Stage 18, Paramount · modelled on Christopher Street · 1954
The whole film is one courtyard, built on a soundstage and copied from a real one in Greenwich Village. Every lit window across the yard is a place you can go and see.
From Jeff’s chair, across the yard
The set had 31 apartments, every one wired for day and night. Here are 31 windows. Put the lens on a lit one.
Move the pointer over the building, tap a lit window, or use the arrow keys between them.
Thirty-one windows. 11 are lit. Sweep the lens across them, or tab to a lit window.
About ten days before shooting, Robert Burks pre-lights all 31 apartments for day and for night, each on a remote switch.
Greenwich Village, New York
The film gives a fictional address in Greenwich Village, 125 West 9th Street, and was shot on an indoor set at Paramount.
Hitchcock reportedly had assistants photograph the neighbourhood from all angles, in all weathers and in every kind of light. The real courtyard has a shared garden, exposed brick and fire escapes like the one Grace Kelly climbs.
Its angled corners are a signature of the architect Hyman Isaac Feldman, credited with more than 2,500 designs. Jane Jacobs lived a few blocks away at 555 Hudson Street. Her fight against 1960s urban renewal helped save buildings like this one.
The Christopher Street building becomes a real location, for Manhattan Murder Mystery and Serpico.
People live here. Look from the pavement on Christopher Street; the courtyard is for residents only.
New York
Live marketplace results for walks in the Village. None is a Rear Window tour as such, and no one should take you into a private courtyard: check each itinerary.
Live marketplace results · itineraries change
Compare toursParamount Stage 18, Hollywood
6 flashbulbs. Fire one into the courtyard.
One press, one flash. Nothing strobes.
Broadway at West 103rd Street
In the late 1930s Cornell Woolrich was living with his mother on the top floor of the Hotel Marseilles, at 103rd and Broadway. Mother and son shared the apartment for nearly 25 years, until she died in 1957.
His 1942 story It Had to Be Murder, published in Dime Detective Magazine, became Rear Window. Woolrich had gone to Columbia University, where he began writing stories modelled on F. Scott Fitzgerald’s.
Harry Allan Jacobs designed the hotel in 1902–05: brick with limestone, wrought-iron and terra-cotta trim under a sloping mansard roof. It is a designated landmark.
A residential building now. Look at it from Broadway; do not go in.
From the Barbizon to Monaco
Turn the focus ring. Near is New York, where Grace Kelly began; far is Monaco, where she stayed.
In focus: The Barbizon (Grace Kelly in New York). 1 of 5.
140 East 63rd Street at Lexington Avenue
Before she was a star, Grace Kelly lived at the Barbizon, a glamorous home for aspiring models and actresses.
It was built in 1928 as a residence for single women working in New York.
Liza Minnelli, Ali MacGraw, Candice Bergen and Joan Didion lived here too.
Private flats now. See the tower from 63rd Street and Lexington Avenue.
Indiana, Pennsylvania · Beverly Hills · Leytonstone
The museum is on the third floor of the Indiana Borough Community Building, in the heart of Jimmy Stewart’s home town. It stands across from where his father had his hardware store.
It shows posters, photographs, costumes, props, military uniforms, awards and personal things, and has a 50-seat theatre with a different Stewart film at 1pm each week.
Monday to Saturday 10am–4pm, Sunday 12–4pm. Park at 650 Water Street.
Indiana, Pennsylvania · Mon–Sat 10am–4pm · Sun 12–4pm · adults $12
Three floors up in Indiana, Pennsylvania, across from his father’s hardware store: posters, costumes, props, awards and a daily 1pm film.
Plan a visit
The Alfred Hitchcock papers are here: 71.8 linear feet of scripts, story notes, correspondence, casting records and call sheets. They were given by his daughter, Patricia Hitchcock O’Connell, in 1984, with additions in 1987.
Open to the public Monday, Tuesday, Thursday and Friday, 10am–6pm. Special collections, the Hitchcock papers among them, are by appointment only.
Beverly Hills · Mon, Tue, Thu, Fri · 10am–6pm
Open to the public; the Hitchcock papers are special collections, so book and request them in advance.
Library details
Hitchcock was born in Leytonstone on 13 August 1899. Seventeen Hitchcock mosaics line the entrance and tunnel of Leytonstone station, on the street side of the ticket barriers.
Mosaic 08, Rear Window, is at the entrance: Stewart’s photographer, L.B. Jefferies, laid up with a broken leg. The gallery opened on 3 May 2001. Waltham Forest council organised it, and the pictures were chosen by local people.
Free. The mosaics are on the street side of the ticket barriers, so you need no ticket to see them.
Leytonstone, London · Free
Seventeen mosaics on the street side of the barriers at Leytonstone station, Rear Window at the entrance.
See the mosaics10 places you can visit, from Christopher Street to Fontvieille. The Kelly house in East Falls is private: named, not mapped. The courtyard, the Marseilles and the Barbizon are homes: look from the street.
Pins mark public places; private homes are named but not pinned.
General reference · Restricted access · Coordinate precision: site · Not an exact scene or camera position; not a visitor route. People live here. Look from the pavement on Christopher Street; the courtyard is for residents only.
General reference · Restricted access · Coordinate precision: site · Not an exact scene or camera position; not a visitor route. A residential building now. Look at it from Broadway; do not go in.
General reference · Restricted access · Coordinate precision: site · Not an exact scene or camera position; not a visitor route. Private flats now. See the tower from 63rd Street and Lexington Avenue.
125 Christopher Street, Greenwich Village
The film gives a fictional address in Greenwich Village, 125 West 9th Street, and was shot on an indoor set at Paramount.
