‘ Marley & Me ‘ house is on the market
By SARAH E. MORANSpecial to the Local News
The house at 1175 Meetinghouse Road in Birmingham featured in the 2008 film “Marley & Me” is listed for sale at $1.25 million.
BIRMINGHAM — The “Marley & Me” house is for sale. And that’s exactly how it’s being marketed. A big sign on the northeast corner of Route 100 and Meetinghouse Road, where the stone house has stood for nearly 175 years, trumpets the fact that this is where much of the 2008 tearjerker film was filmed.
The house, with its surrounding 16 acres and four outbuildings, is on the market for $1.25 million. Owners John Ennis, an attorney, and Lisa Taylor Ennis, a fine-arts photographer, want to downsize now that their three children have flown the nest.
The house, at 1175 Meetinghouse Road, is well known to local film buffs and old house aficionados alike. The film was based on the wildly popular “Marley & Me” memoir by John Grogan, a former newspaper reporter whose tales of the mischievous yet lovable Marley, a yellow Labrador retriever, grabbed dog lovers’ hearts everywhere.
“People still come by to take pictures,” John Ennis said with a chuckle. “A whole load of kids and parents will jump out of the car and snap photos in front of Marley’s house. People are polite and discreet; they don’t want to meet us. They just want to see Marley’s house.”
Played by Owen Wilson and Jennifer Aniston, John and Jennifer Grogan and their brood moved to the region from Florida. They now live in Bucks County with Marley’s successor. No surprise that Woodson is another yellow Lab.
Scouts for the movie’s production company scoured Pennsylvania and Connecticut for a suitable house and countryside to match.
“They wanted a house that symbolized the Grogans’ rock-solid relationship,” John Ennis recalled.
And they found it in Chester County.
Many locals — including the Ennises, who moved out to a production company-provided condo in Avondale for two months during filming — avidly watched as the film was put together.
The only place off-limits was the studio, where Lisa Ennis has her studio and gallery. Other rooms in the house were crowded with film gear, production assistants and the like. Continued…
The five-bedroom, 3½-bath house, its two stone sections joined by a wooden addition in true farmhouse style, did not disappoint.
A particularly memorable scene shows the house during a winter’s night, glowing in the background, as John Grogan makes snow angels in the front yard with his children. Contented, and with his “pack,” Marley keeps them company.
And, when an aging Marley gets sick and can’t make the stairs anymore, John Grogan fashions a pallet for himself in front of the fireplace, where Marley has parked for the night.
Most of the Ennises’ Americana-inspired furniture, quilts, found objects and artwork — including Lisa’s photography — remained in the house during filming. (For visual continuity, set designers brought in a few pieces of furniture from the Florida set.)
The decision to market the house as the “Marley & Me” venue was a no-brainer, according to Richard Gross of Prudential, Fox & Roach who, with wife Holly, is representing the sellers.
“Selling a house is like selling a piece of artwork. If the art or the house has good provenance — based on who owns or owned it, or what happened there — you do your client a disservice if you don’t take advantage of that,” Dick Gross said.
A Hollywood production company recently contacted the Grosses, interested in doing a show about houses where movies were filmed.
The “Marley & Me” house has a new Waterbury-designed kitchen, a new 50-year cedar shake roof, some new Nordic hardwood floors and a redone master bath with Carrara marble, a claw-foot soaking tub and glass-enclosed shower.
All this is a far cry from when the family purchased the house in 1996. It was abandoned, the front door falling off its hinges, Lisa Ennis recalled. Floors were damaged and it had no kitchen to speak of. A shallow swimming pool with a fountain, near the Route 100 corner and well known to area children, had recently been filled in.
The Ennises camped out in the living room while they undertook extensive restoration and renovation, doing much of the work themselves. Continued…
By SARAH E. MORANSpecial to the Local News
The house at 1175 Meetinghouse Road in Birmingham featured in the 2008 film “Marley & Me” is listed for sale at $1.25 million.
