The place Was Solely Murders within the Constructing Filmed?

Picture Supply: Hulu

New York Metropolis residing could be luxurious for some, and Hulu’s murder-mystery comedy sequence “Solely Murders within the Constructing” isn’t any exception to this rule. Starring Steve Martin, Selena Gomez, and Martin Quick, the present takes place on the fictional Arconia luxurious condominium, located in NYC’s elite neighborhood, the Higher West Facet. The sequence follows residents-turned-true-crime-podcasters Mabel (Gomez), Charles (Martin), and Oliver (Quick), who — within the first season — take it upon themselves to trace down a killer who murdered their neighbor, Tim Kono.

In season two, which premiered on June 28, the trio finds themselves on the heart of one other homicide investigation set within the Arconia. Because it seems, the large NYC apartment which their fictional residence relies on has a storied historical past of its personal.

Whereas “Solely Murders within the Constructing” was certainly filmed on the Higher West Facet and close to surrounding NYC landmarks like Central Park, scenes going down contained in the Arconia weren’t. Relatively, a close-by studio set was designed to look like the interiors of well-appointed residences, which is the place a majority of filming happened. In the meantime, for the scenes set on the outskirts of the Arconia, manufacturing used the outside, courtyards, and entry gates of the real-life Belnord constructing.

Described as “the grandest of the Upper West Side apartment houses,” the Belnord is positioned at 225 W 86th Avenue and stands 13 tales excessive with over 200 multi-million dollar apartment units. Among the many condominium’s extravagant facilities are a membership lounge, concierge, kids’s playroom, teen room, sports activities court docket, and a non-public residential elevator. The landmarked, Italian Renaissance constructing boasts six distinct residential lobbies, a grand, open staircase, and a courtyard with over 20,000 sq. toes of lush gardens.

In line with manufacturing designer Curt Beech, the Belnord supplied a steadiness of grandeur and uniqueness, making it the proper place to shoot varied scenes from the present. “The setting relies on a conglomeration of buildings the place the courtyards take up a complete metropolis block,” Beech instructed Architectural Digest in Aug. 2021. “There will not be a lot of them left within the metropolis and they’re sort of unicorns.”

It seems that the Belnord has a novel and barely checkered historical past of its personal — very similar to the Arconia. Per a June 27 piece within the New York Times, when the constructing was accomplished in 1909, its architect claimed it was the most important condominium constructing within the nation and probably the world.

In its early days, its luxurious facilities attracted the likes of Lee Strasberg, the founding father of methodology performing, whose guests included Marilyn Monroe. Different inhabitants included Nobel Prize-winning creator Isaac Bashevis Singer and the then-young actor Walter Matthau.

By the Seventies, the constructing had begun to collapse. Its landlord, Lillian Seril, had a status for failing to repair fundamental technical points and regularly suing her tenants; this led to a 16-year hire strike. Lastly, within the mid ’90s, the troubled Belnord was bought by a brand new proprietor, Gary Barnett, who needed to show it into an upscale rental constructing. When his efforts failed, a slew of latest traders took it over, and finally managed to show it right into a high-class condominium.

In its later days, the constructing hosted quite a lot of notable inhabitants, together with John Scanlon, the lawyer who represented Ivana Trump in former President Donald Trump’s first divorce, and a solid of characters together with influential literary and publishing figures like State Division official Richard Stengel, who was the editor in chief of Time journal throughout his tenure within the Belnord. It additionally was house to “Jewish European émigrés, unreconstructed Socialists and scores of psychoanalysts,” per The Instances. Briefly, it has as a lot historical past and dynamism as any slice of New York Metropolis.

For John Hoffman, who created “Solely Murders within the Constructing” with Steve Martin, the constructing’s eclectic historical past made it excellent for the present. “I used to be obsessed,” Hoffman instructed The Instances. “I knew we may make one thing as elevated as that tremendous constructing. It is a cliché to say that the constructing itself is a personality, however I just like the problem of getting past that cliché a bit.”

The second season of “Solely Murders within the Constructing” was launched on Hulu on June 28.