Everything about Wisteria Lane totally explained
Wisteria Lane is a fictional street, appearing in the
American television series Desperate Housewives.
Premise within the show
Wisteria Lane is located in the city of Fairview, in the fictional Eagle State. Its appearance reflects an upper-middle-class version of the stereotypical view of American
suburbia: perfectly manicured lawns, rows of comfortable houses and white picket fences. It is the main setting of the show, and it includes the homes of its five leading women -
Bree,
Gabrielle,
Susan,
Lynette and
Edie - as well as most of the show's other main characters. As of the fourth season, the residents of eleven houses on Wisteria Lane have been established in the show. The street may be named from the
wisteria vine, which becomes tangled and interwoven, much like the story arcs within the show.
The setting
The street known as Wisteria Lane in the show is located on the backlot of
Universal Studios Hollywood. It is referred to by film crews as
Colonial Street, and has been used for several motion pictures and television shows, starting with the 1946 movie
So Goes My Love at what is now the Solis home (at 4349 Wisteria Lane). The houses seen on
Desperate Housewives have been featured in several productions, prior to the
Desperate Housewives. Colonial Street has also been seen in several other productions, including, among others, the original
Leave It to Beaver series,
Gremlins,
The 'Burbs, and
Buffy the Vampire Slayer.
The house where the character
Betty Applewhite lived during the second season was strictly avoided by the
Desperate Housewives filming crew during season one. This was due to the fact that it was considered to be too recognized since being the main setting of
The Munsters. Following the decision to introduce the Applewhites, and having them living in the Munster home, the house was completely remodeled.
In
2005, for the second season of
Desperate Housewives, the street went through some heavy changes. During the first season only one part of the street had been seen on the show - the
cul-de-sac at the end of the street, known as
Circle Drive among film crews,
had been left out. Now the majority of the buildings and facades is this part of the street was either heavily remodelled or removed. Among the most noticeable changes were the removals of a church facade, seen on
Murder She Wrote, in order to make room for Edie's house,
and of the so-called Colonial Mansion, which was replaced by a park.
Currently Colonial Street - including Circle Drive - has sixteen main buildings, with three of them located outside the
Desperate Housewives filming area. The house closest to the settings, located next to what's called 4348 Wisteria Lane within the show, is being used by guards to stop any unauthorised access to "Wisteria Lane".
Overview of the street
The following Wisteria Lane overview is based upon details and maps given within the show as well as Universal Studios' official website - see below for further details.
Residents
These are the known residents of Wisteria Lane, covering episodes
1.01-
4.05. Note that no residents of 4348 (Drew House) and 4360 Wisteria Lane have been mentioned, although an unnamed woman, played by an uncredited
extra, is seen living in no. 4360 in episode
4.02.
Changes
Before the large changes to the set after Season One, 4360 and 4362 Wisteria Lane, as well as the park, situated around the
cul-de-sac, were not shown.
Where 4360 Wisteria Lane was built, was formerly store facades and a school facade. At 4362, Edie Britt's home, was originally a church facade that was removed. That church was seen
Murder, She Wrote (
1984) as "Cabot Cove's community church". Where the park is now (see map), was previously a relatively larger home, "Colonial Mansion."
Due to the Tornado most of the street was destroyed until the Episode
Sunday where all is normal
Unseen Houses
There are two more buildings left of 4348 Wisteria Lane (Drew House), "Corner House" first and then "Seven Gables", which have been repainted and refurbished after season one, but no one has been shown living there as of yet. The one immediately to the left of 4348 Wisteria Lane (Drew House), Corner House, is where a Desperate Housewive security guard is stationed, restricting unauthorised access to the set (Wisteria Lane).
Also behind 4347 (Delta House) and 4349 (Allison Home) atop a hill is a relatively large "Chicken Ranch" house, which has never been shown on the show.
Official maps
The 1989-1996 Colonial Street map
The official website of
Universal Studios Hollywood presents a map of Colonial Street, as it looked between 1989 and 1996. Besides the changes made during the first year of
Desperate Housewives, the main difference between this map and the current look of the street is that the houses known in
Desperate Housewives as 4352 Wisteria Lane and 4354 Wisteria Lane (Mary Alice's and Bree's houses) replaced two older buildings in 1996.
Another map, showing the street during the same era, but with higher resolution can be viewed
here
, along with an air photo taken in
2004.
Mike's map
In episode two of
Desperate Housewives,
Ah, But Underneath, a map of the street and details about its residents is seen in one of Mike's lockers. This map confirms the location of Susan's, Lynette's, Gabrielle's, Bree's, Mary Alice's, Mike's and Martha Huber's houses, as well as the existence of one house between Susan's and Gabrielle's, one house beyond Gabrielle's and one house beyond Mike's. However, it doesn't cover the part of the street that include the house on the far side of Martha Huber's house, nor the buildings around the cul-de-sac, which wasn't included in the show's setting at the time. With two exceptions, all ten houses have the same number as otherwise stated in the series.
There are some differences between Mike's map and the established version:
Although most house numbers are the same as otherwise stated, there are two exceptions: The house between Susan's and Gabrielle's houses (later known as the Applewhite house) is noted as 4354, and Bree's house is said to be 4359. Generally these houses are shown to be 4351 and 4354 Wisteria Lane, respectively, with Mike's map being the only exception.
The residents of the house between the houses of Gabrielle and of Susan are said to be Trent and Debra Nelson, although the Mullins is mentioned in the dialogue earlier in the same episode. This is the only time the Nelson's names has occurred in the series.
The resident of 4347 Wisteria Lane isn't said to be Ida Greenberg - this character isn't introduced until episode five, Come In, Stranger. Instead there are two other names noted, but too blurry to be read.
Also to be noted is that Lynette's daughter Penny is called Daisy on the map.
In addition, although the camera briefly passes by 4358 Wisteria Lane - the house that (starting with episode 14, Love is in the Air) would be known as Karen McCluskey's home - it turns away before any names are shown.
The "Behind Closed Doors" map
A map of Wisteria Lane is also included in the official season one companion book, Desperate Housewives: Behind Closed Doors, published in 2005. This map doesn't show the house numbers but confirms the existence and location of most Wisteria Lane houses to appear on the show. The exceptions are the three buildings beyond Karen McCluskey's house, which weren't added to the shows filming location until season two. Also - while most of the houses on the map are labeled "The Scavo House", "The Young House" etc., the houses now known as the McCluskey house, the Greenberg house and 4348 Wisteria Lane, is left without any description.
Further Information
Get more info on 'Wisteria Lane'.
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