Where was The Mysterious Benedict Society filmed? The School, the House & all the Locations
Posted by Ra Moon
The Disney's series, now back for season two, is based on the popular novels by Trenton Lee Stewart and illustrated by Carson Ellis.
Set in an elegant atemporal world that seems out of a Wes Anderson movie, the first season The Mysterious Benedict Society was entirely filmed in Vancouver and its surroundings.
Set in an elegant atemporal world that seems out of a Wes Anderson movie, the first season The Mysterious Benedict Society was entirely filmed in Vancouver and its surroundings.
The story starts in the fictional city of Stonetown, located somewhere in the United States. The population is disrupted by The Emergency, a strange unknown scourge, transmitted into people's minds via television and radio signals.
The series features four gifted children who, instead of having magical superpowers, use their intellect and creativity to face challenges.
The quartet of orphans Reynie Muldoon (Mystic Inscho), Kate Wetherall (Emmy DeOliveira), George ‘Sticky’ Washington (Seth Carr), and Constance Contraire (Marta Kessler) are sent to an island to investigate an enigmatic institution called L.I.V.E., founded by Dr. Curtain (played by Tony Hale, who also portrays Mr. Benedict).
Congratulations! You’ve made it to the ultimate guide to The Mysterious Benedict Society’s filming locations.
Season one locations
The establishing shots of the beautiful coastal city of Stonetown were all created digitally. After zooming into the city, we are on Water Street in Gastown, Downtown Vancouver.
The production managed to gather a colorful selection of French cars (especially Citroën) made in the 1970s. The shoot was completed in three days during November 2020.
However, if you turn at the right on Abbott street as the camera does, you won't find the gates of the Stonetown Orphanage, which were CGI'd into the scene.
The test to get a scholarship from the prestigious Boatwright Academy with the eccentric Number Two (Kristen Schaal) was organized in a place called Bishop Building.
The scene contains a lot of CGI, but the exterior was filmed in one of the buildings of the former Riverview Hospital in Coquitlam (the Crease Cafeteria and Laundry Room).
Image courtesy of Disney - Map
The pencil scene with Rhonda (MaameYaa Boafo) at the Monk Building was filmed in a vacant office complex at 5255 Heather Street in South Cambie (Vancouver).
The edifice has been rented out to film productions many times: shows like The Magicians, Arrow, Charmed, iZombie, Legends of Tomorrow, or Legion have recorded scenes here.
Image courtesy of Disney - Map
The Mysterious Benedict Society House
After the 7B room test, Milligan (Ryan Hurst) takes the kids to Mr. Benedict's house, filmed at Cecil Green Park House in Vancouver.
Bordering Howe Sound in the University Endowment Lands, this Tudor-style heritage manor is a very popular filming location in Vancouver: scenes for Riverdale, The X-Files, Nancy Drew, Home Before Dark, Upload, and Fifty Shades Freed were also filmed in this magnificent house and gardens.
Image courtesy of Disney - Map
In the second episode, "Carrying A Bird", boys take a boat to Harbor Island from a dock with dramatic mountain views.
This scene was filmed at the ferry docks in the waters of Howe Sound at Porteau Cove. This spot is located on Highway 99, between Vancouver and Squamish.
Image courtesy of Disney - Map
Anvil Island in Howe Sound served as Harbor Island. The remote school off-shore was added via digital effects.
Image courtesy of Disney - Map
The Mysterious Benedict Society School
The Shadbolt Centre For The Arts (on the right of the image) doubled as the L.I.V.E. Institute (the Learning Institute for the Very Enlightened).
The modern building of the school with porthole windows (on the left) and the tower were CGI'd into the scene.
The Shadbolt Centre is a community space promoting the arts through classes, live performances, and festivals, located near Deer Lake in Burnaby.
Image courtesy of Disney and Google Maps
However, many interior scenes taking place in the L.I.V.E. Institute were filmed at Emily Carr University of Art and Design in central Vancouver.
Image courtesy of Disney - Map
The second season locations
The location where the kids board the S.S. Shortcut in the first episode of the second season, "A Perilous Journey", is Los Angeles Union Station (LAUS), the gorgeous Art Deco railway terminal of the city.
Image courtesy of Disney - Map
The S.S. Shortcut docks in Lisbon were filmed at Pasadena City Hall, a beautiful Spanish Colonial Revival Style building completed in 1927.
Image courtesy of Disney - Map
The Santa Apolónia station in Lisbon from episode five, "Free of Pointless Command", is the Mediterranean Revival-style Santa Ana train station in Orange County, California.
Image courtesy of Disney - Map
Can you help to improve this article about the filming locations of The Mysterious Benedict Society? To complete and correct this report, any feedback, info, or images that you may have are more than welcome, thank you!
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NOTICE: If you’re using this information on your website, please credit and link to this page as a source.
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8 comments:
1- Anonymous - July 23, 2021 at 7:53 AM
Thank you, very informative. Loved the locations.
2- Gary - July 28, 2021 at 9:27 AM
Do you know who painted the walls inside the school?
3- Anonymous - May 20, 2022, 5:02 PM
Thank you so much for this, the show made me want to visit Vancouver!
4- Bill Monif - Oct 27, 2022, 11:15 PM
The small houses in Season 2 looked on outside and inside a lot like small houses in The Good Place, which was filmed in California like Season 2 of this series. The air ship interior looked a lot like one used in Indiana Jones. Did they make use of same sets?
Reply
5- Anonymous - Oct 28, 2022, 8:55 PM
I agree with you that the house must be the same set as The Good Place. The interior looks almost identical!
6- Anonymous - Nov 9, 2022, 7:56 PM
Episode 4, season 2: The train station is the Santa Ana train station in Orange County, California.
7- Anonymous - Nov 13, 2022, 1:48 PM
S2E3: The building where the SS Shortcut docks in Lisbon is the Pasadena City Hall.
8- Anonymous - Dec 13, 2022, 1:57 AM
The filming inside the L.I.V.E is actually inside Emily Carr University of Art and Design! They allow wall painting inside for exhibitions, and I recognized the place immediately, ha ha.
1- Anonymous - July 23, 2021 at 7:53 AM
Thank you, very informative. Loved the locations.
2- Gary - July 28, 2021 at 9:27 AM
Do you know who painted the walls inside the school?
3- Anonymous - May 20, 2022, 5:02 PM
Thank you so much for this, the show made me want to visit Vancouver!
4- Bill Monif - Oct 27, 2022, 11:15 PM
The small houses in Season 2 looked on outside and inside a lot like small houses in The Good Place, which was filmed in California like Season 2 of this series. The air ship interior looked a lot like one used in Indiana Jones. Did they make use of same sets?
Reply
5- Anonymous - Oct 28, 2022, 8:55 PM
I agree with you that the house must be the same set as The Good Place. The interior looks almost identical!
6- Anonymous - Nov 9, 2022, 7:56 PM
Episode 4, season 2: The train station is the Santa Ana train station in Orange County, California.
7- Anonymous - Nov 13, 2022, 1:48 PM
S2E3: The building where the SS Shortcut docks in Lisbon is the Pasadena City Hall.
8- Anonymous - Dec 13, 2022, 1:57 AM
The filming inside the L.I.V.E is actually inside Emily Carr University of Art and Design! They allow wall painting inside for exhibitions, and I recognized the place immediately, ha ha.
Ra Moon
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