BIRMINGHAM — The “Marley & Me” house is for sale. And that’s exactly how it’s being marketed. A big sign on the northeast corner of Route 100 and Meetinghouse Road, where the stone house has stood for nearly 175 years, trumpets the fact that this is where much of the 2008 tearjerker film was filmed.
The house, with its surrounding 16 acres and four outbuildings, is on the market for $1.25 million. Owners John Ennis, an attorney, and Lisa Taylor Ennis, a fine-arts photographer, want to downsize now that their three children have flown the nest.
The house, at 1175 Meetinghouse Road, is well known to local film buffs and old house aficionados alike. The film was based on the wildly popular “Marley & Me” memoir by John Grogan, a former newspaper reporter whose tales of the mischievous yet lovable Marley, a yellow Labrador retriever, grabbed dog lovers’ hearts everywhere.
“People still come by to take pictures,” John Ennis said with a chuckle. “A whole load of kids and parents will jump out of the car and snap photos in front of Marley’s house. People are polite and discreet; they don’t want to meet us. They just want to see Marley’s house.”
Played by Owen Wilson and Jennifer Aniston, John and Jennifer Grogan and their brood moved to the region from Florida. They now live in Bucks County with Marley’s successor. No surprise that Woodson is another yellow Lab.
Scouts for the movie’s production company scoured Pennsylvania and Connecticut for a suitable house and countryside to match.
“They wanted a house that symbolized the Grogans’ rock-solid relationship,” John Ennis recalled.
And they found it in Chester County.
Many locals — including the Ennises, who moved out to a production company-provided condo in Avondale for two months during filming — avidly watched as the film was put together.
The only place off-limits was the studio, where Lisa Ennis has her studio and gallery. Other rooms in the house were crowded with film gear, production assistants and the like.
The five-bedroom, 3½-bath house, its two stone sections joined by a wooden addition in true farmhouse style, did not disappoint.
A particularly memorable scene shows the house during a winter’s night, glowing in the background, as John Grogan makes snow angels in the front yard with his children. Contented, and with his “pack,” Marley keeps them company.
And, when an aging Marley gets sick and can’t make the stairs anymore, John Grogan fashions a pallet for himself in front of the fireplace, where Marley has parked for the night.
Most of the Ennises’ Americana-inspired furniture, quilts, found objects and artwork — including Lisa’s photography — remained in the house during filming. (For visual continuity, set designers brought in a few pieces of furniture from the Florida set.)
The decision to market the house as the “Marley & Me” venue was a no-brainer, according to Richard Gross of Prudential, Fox & Roach who, with wife Holly, is representing the sellers.
“Selling a house is like selling a piece of artwork. If the art or the house has good provenance — based on who owns or owned it, or what happened there — you do your client a disservice if you don’t take advantage of that,” Dick Gross said.
A Hollywood production company recently contacted the Grosses, interested in doing a show about houses where movies were filmed.
The “Marley & Me” house has a new Waterbury-designed kitchen, a new 50-year cedar shake roof, some new Nordic hardwood floors and a redone master bath with Carrara marble, a claw-foot soaking tub and glass-enclosed shower.
All this is a far cry from when the family purchased the house in 1996. It was abandoned, the front door falling off its hinges, Lisa Ennis recalled. Floors were damaged and it had no kitchen to speak of. A shallow swimming pool with a fountain, near the Route 100 corner and well known to area children, had recently been filled in.
The Ennises camped out in the living room while they undertook extensive restoration and renovation, doing much of the work themselves.
Among the four outbuildings is a barn with six stalls, though the Ennises have no horses of their own. Two dogs — Sheltie Frank and Foo, a pug — and several barn cats keep watch.
For more information, check out www.hollygross.com.
To contact correspondent Sarah E. Moran, send an e-mail to semoran219@msn.com.
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