'Home Alone' movie house for sale

Chicago-area home where young Macaulay Culkin battled bungling burglars is listed for $2.4 million by the family who played host to film crew.

Posted by Teresa at MSN Real Estate on Thursday, May 5, 2011 9:14 AM

The house that a young Macaulay Culkin defended from home invaders in the classic 1990 film "Home Alone"can now be yours.

The couple that owned the 1920s Colonial home in Winnetka, Ill., during the making of the movie are empty nesters and ready to downsize. They are selling the 4,250-square-foot house with four bedroom suites on a half-acre lot about 30 miles outside of Chicago. The listing price is $2.4 million.

"We don't think about it all that much, and yet there are times we are reminded that the house is somewhat of an icon," owner Cynthia Abendshien says on a video advertising the property. She mentions once being asked by Chicago Mayor Richard M. Daley to show the house to the Japanese ambassador.

She and her husband, John, bought the home in 1988 and lived there with their daughter, Lauren, during the five and a half months the film crew was there. The house was big enough for the family and the movie cast and crew, the owners said in a Q&A provided by Coldwell Banker.

Lauren, two years younger than the film's star, played with Culkin and his younger brother, Kieren. The family has lots of mementos of the filming and got to know some of the stars, including Catherine O�Hara and Daniel Stern, who they said were particularly nice to the neighborhood kids. 

The Abendshien family was first approached by producer John Hughes' location scout when they were living in their previous home, also a center hall Colonial, and the filmmaker was making "Uncle Buck." But they didn't want the disruption of filming while their home was on the market. Eighteen months later, "Home Alone" director Chris Columbus knocked on their door and said "Are you ready yet?"

The house is within walking distance of downtown Winnetka, a wealthy bedroom community of Chicago.

You can see multiple photos of the interior, floor plans and a video tour and interview with the owners by listing agent Marissa Hopkins here. ("Leave your cares behind, not your family members," she advises.) The house seems to be full of windows and light, and we especially like the screened porch.

If your kids are hoping to slide down the front staircase into the snow, however, be warned: The film crew had to build a ramp for young Kevin to be able to do that.