guys.

Written by Brendan Dando

PS: Don’t forget to have a listen to our Simpsons podcast!

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