In Suburban Chicago, One Of America's Most Nostalgic Christmas Movie Locations Is A Cherished Attraction

Go ice skating in Millennium Park, admire holiday lights during a ride on Navy Pier's giant Centennial Wheel, shop for gifts in the German-style ChristkindlMarket, one of the Midwest's most festive and fun Christmas markets — there's so much to see and do in Chicago during the holiday season. But to see one of America's most nostalgic Christmas attractions, the filming location of the 1990 hit "Home Alone," you'll have to head to the suburbs. 

Just say the words "'Home Alone' house," and pretty much everyone knows what you're talking about. The red-brick, three-story Georgian Colonial mansion features prominently in filmmaker John Hughes' holiday classic. It's located north of Chicago in Winnetka, a Lake Michigan gem with boutiques and small-town charm, and fans of the film regularly make the pilgrimage from the city to glimpse the house's grand exterior. (It's about a 30-minute drive, or a 30-minute train ride plus a 15-minute walk, from Chicago's Union Station.)

"We got the train up to Winnekta," wrote one visitor from London on TripAdvisor, "[and] arrived in the prettiest, most picture-perfect area." Like several other commenters, she noted that the house seemed slightly smaller in person. "Iconic," "very cool," and "must-see" are words repeated throughout other reviews.  "It really does bring back the great memories of the movie," added another visitor from the U.K. 

The property at 671 Lincoln Avenue was built in 1921. According to a recent interview with John Abendshien, the house's owner when it was selected as a filming location, scenes from the 1984 film "Sixteen Candles" were shot down the street. A Hollywood location scout returned to Abendshien's door years later, and the rest, as they say, is movie history.

While the "Home Alone" house is a cinematic landmark, it wasn't the film's only set. As reported in the 2019 Netflix series, "The Movies That Made Us," and confirmed in a 2024 article published in House Beautiful, the film's cozy in-home interiors weren't shot at the house at all. As the film's director, Chris Columbus, revealed on Netflix, the crew built sets in the high school gym and pool area of the abandoned New Trier Township High School in Northfield, Illinois. 

This fact doesn't deter fans of the film from showing up to the fictional McCallister house, surrounded by a fence and decked out in holiday lights more than three decades after the release of "Home Alone," for photo ops from the snowy sidewalk. NBC Chicago reports that the "Home Alone" house is seeing a surge in visitors — more than 100 people per day — as the structure undergoes significant restorations. If you make the trip yourself, just remember to be respectful of the tenants: the house is a private residence.