CULTURE: The Ferris Bueller House

I fell in love with this building the first time I saw it in Ferris Bueller’s Day Off (1986, John Hughes).

It’s the ice cold home of Ferris’s uptight pal, Cameron, who we meet wallowing in his death bed, genuinely sick unlike Ferris, that big faker.

Ferris cajoles Cameron out of his sick bed which is just the first of an hour and half of horrible things Ferris subjects his pals to that day.

If I’d been Cameron I wouldn’t have wanted to follow stupid old Ferris off into the grotty old city either.

I’d much rather have stayed here, in chilly luxury, dressed only in a floor length silk Kimono and dainty pair of geta reading Camus or illustrating a small pamphlet on minimalism. As you would.

The most famous scene in this house is the one where Cameron snaps and kicks his dad’s 1961 Ferarri 250 GT Cali Spyder out a window.

I always thought that car was kind of tacky by comparison to the house.  Surely he should have been driving an Opel GT or one of those weird, low slung 70s Ferraris that looks like and Alien’s genitals, rather than the kitschy little early 60s one?

I can see Cameron feels the same.

I think what I like the most about this house is the feeling of isolation being so utterly surrounded by the woods gives.

You’re incredibly vulnerable there – I mean, there a scant half centimeter of glass between you and the wilderness.  And yet, the clean lines of the interior give the rooms a sense of control and dominance over the green riot outside.

You are not in the fishbowl – you are in the viewing pod, just touched down from Planet Calm And Collected from whence you will make your observations and report back: “They’re all made out of wood and they are lovely, but gosh-a-gee, they’re terrible conversationalists.”

I mean, I don’t know if you’re getting all that from this home, but I know I am.

This magnificent four bedroom work of art designed by James Speyer actually cost less than a three bedroom ex-state house in Epsom right now, having sold for just over half it’s original asking price at USD$1.06m.

I don’t know what’s more shocking, that it sold so cheaply, or that some asshole had the audacity to haggle for it.

Well, good for them, I guess, they bought a rare gem. If they hit me up I can point them at a good place to buy silk Kimonos.

One of my favourite sites, Curbed.com wrote a nice little article about the house sale and there are a ton more pics there.

Do you have a favourite famous house? Tell us about it below.