This Old House Locations

I’ve been a fan of This Old House since the very beginning (and where I first became acquainted with Norm). At one time I would have sworn I’d seen every episode, but in truth, I know I’ve missed a few over the years, although I’m certain I’ve seen at least part of every project. As I’ve enjoyed the revival of the later projects in the This Old House Classics episodes on DIY channel (and others), I’ve gotten curious about the actual locations of the projects. You know—maybe do a drive-by of some of them sometime when I’m in New England (the majority—46, currently—of the projects are in Massachusetts, all but two of those within 30 miles of Boston). Well, one thing from that germ of an idea led to another, and the next thing you know I was plotting locations onto my Street Atlas USA mapping program. In the chart below you’ll see what success I’ve had. And that success has run the gamut of unable-to-locate to specific addresses.

The fact of the matter is, I had to employ a number of tricks to come up with many of these. Some of the locations are explicitly stated on the program (not all at once, I don’t think—but a house number here, a street name there, glimpse of architect’s drawings, street number visible on the door, glimpse of street sign, etc.), others were tracked down by using the owner’s name and the phone book, still others needed some sleuthing of property records. I also got some assistance watching Inside This Old House episodes. I’m actually quite proud of my efforts—they’ve included interpreting aerial or satellite photopraphs and comparing public record floor plans.

Now, I’ve never subscribed to the concept that people somehow give up their right to privacy by nature of their celebrity, however fleeting or inadvertant, so you won’t find any actual addresses or even anything more specific than what I’ve already divulged. In fact, at the This Old House website, one of their FAQs says:

Can I visit former This Old House projects?
We do not give out the address of houses featured on our program. The houses that This Old House renovates are privately owned and the owners want to reclaim their privacy after appearing on the show.

And that pretty well summarizes why you won’t get further details here, as well. And, no, I won’t divulge them by email, either.

I just thought you might be interested in what information is available and some other conclusions I’ve drawn from the effort. It’s been a fun piece of detective work. And apparently, I’m not the only This Old Housestalker.” I got a note from a visitor several years ago, who not only filled in some gaps I had in my information, but has actually driven by many of the projects. It helps that he lives in New England, but he’s also been to the San Francisco house as well as the Napa Valley house. Since I first put up this page, I’ve driven by the West Palm Beach house. It’s a lot smaller than it appeared on TV. My visitor friend tells me that’s been his impression of all of them he’s seen.

A couple of years later, another stalker appeared. His email indicated that he likewise has visited several sites and filled me in on a couple I didn’t have. Just recently, he made a trip to England and got a picture of the Pembridge Place project which we had collectively sleuthed via email earlier this year. This has been great fun!

Then, even later, another one contacted me, and I was able to incorporate even more data which is reflected below.

We still carry on a correspondence, which peaks every spring when the new projects are announced. We are the kings of stalkers.

Update: yet another stalker reared his head and provided the clue we needed to locate the Reading green house project.

By the way, I don’t know if it’s possible to recreate this body of work from scratch today. Some of the necessary data is still available online, but I relied on watching a lot of episodes (too many, my kids would likely say) of both This Old House Classics (the HGTV version) and Inside This Old House for a good bit of my clues. ITOH was off the air for some time, then resurrected, then removed again. I still picked up some useful stuff when it was back on.

TOH Classics hadn’t shown anything before the Concord Barn (the Vila years) in the past decade, as I recall, and is no longer in the HGTV lineup. There is a local station in my area that airs projects ala TOH Classics, but I don’t think they’re calling it that, and they haven’t shown anything older than O'Connor episodes. While DIY Network used to be a TOH Classics vehicle, I haven’t seen one on that network in some years. PBS consistently re-airs their most recent season, but they no longer go back very far before the next season starts. Furthermore, in the update of the TOH website in 2008, some of the material that was pertinent to my work has disappeared.

The final tally on this colossal waste of time: all but one located of 80+ projects. It’s a fine success rate, but I’m tired of calculating the percentage and won’t bother posting it.

Color key indicates project was hosted by:   Kevin O’Connor ,    Steve Thomas ,    Bob Vila 

