Built on Staten Island’s North Shore more than 130 years ago, Magnolia House is a seven-gabled shingle-sided house with extensive gardens which were once used during the creation of Silent Films. The house itself has enormous atmosphere and huge potential for film shoots. Terraced gardens, lush refurbished interior spaces with Asian and American accents…this thirty-three hundred square foot house offers beautifully furnished interiors, intriguing stairways and passages, and a working country kitchen.

Would you believe that a house like this exists in this long-ignored borough? Staten Island is fast becoming a film-maker’s favorite location with a wide variety of architectural styles and locales.

Magnolia House, Staten Island NY

Built in 1887 by Eastern European Jewish immigrants, this Lower East Side Synagogue is one of today’s most beautiful historic buildings in New York City. From the late 1930’s to the mid-1980s, the building languished; in 1987, the non-sectarian, non-profit Eldridge Street Project was created and began a twenty year, $20 million reconstruction project.

In 1996 this imposing Moorish Revival building was designated a National Historic Landmark, and reopened in 2007 as the Museum at Eldridge Street. In addition to a small Museum with revolving exhibitions on the street and lower levels, this treasured architectural gem features a restored Sanctuary with its 70-foot-high vaulted ceiling, a new 2010-designed stained glass window by world famous artist Kiki Smith, detailed brass lighting fixtures, hand-crafted faux painting and wood finishing, stenciled walls and other fine touches.

Extensive documentation of the building’s history and its two decade reconstruction are available downstairs, along with stories of the lives of those who passed through the Synagogue during its 120-year history. Also downstairs is a second, more intimate house of study, the Beth Midrash, which was used for services during the reconstruction and still holds weekly services on Saturday morning.

Lower East Side Museum and Synagogue, New York, NY

Twenty years ago, Bed-Stuy was one of New York’s neglected neighborhoods. As usual, artists led the charge back to civilization, and Planta Baja is a perfect example: A rough and tumble exterior presents a gritty industrial feel but the interior is more of an urban rustic look. Built in 1951 and carefully renovated, this two story carriage house features two lofts filled with exposed woodwork, brick, and skylights everywhere.

At the end of the gated alleyway you enter the downstairs space through a huge, fully equipped kitchen. Continue walking straight and you’ll go out the rear kitchen door into the backyard garden. If you turn left instead, you’ll be in an open, skylit studio that’s equally prepared for shooting, commissary or holding.  Hang another left into a small private bed- and bathroom.

The upstairs loft is dominated by a huge living area with a wall of books, another of windows, with a well-equipped working kitchen and roomy dining table. Down the hall you pass a modern skylit bathroom and find the spacious loft-style bedroom with its own skylight, large windows and another doorway which leads outdoors.

Both floors as well as the untamed backyard garden can be dressed to suit. Planta Baja is as shoot friendly as it gets! 

Brooklyn, NY

One of the most beautiful churches on Staten Island, this late Gothic style Episcopal Church was built in the New Brighton neighborhood in 1904. It is quite a large complex: The Church itself is attached to a big two story parish hall via an enclosed cloister; both sit next to the Tudor style rectory. The three buildings surround a beautiful lawn with graceful old trees and a U-shaped driveway.

Added to the National Register of Historic Places in 2004, Christ Church deserves to be seen more widely.

This property lends itself to filming and can provide a variety of views. The Church sits on a corner lot and can present as a small town locale with a large Tudor house. Filming can also be done in the Nave or Sanctuary, where the stone interior resembles an old country church in the south of France. There is an old-fashioned office with glass bookshelves, a large auditorium, a large gymnasium, and easy access to a big parking lot.

Christ Church New Brighton, 76 Franklin Avenue, Staten Island, New York.

In the last couple of years Atlanta has become a booming location for filming both movies and TV shows. Now it’s the turn of Columbus, GA, the second largest city in the State, and location of this beautiful Greek Revival House which has been continuously owned by the same family since 1836. Listed on the National Historic Register, The Cedars is laid out with a central hall which gets great light; the public rooms are to the left and the family bedrooms (all with working fireplaces) are to the right. Walls are 18′ thick and the furnishings are historically accurate.

Part of a compound 100 miles southwest of Atlanta and just off the Wynton Road, the house was built by Sarah and John Banks as a private home and continues to be a private home today. There are two additional houses which provide different views and sit on generous grounds with ample parking for cars and trucks.

2039 13th Street, Columbus, GA 31906

The Peterson House was built during the 1850’s in Manhattan’s West Village as a very grand mansion — the widest on the block — by the family of Henry Peterson, a wealthy iron merchant. Over the years the property passed through the hands of a Wall Street banker and several noted artists. In the 1970’s, a group of analysts and friends of psychoanalysis took up residence and established the Center for Modern Psychoanalytic Studies and New York Graduate School of Psychoanalysis.

