Halliwell Manor

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Halliwell Manor is an important feature of the WB television series Charmed. The sisters' old house passed down for four generations. According to the series, the existing structure was built in 1906 after the Great Earthquake of San Francisco, but Paige mentioned to inquiring reporters in season eight that the original house was built in 1898. Since the ground is exactly situated at the center of five essential life elements (wood, earth, water, fire, metal), it is considered by many as a spiritual nexus, and its power can accessed by good or evil. The Charmed Ones' great grandparents, the Baxters, made sure it would not be abused and bought the land and built the manor. There had been several times that demons wanted to abuse the power of the Nexus, like Cole and Zankou, but after they tried to invade it to their advantage, the sisters managed to keep the shadow underground with a spell that their grams, Penny, taught Phoebe when she was little. The Nexus has given the girls an extra power boost to vanquish the Source and many other demons. However, in the end, Piper, Phoebe and Paige Matthews had no choice but to destroy it so no one will ever have access to it. The Charmed Ones used a spell called "How to Banish a Suxen" or the Nexus spelled backwards, provided by the Elders in the Halliwell Book of Shadows if in any case the good ones would lose control of the Nexus. Phoebe and Wyatt are the only Halliwell witches born in the manor.

Notable occurrences to Halliwell Manor were:

• The manor being banished in "House Call" by Piper who was under a hex.
• The manor's basement on fire after The Charmed Ones destroyed Zankou with the suxen in him.
• The manor destroyed due to enormous powers usage by the battle of The Charmed Ones vs The Ultimate Power

The Halliwell Manor has been adored by many for its location, grandness and beautiful Victorian architecture. In season 1, it was visited by Professor Whittlesey of Berkely University. In reality, the house is not located in San Francisco where the series is set. The real house can be found in a private property in Los Angeles and its interior is largely different from the ones used in the show. The real house has been used many times for exterior shots only. It is located at 1329 Carroll Ave in the Echo Park Section of Los Angeles.

There are four bedrooms, each for one of the sisters. The biggest room used to belong to Prue, but when Piper and Leo got married in season 3, Prue changed rooms with the newlyweds. Prue's room is now occupied by Paige after the former's death. One of the spare rooms (presumably Grams' bedroom before she died) was converted to be Piper's sons' nursery. Phoebe also has a bedroom. The very spacious attic houses the Book of Shadows and many items of old furniture, and the door was always kept locked before Grams' death in 1997. However, most of the potions and wicca ingredients are kept in the kitchen, which is Piper's domain. The basement is the store room for more furniture, and it used to house Prue's dark room for developing her photos, and Phoebe's training room for her martial arts lesson. The Woogyman also used to dwell under the earth underneath the manor's basement. The other rooms in the manor are the elongated dining room, the family room, the conservatory or the sun room, the living room, the foyer, and outside, a flower garden where the family sometimes hangs out. Lately also, we have seen the garage for the first time, right before Leo was taken away by the Angel of Destiny.

A trademark of the show is the front door closing magically, which Prue started at the pilot and season 1 finale, and it's been magically closed every season finale ever since (Seasons 1 & 2 - Prue; Season 3 - Shax; Season 4 - the Angel of Destiny; Season 5 - Chris Halliwell; Season 7 - "Prue's ghost"; Season 8 - Piper's granddaughter) with the exception of season 6, when they closed the doors of the delivery room at the San Francisco Memorial Hospital where baby Chris was born.

Charmed
Main: Season summaries | Episode guide | Broadcasters, DVDs & other media | Terms | Trivia
Locations and Artifacts: San Francisco Bay Area | Halliwell Manor | Magic School | The Nexus | Book of Shadows
Good beings: Charmed Ones | Close friends | Family and friends | Whitelighters | Elders
Evil beings: Darklighters | Warlocks
Neutral: Avatars | The Hollow | Firestarters