Heavy/HGTV HGTV's "A Very Brady Renovation" cast in 2019
Four years after HGTV purchased and completely renovated the iconic Los Angeles home featured in the 70s sitcom “The Brady Bunch,” Tina Trahan has purchased the home for just under $3.2 million, according to the Wall Street Journal, but she has no plans on living there.
In fact, Trahan — who got the home for a steal, given that it was first listed in May for $5.5 million — told the paper no one will get to live there for fear that the restorations completed on the 2019 HGTV special series “A Very Brady Renovation” will be ruined.
“Anything you might do to make the house livable would take away from what I consider artwork,” she told the paper. “It’s almost like a life-size dollhouse.”
So what does she plan to do with the California house? Here’s what you need to now:
New ‘Brady Bunch’ House Owner Considers Herself a ‘Historic Home Enthusiast’
HGTVThe “Property Brothers” Drew and Jonathan Scott work with “Brady Bunch” alums Maureen McCormick and Christopher Knight on renovations
Even though only the exterior of the purchased home was featured on the show, HGTV bought it for $3.5 million in 2018, according to NPR, with a plan to make the inside look just like it did on the series.
HGTV then recruited some of its biggest stars, including hosts Drew and Jonathan Scott, and several cast members from the original “Brady Bunch” series to recreate the sitcom home, filming the project every step of the way. The network spent another $1.9 million adding 2,000 square feet of living space — including an upstairs — and recreating the TV home, according to HGTV’s website.
Trahan, who has been married to former HBO chief executive Chris Albrecht since 2016, is a self-proclaimed “historic home enthusiast,” according to People, and is a huge fan of “The Brady Bunch.” With enough money to “collect” homes like the 70s icon she just scooped up, she admitted to the Wall Street Journal it was “the worst investment ever” because she’ll likely never make money from it.
Instead, Trahan plans to use the space for daytime charity events, she told Patch, but won’t rent it out as an AirBNB or party house.
“We don’t want people having parties there,” she said. “If I were to loan it out, it would be more for a daytime situation. I don’t want to disturb the neighborhood. I’m keeping it totally Brady. This is ‘The Brady Bunch’ house.”
To make sure it stays protected, Trahan told Patch that she plans to continue 24-hour security at the house, just as HGTV did.
In 2017, Trahan told Crain’s Business in Chicago, where she grew up, that she and her husband were living in a $7.1 million home in Santa Monica, California while waiting for renovations to be completed on an $18 million, 12,000-square-foot house they’d purchased in nearby Pacific Palisades.
HGTV Stars Added Many Dated & Iconic Features to the ‘Brady Bunch’ House
HGTVMembers of the original “Brady Bunch cast” and HGTV stars in 2019
According to the house’s real estate listing, the “Brady Bunch” house is the 2nd most photographed home in the United States after the White House. “The Brady Bunch” ran for five seasons from 1969 through 1974, following the life of a blended family and their housekeeper, but has lived on through the decades in reruns.
When HGTV’s stars renovated the home, built in 1959, the network issued a press release that said, “Standout features in the completed home include the iconic floating staircase, the burnt orange-and-avocado green kitchen, the kids’ Jack-n-Jill bathroom and a backyard with a swing set, teeter totter and Tiger’s dog house.”
When the house was posted for sale in May, HGTV said a portion of the sale’s proceeds would “help provide up to 250,000 meals for Turn Up! Fight Hunger, an initiative that helps kids living with hunger in the U.S. through No Kid hunger.” Given that HGTV lost money instead of made a profit on the sale, it’s not clear whether a donation will still take place.
The series turned out to be a huge hit for HGTV in 2019, according to a press release, with the highest-rated season premiere in the network’s history.