People live here. Look from the pavement on Christopher Street; the courtyard is for residents only.
2689–2693 Broadway at West 103rd Street
In the late 1930s Cornell Woolrich was living with his mother on the top floor of the Hotel Marseilles, at 103rd and Broadway.
A residential building now. Look at it from Broadway; do not go in.
140 East 63rd Street at Lexington Avenue
Before she was a star, Grace Kelly lived at the Barbizon, a glamorous home for aspiring models and actresses.
Private flats now. See the tower from 63rd Street and Lexington Avenue.
Stay
The Hôtel de Paris in Monte-Carlo, whose Princess Grace suite keeps her poems and books.
Monte-Carlo, Monaco · Rates on booking
On Place du Casino. Its Diamond Suite – Princess Grace, 983 m² over two floors for up to six guests, shows her work and personal mementoes, her favourite poems and books among them.
See the suiteGo there
Paramount’s studio tour, the State Apartments in Monaco, the Jimmy Stewart Museum, the Herrick Library, Leytonstone’s mosaics and walks in the Village.
Hollywood · Premier Tour $71 · Studio Tour $160 · VIP $230
The two-hour Premier Tour runs daily from the Tour Center at 5515 Melrose Avenue: the prop warehouse, the New York backlot, the Bronson Gate and soundstages. Over-10s only; photo ID from 18.
Book a tourIndiana, Pennsylvania · Mon–Sat 10am–4pm · Sun 12–4pm · adults $12
Three floors up in Indiana, Pennsylvania, across from his father’s hardware store: posters, costumes, props, awards and a daily 1pm film.
Plan a visitBeverly Hills · Mon, Tue, Thu, Fri · 10am–6pm
Open to the public; the Hitchcock papers are special collections, so book and request them in advance.
Library detailsLeytonstone, London · Free
Seventeen mosaics on the street side of the barriers at Leytonstone station, Rear Window at the entrance.
See the mosaicsNew York
Live marketplace results for walks in the Village. None is a Rear Window tour as such, and no one should take you into a private courtyard: check each itinerary.
Live marketplace results · itineraries change
Compare toursMonaco
Live marketplace results for tours of Monaco and Monte-Carlo. Check each itinerary for the palace, the cathedral and Fontvieille.
Live marketplace results · itineraries change
Compare toursWhat’s on
The Hitchcock Film Festival in Bodega Bay on 17 October, and The Making of JIMMY in Stewart’s home town.
Checking current event dates…
Take it home
An original 1954 poster from our store and a 1960 re-release from its archive, Woolrich’s stories, and books on Hitchcock and Grace Kelly.
An original 1954 poster, 27 x 41 in, rolled and linen-backed, in mint condition.
In stock
View posterA 1960 re-release poster, 30 x 40 in, linen-backed, rolled after being folded; near mint.
Sold out · archive reference
View posterSteven DeRosa
Steven DeRosa on Hitchcock and the screenwriter John Michael Hayes.
Find the bookCornell Woolrich
A Penguin collection of Woolrich’s crime writing.
Find the bookDonald Spoto
Donald Spoto’s 2009 life of Grace Kelly.
Find the bookDonald Spoto
Spoto’s biography of Alfred Hitchcock.
Find the bookDates, prices, rooms and stock change: confirm with the provider before you travel or buy. A stay or tour is described as a filming location only where the card says so.
The neighbours have earned their privacy.
Blinds up.
Every place and moment behind this page, with sources.
11 of 11 places · 17 of 17 Moments
125 Christopher Street, Greenwich Village
Jeff’s apartment is given a fictional Greenwich Village address, 125 West 9th Street.
Hitchcock reportedly has the Village photographed from all angles, in all weathers and lights, to build the set.
The film’s courtyard is based on the real one at 125 Christopher Street.
The Christopher Street building becomes a real location, for Manhattan Murder Mystery and Serpico.
2689–2693 Broadway at West 103rd Street
Cornell Woolrich’s story It Had to Be Murder appears in Dime Detective Magazine. It becomes Rear Window.
140 East 63rd Street at Lexington Avenue
Grace Kelly lives at the Barbizon, a home for aspiring models and actresses.
5515 Melrose Avenue, Hollywood (Studio Tour Center)
Hitchcock supervises a six-week build on Stage 18: 31 apartments, 12 fully furnished, the lowest levels below the stage floor.
About ten days before shooting, Robert Burks pre-lights all 31 apartments for day and for night, each on a remote switch.
The heat from the lamps sets off the stage sprinklers at the start of filming; they have to be disconnected.
A ring seen from about 70 feet away defeats a 10-inch lens; it is shot with a six-inch lens from a boom over the courtyard.
The opening shot, about 90 seconds long, takes the biggest boom on the lot, ten takes and half a day.
Principal photography is completed in January 1954.
333 South La Cienega Boulevard, Beverly Hills
Patricia Hitchcock O’Connell gives her father’s papers to the Academy’s library.
835 Philadelphia Street, Indiana, Pennsylvania
East Falls, Philadelphia (private house)
Prince Albert buys his mother’s childhood home in East Falls for $775,000.
Leytonstone station, Church Lane, London E11
The Hitchcock Gallery of seventeen mosaics opens at Leytonstone station, Rear Window among them.
Place du Palais, Monaco-Ville
Rue Colonel Bellando de Castro, Monaco-Ville
Prince Rainier III and Grace Kelly marry in Monaco Cathedral.
Fontvieille Park, Monaco
Prince Rainier III opens a rose garden in Fontvieille in his late wife’s honour.
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