The Real Visser Apartments Building & the Archive 81 House Location
Posted by Ra Moon
Inspired by the fiction horror podcast of the same name, the Netflix series explores the “found footage” subgenre telling the story of the mysterious Visser Apartments building in New York City.
However, Archive 81 was primarily filmed in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, where the actual house featured in the show is located.
However, Archive 81 was primarily filmed in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, where the actual house featured in the show is located.
Melody Pendras (played by Dina Shihabi, best known for her roles in Altered Carbon and the Jack Ryan series), started a sociocultural anthropology research project in 1994 about the residents of the Visser. She disappeared after a fire burned down the building.
In present-day New York, Dan Turner (Mamoudou Athie) is hired by businessman Virgil Davenport (Martin Donovan) to restore and digitize the collection of Melody's 90s-era damaged videotapes.
The series follows two timelines, reconstructing the investigation of a strange demonic cult.
Welcome to our spoiler-free guide to all the filming locations of Archive 81.
Where was Archive 81 filmed?
After the intro, the series opens with a view of the Flatiron Building in a scene filmed at Worth Square, next to Madison Square Park in Manhattan.
The bench with views of the Ed Koch Queensboro Bridge where Dan drinks his coffee is located at the Riverview Terrace in Queens.
(You can open all the locations on Google Maps by clicking on the links below in the captions ↴)
Image courtesy of Netflix - Maps: Worth Square / Riverview Terrace
Image courtesy of Netflix - Maps: Worth Square / Riverview Terrace
Dan works as an archivist at the Museum of the Moving Image located at 36-01 35th Avenue in Queens.
Opened in 1988, this museum located in a former building of the historic Astoria Studios is devoted to the creative and technical process of producing films and television shows.
In the series, Dan is watching The Circle, a fictional 1958 horror anthology preceding the Twilight Zone.
Image courtesy of Netflix - Map
Pittsburgh Tribune-Review reported that the production was filmed at the Rex Theater in South Side Flats, Pittsburgh.
It seems that the venue where Mark Higgins (played by Matt McGorry) records his supernatural-themed podcast, Mystery Signal, was filmed in this former vaudeville stage built in 1905.
The next scene when Dan and Mark are talking in the street was recorded on W 26th Street in New York City.
Image courtesy of Netflix - Maps: Rex Theater / Street
The obscure LMG company building (the acronym for Legacy Management Global) is the 11 Stanwix on the street of the same name in Downtown Pittsburgh.
The LMG sign was CGI'd over the logo of the KeyBank.
Image courtesy of Netflix - Map
Dan spends most of the series restoring Melody’s tapes in a remote LMG house located somewhere in the Catskill Mountains.
The exterior was filmed at the Tasso Katselas house, a Brutalist-style private residence on the outskirts of Pittsburgh, at 1616 Powers Run Road in Fox Chapel.
Image courtesy of Netflix - Map
This unique five-bedroom and 3,900 square feet property is surrounded by 3.3 acres of private land with an in-ground pool, concrete bridge walkways, a private 2-story guest house, and a small barn.
The interior of this house with shifting corridors and some other locations, including the Kaelego greenstone sculpture hall, were sets built at the studios in Warrendale, PA.
The Visser Apartments building in Archive 81
In the series, the Visser apartment building was constructed between 1932 and 1934 over an old mansion burned down in the 20s in the East Village neighborhood of New York.
The facade of the real Visser was filmed at the First Avenue Lofts building at 436 First Avenue in Downtown Pittsburgh, but the interior was a set built at the studio.
Image courtesy of Netflix and Google Maps
The geometric patterns ornamenting the door gates were digitally altered adding the esoteric-looking signs.
In the series, the building is at 966 East 9th Street, an address that in real life is actually located in Brooklyn.
In the series, the building is at 966 East 9th Street, an address that in real life is actually located in Brooklyn.
In the second episode, "Wellspring", the camera and video shop where Jess buys her Fisher-Price was filmed at Bernie’s Photo Center at 523 E Ohio Street in Pittsburgh.
Image courtesy of Netflix - Map
Tamara’s experimental opera scene was shot at Mr. Smalls Theater in Millvale.
This venue is located in a church built in 1924. In the year 2000, it was purchased and transformed into a nightclub and concert hall.
Image courtesy of Netflix - Map
The church in episode three, "Terror in the Aisles", is the East Liberty Presbyterian Church in Pittsburgh.
This magnificent Gothic Revival temple, completed in 1935, is also featured in the last episode, "What Lies Beneath".
However, the establishing shot of Father Russo's church is from St. Paul's Cathedral, also in Pittsburgh.
The Blaqk House Collections at 440 First Avenue in Downtown served as the art gallery in episode five, "Through the Looking Glass", where Anabelle (played by Julia Chan) exposes her paintings inspired by the mold.
Image courtesy of Netflix - Map
The Archive 81 House
The results of our sleuthing revealed that both the interior and the exterior of the Vos society mansion were filmed at the Willis McCook Estate House on Fifth Avenue in Shadyside, also known as the “Millionaire's Row”.
Restored in 2010, this mansion completed in 1906 is today part of the Mansions on Fifth luxury Hotel.
The local press also reported that filming took place at the historical Hartwood Acres Mansion, a magnificent 1929 Tudor-revival house nestled in a large country estate. This is the same location where The Pale Blue Eye was filmed, the 2023 Netflix movie with Christian Bale Harry Melling.
Image courtesy of Daderot - Maps: McCook House / Hartwood Acres
Can you help to improve this article about the filming locations of Archive 81? 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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4 comments:
1- Anonymous - Jan 20, 2022, 9:23 AM
Dan is an Archivist not a restaurateur.
2- Jiri Hlousek Photo - Jan 23, 2022, 1:45 PM
Hi, I´m pretty sure the LMG house exterior is Tasso Katselas house.
Reply
3- Ra Moon - Jan 23, 2022, 5:35 PM
Thank you, that's awesome!
4- Anonymous - Feb 9, 2022, 7:01 AM
Visser could be a pronunciation of “VCR”.
1- Anonymous - Jan 20, 2022, 9:23 AM
Dan is an Archivist not a restaurateur.
2- Jiri Hlousek Photo - Jan 23, 2022, 1:45 PM
Hi, I´m pretty sure the LMG house exterior is Tasso Katselas house.
Reply
3- Ra Moon - Jan 23, 2022, 5:35 PM
Thank you, that's awesome!
4- Anonymous - Feb 9, 2022, 7:01 AM
Visser could be a pronunciation of “VCR”.
Ra Moon
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