This four story brownstone townhouse features a classic high stoop leading into an elegant premier étage parlor with three distinct spaces, huge windows, high ceilings with crystal chandeliers, and massive sliding pocket doors that open up the entire space.

Other classic features include crown molding, sculpted window and door frames, beautiful parquet floors, a small “Dean’s Office” off to one side, and a terrace overlooking the ground floor garden area in the back. Recently renovated, the parlor floor retains its 19th century charm and most of its original architecture. It comfortably holds upwards of sixty. Downstairs you’ll find a beautiful library, and administrative offices.

Best availability is during the Academic summer vacation months…May, June, July & August.

16 W 10th Street New York, NY 10011

This landmark Gothic revival church, dedicated in 1846, commands a bold position on lower 5th Avenue which attracts worshipers and filmmakers alike. Open to film shoots, the Church also has three very good size meeting rooms which can be used for holding and catering.

12 West 12th Street, New York, NY 10011

This wonderful eight story apartment building was built in 1910 with five units per floor–a total of 40 apartments. A gracious entry opens onto a rambling lobby with 100+ year old original marble on the walls, tile floors and cast iron details. Each floor features wonderful long hallways and sprawling apartments that are so typical of Manhattan’s Upper West Side.

544 West 157th Street, New York, NY 10032

It’s the Upper East Side’s hidden gem…a one-of-a-kind Manhattan location which shouts history and money. House of the Redeemer was built from 1914 to 1916 as a family home by Edith Shepard Fabbri, great granddaughter of Commodore Vanderbilt, and her husband Ernesto who was an associate of the financier J.P Morgan. In 1974, it was designated a New York City landmark, and is a perfect setting for all kinds of shoots. In fact, the House of the Redeemer’s exterior has stood in for consulates around the world, boarding schools and secret buildings. The interior can pose as a fabulous private house, nursing home or a school. The spacious downstairs reception and refectory area is good for holding and can also stand in for a school or consulate, and the outdoor private garden is perfect for party and reception scenes. But the crown jewel of this building has to be the spacious second floor library at the head of an imposing flight of stairs. Built in the 1600’s for the Ducal palace in Urbino, Italy, the library has 25 foot vaulted ceilings, floor to ceiling bookshelves which hide a secret passage, and a walk-in fireplace.

7 East 95th Street New York, NY 10128

This unique nine-story triangular shaped apartment building sits in Washington Heights at the junction of Riverside Drive, 157th Street and Edward Morgan Place. The Grinnell boasts 80 spacious apartments, a porte-cochere and an interior courtyard.

800 Riverside Drive, New York, NY 10032

With sweeping views of the Hudson River and George Washington Bridge, River Terrace is ideally located in Manhattan’s Washington Heights. The sixteen-story towers flank a large courtyard and hold a total of four-hundred-and-thirty-one cooperative housing apartments. The entire property is currently undergoing discreet renovations from the sub-basement to the roof.

River Terrace was built under the 1955 Mitchell-Lama legislative housing program. While internationally known as a glittering 24/7 metropolis with expensive housing, New York City is less recognized for its groundbreaking efforts to provide affordable housing for moderate and middle income families. Under the Mitchell-Lama program, two-hundred-and-sixty-nine buildings have been constructed with more than 105,000 rental or cooperative units (such as River Terrace), all of which include tenant income limits and help New York retain its vibrant, healthy socio-economic diversity

Apartments at River Terrace range from studios to comfortable three bedroom spreads, and tenants have access to three levels of underground parking. Additionally, there are two very well equipped community rooms available for film crew usage.

544 West 157th Street, New York, NY 10032

This lovely triplex Tribeca loft features high ceilings and North-facing windows which fill the living/dining area with light. Special appointments include a curved glass wall around a bathroom, an elegant staircase down to the master bedroom, a grand piano, and a large game room with a billiards table. Home for a Manhattan architect and family, this 3,400 sq. ft. (large!) loft is a very accommodating and flexible shoot location.

New York, NY

Camera ready downtown bar on Division Street. Bacaro has two bars, one on each floor. The downstairs bar has a underground feel and the upstairs is brighter and more upscale. Both bars do not necessarily look like they are in the same restaurant.  Bacaro was a sensation when it first opened, in part, because the lower level is one of the most unusual and beautiful spaces in all of downtown.  The dramatic cave-like dining room features exposed brick, vaulted ceilings and the upstairs features painstakingly restored original details. Built in 1900, the building is a classic Lower East Side/Chinatown updated tenement style brick building.  

136 Division Street, NYC

Gallery of images of the Mary A. Whalen, represented by Sallie Slate Productions.