Home Alone: Where is the house from the film and can you stay there?

Home Alone’s house has become iconic (Picture: Rex Shutterstock)

Christmas just wouldn’t be complete with at least one viewing of Home Alone – the classic 90s film in which a young Macaulay Culkin defends his family’s abode from burglars.

While we all remember the movie’s hilarious set-pieces and stunts – not to mention Culkin’s starmaking turn as eight-year-old Kevin – the actual house itself remains one of the film’s star attractions even to this day.

The house has nabbed its fair share of headlines over the intervening years – including eagle-eyed fans noticing Monica and Chandler from Friends moving in there – and it returned to the spotlight again on the film’s 30th anniversary in 2020.

But just where is the house from the film – and can you actually stay there?

Where is the house from Home Alone?

Home Alone is set in Chicago – and the famous house which provides the backdrop from the action is also located nearby – in the suburb of Winnetka, Illlinois, around 16 miles from the city.

Director Chris Columbus said of the dwelling: ‘We needed to cast a house that would work for the stunts and also a house that was visually appealing and, if this makes sense, warm and menacing at the same time.

‘It’s the kind of house if you were a kid it would be fun to be left home alone. I wanted it to feel timeless.’

The house is located just outside Chicago (Picture: Sarah Crowley)

The house, which is located at 671 Lincoln Avenue, close to Lake Michigan, was owned by John and Cynthia Abendshien at the time of filming – and their daughter Lauren, who was six when the movie was made, revealed in 2020 just how they coped with living there while scenes were being shot.

‘We stayed in the house pretty much the entire period they were filming, between four and five months they were there,’ she told This Morning.

‘In order to avoid appearing on screen, we would have to crawl around under the window line from room to room.

A trip up that famous staircase could be yours (Picture: Sarah Crowley)

‘Especially in the evening when it would be much easier for that to show up on camera. You had to do an army crawl from spot to spot in the house.’

The three-storey, five bedroom house went up for sale in 2011, eventually selling for around £1,300,000.

Can you visit the Home Alone house?

The house is of course a private residence and not usually open to visitors.

However, fans of the film now have the chance to stay there for one night on December 12, for just $25 – courtesy of Airbnb.

The listing, posted by ‘Buzz McAllister’ (played in the film by Devin Rattray) promises a full-on Home Alone experience, inviting visitors to ‘eat junk food, watch rubbish on TV, borrow my dad’s aftershave and choose your own adventure with a legendary battle plan as a guide’.

He adds: ‘Just stay out of my room, okay?’

Booking opens on December 7 and can be seen at Airbnb’s website – and as it’s the season of giving, Airbnb will make a donation to Chicago’s La Rabida Children’s Hospital, which is helps improve the quality of life for each of its patients.

MORE : Saturday Night Live shares the most adorable throwback sketch of brothers Macaulay and Kieran Culkin

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