The Real Palmer Residence

The house, the tree, the legend! Built in 1923, this house's particular mixture of Colonial Revival design and cedar-shake roof are quintessentially Pacific Northwest. It is, to me, pure Twin Peaks. As a filming location, it's brilliant, in that it immediately spoke all you needed to know about the Palmer family: relatively well-to-do (Leland was the town lawyer); isolated; a typical, if incredibly dysfunctional (the tree), American family.

When my good friend Travis and I first arrived at this house we were awestruck by its profound resemblance in mood to Twin Peaks. It seemed that the house dwelt in a world all its own ...almost as if it were stuck in time as Laura's house. It's interesting to note that the house isn't actually on a quiet tree-lined residential street, as one might imagine. It's actually on a small highway which serves as the main route through town. The house, however, is perfectly tucked away beyond a very tall row of hedges. The Twin Peaks location scouts had amazing talent and vision! As Travis and I walked closer to the house and looked over toward the garage, we became aware that they were preparing for a garage sale. We decided to knock on the door to ask whether it was alright to photograph the house. The very hospitable homeowner gave her permission.Her name escapes me now, but she was a very gracious host and was eager to share her Twin Peaks story with us: It was the fall of 1989 when they approached the family and offered to pay them somewhere around $100.00 to film their home for David Lynch's upcoming series. Needless to say, they were thrilled at the prospect, and immediately agreed to let them use their home as the Palmer residence. Apparently, they intended to use this house's interior as well as its exterior, for the show. Over the course of the shoot, they even filmed a few scenes inside the house, but ultimately, they decided that the interior wasn't quite right for the series. The homeowner told us that the entire crew was incredibly courteous during the course of the shoot. They wrapped it up after two days of filming and the rest is TV history. After grilling our hostess, we took our photos then wandered over to where she was setting up for the garage sale. As it turned out, the sale was being given in preparation for a move –they were selling the house. We bought two mugs with photos of the house on them which they'd had made up during the series' run. We said our goodbyes and left. Sometime in early 2006, the house was sold. UPDATE: The new owner of this house is a Twin Peaks fan! What luck! They were not aware that they had purchased the Palmer House until one day several fans showed up snapping photos from the sidewalk. Obviously, being fans from when the show originally aired, they were shocked and elated to find that they owned this rare and precious bit of Twin Peaks history.
Alright, here's where I may lose some of you. I harbor a visceral dislike for the exterior of the house used in Fire Walk With Me, shown below. Don't get me wrong, it's a lovely home –I'll explain: Laura Palmer DID NOT live in such close proximity to other houses! Not in the show and not in her diary. Remember the "small" town, Twin Peaks? The woods behind Laura's house? Sadly, this location just doesn't possess these essential elements. The house used in Fire Walk With Me is located in a large suburb of Seattle and, unfortunately, it looks every bit the crowded suburban neighborhood in the film! Here's an illustration of that point: Below, a still from the film in which James is riding up Laura's street toward her house. Looks like James took a wrong turn onto the set of Roseanne!
Okay, that said, I'd like to give this house its due regard for having always been used as the interior of the Palmer's house. In this respect, it's perfect. Though I've never been inside the house (much to my horrendous disappointment), I've heard from several sources that they changed very little about the interior before they filmed. In fact, most of the decor, furniture, knick-knacks, plants, etc. are the owner's own. That's a beautiful thing.

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