YearNameAddress?     Notes
2022The West Roxbury ProjectYesBegan airing in February, 2022—sleuthed on the day of airing of first episode
2021The Cape Country Cottage ProjectYesWill Begin airing in October, 2021—sleuthed within a day of announcement
2021The Dorchester ProjectYesBegan airing in 2021—Didn’t have to work on this, either. The woodworking friend mentioned below provided me with significant preliminary data before I even saw the first eposode.
2020The Narragansett ProjectYesBegan airing in October, 2020—Didn’t have to work on this much at all. A woodworking friend provided me with significant preliminary data before I even saw the first eposode.
2020The Cape Ann ProjectYesBegan airing in April, 2020—sleuthed fairly quickly, but with more difficulty
2020The Paradise Fire Project Multiple projects associated with the recovery from the 2018 Paradise forest fire in CA. Sleuthed by a friend of the page who reached out to me. Another stalker!
The Paradise 1 ProjectYes
The Paradise 2 ProjectYes
The Paradise 3 ProjectYes
2019The Westerly Ranch ProjectYesSleuthed probably two weeks after announcement
2019The New Brookline ProjectYesAired in 2019—sleuthed within days of announcement
2018The Jamestown, RI ProjectYesAired in 2018—sleuthed within days of announcement
2018The Charleston (SC) Two projects
The Charleston 1 ProjectYes
  The Charleston 2 ProjectYes
2017The Newton ProjectYesSleuthed within days of announcement
2017The Detroit ProjectYesSleuthed within an hour of my seeing the announcement
2016The Arlington Arts & Crafts ProjectYesSleuthed within minutes of viewing.
2015The Belmont Victorian ProjectYes
2015The Homes for Our Troops ProjectYes
2014The Lexington Colonial Revival ProjectYes
2014The Charlestown 2014 ProjectYes
2013The Arlington Italianate ProjectYes
2013The Jersey Shore Project (NJ) multiple projects associated with the recovery from Hurricane Sandy
The Manasquan ProjectYes
The Point Pleasant ProjectYes
The Bay Head ProjectYes
2012The Essex ProjectYes
2012The Cambridge 2012 ProjectYes
2012The Barrington ProjectYes
2011The Bedford ProjectYes
2011The Silver Lake (Los Angeles) ProjectYes
2010The Auburndale ProjectYes
2010The Roxbury ProjectYes
2009The Newton Centre ProjectYes
2009The Brooklyn HouseYes
2008The Weston HouseYes
2008The New Orleans Katrina ProjectYes
2007The Newton Shingle Style HouseYes
2007The Austin HouseYes
2006The East Boston HouseYes
2006The Washington, D.C. HouseYes
2005The Cambridge HouseYes
2004The Carlisle ProjectYespurchased by TOH, subsequently resold
2004The Bermuda HouseYes
2003The Concord CottageYesKevin O’Connor’s first appearance
YearNameAddress?     Notes
2003The Lake Forest Dream KitchenYesChicago area location
2002The Winchester HouseYesno longer owned by subject owners
2001The Manchester HouseYes
2001The West Palm Beach HouseYes
2000The Charlestown HouseYes
2000The Santa Barbara HouseYes
1999The Billerica HouseYes
1999The Key West HouseYes
1998The Watertown HouseYes
1998The San Francisco HouseYesrenovation of former church
1997The Milton HouseYespurchased by TOH, no longer owned by subsequent purchasers
1997The Tucson HouseYes
1996The Nantucket HouseYes
1996The Savannah HouseYessame neighborhood as the Mercer house featured in “Midnight in the Garden of Good and Evil
1995The Salem HouseYes“I fought the law and the law won…”
big battle with the historic commission.
1995The Napa Valley HouseYes
1994The Acton HouseYes
1994The Honolulu HouseYesno longer owned by subject owner
1993The Belmont HouseYes
1993The Miami HouseYes
1992The Lexington RanchYes
1992The London HouseYes (Well, sort of—I know the neighborhood, but have no useful mapping software to nail down the location)
1991The Wayland House (Kirkside)Yes
1991The New Orleans HouseYesprobably no longer owned by subject owner
1990The Jamaica Plain HouseYesno longer owned by subject owner
1990The Santa Fe HouseYes
1989The Concord HouseYesSteve Thomas’ first appearance
YearNameAddress?     Notes
1988 The Lexington Bed and BreakfastYesstill in use as a B&B with website
1988The Santa Barbara BungalowYes
1987The Westwood House
(Weatherbee Farm)
Yesprobably no longer owned by subject owner
1987The Phoenix HouseYes
1987The Brimfield HouseYes
1986The Reading HouseYes
1986The Tampa HouseYesno longer owned by subject owners
1986The Melrose HouseYes
1985The Reading RanchYes
1985The Newton CottageYes
1984In and Around Boston) (multiple projects)
Master BR NoI remember the homeowner being really tall
Family Room Yesowner appeared years later as a contractor
GreenhouseYes in Reading—recently a fellow stalker provided a major clue
Victorian KitchenYes
Artful ApartmentYes
1983The Brookline HouseYesenergy efficient house built by TOH
1982The Arlington HouseYes
1982The Woburn HouseYes
1981The Newton HouseYespurchased by TOH, then converted to a condominium
1980The Dorchester HouseYespurchased by TOH, subsequently resold

Thanks to my friends Pete Randall, Buddy Turney, and Brian Hunt for filling in some holes in my data with their own sleuthing.


Last updated: 6 February 2022


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