One of the most instantly recognizable houses in cinema, next to the Addams Family manor, the Maitland home (aka the "Beetlejuice House") stands out as a truly fascinating piece of property. With its curious angles, jagged edges, and unique interior layout, it echoes the whimsicality of Beetlejuice itself, Tim Burton's cult classic movie about a terrible family who moves into a house filled with kindly ghosts, who must resort to hiring an ethereal conman to help them eradicate their human harassers.

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As the Maitland home is transformed, first as a pet project by Adam and Barbara before their untimely deaths, then as a major renovation by Charles and Delia Deetz, it begins to take on a life of its own. Add Beetlejuice himself into the mix, and it becomes a total madhouse. In all its incarnations, the house provides insight into the movie and the delightfully twisted mind of its creator.

It Isn't A Real House

Beetlejuice Maitland house exterior

If the Maitland home seems too funky to be real, that's because it was. In actuality, it was a facade, much like the rest of the fictional town. It was created for the movie, with interiors shot at a sound stage in Culver City, California.

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Anyone wanting to see the house on "Beetlejuice Hill" would be sorely disappointed to find that no such house stands and that it was simply four walls placed together for exterior shots and then dismantled after the shoot was done.

The Roof Isn't Solid

Beetlejuice Maitland house in East Corinth, Vermont

Even if viewers look closely at the Maitland house, they may not be able to tell that aside from the fact that its exterior walls weren't real, its roof was just a piece of canvas. It needed to be inflated between shots by giant fans that made its shape taut.

During filming when the house wasn't being used in any important shots, the crew used the open interior floor plan as a basketball court. It's hard to believe that the odd shape of the house would be conducive to a proper game.

The Exterior Doesn't Match The Interior Floor Plan

Interior shot of Beetlejuice Maitand house stairwell and foyer

Considering that the Maitland house was never a real house, it stands to reason that there would be some aspects of its interior that wouldn't match its exterior. The entry and staircase, as well as the living room, attic, and study have the correct placement, but the other rooms in the house aren't properly aligned.

As an example, Lydia Deetz's bedroom should be over the kitchen, which according to the exterior of the house should be a wing on the back, but there isn't access to the second story. Therefore, there isn't any access to the tower as shown.

The Interior Was Designed By Catherine O'Hara's Husband

Otho and Delia Deetz decorating the Maitland house in Beetlejuice

Production designer Bo Welch designed the interior of the Maitland home, both for Adam and Barbara's aesthetic style and for Delia Deetz's more avant-garde approach. Welch would go on to date Catherine O'Hara, and the two would eventually get married.

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Most of the furniture was either found or created. The prop department had to come up with some of the unusual pieces for Delia Deetz's collection (as recommended by her fictional interior designer friend Otho), especially her own art sculptures.

The Deetz Style Isn't That Bad

Deetz dinner party scene and interior shots from Beetlejuice

Delia Deetz is an eccentric artist, but a lot of the design elements she envisioned for her home aren't that horrible in retrospect. With a lot of tasteful post-modern influence, there are a lot of areas of the house that totally work, from the statement-making dining room to the cobalt-blue full commercial kitchen complete with giant glass-door refrigerator.

Anywhere else the excessive use of glass bricks might seem dated, but in the Maitland home, they look innovative and striking as a backdrop for both the mantle in the living room and Delia's sculptures in the dining room.

It's Part Of A Yuppie Trend

Charles (Jeffrey Jones) and Delia Deetz (Catherine O'Hara) on their deck

It's not a coincidence that Charles Deetz, a wealthy real estate developer, and his high-maintenance sculptor wife want to flee New York and live in rural Connecticut. The state has been known to have high-end property for years, with even modern celebrities purchasing homes there.

Beetlejuice lampoons the concept of yuppies fleeing the rat race of their metropolitan existence to live in the country, only to change it into something resembling what they left behind and inviting all their friends. They drive up the local property values with their renovations, a real estate anxiety the movie highlights for comedic effect, while the Maitlands are trapped in the afterlife and can't do anything to stop it.

The Move Foreshadows A Few Things

Delia Deetz (Catherine O'Hara) being pinned by one of her statues and the movers

Watching the transformation of the Maitland residence into the Deetz domain, fans are struck by certain foreshadowed events, especially in the preliminary scene where movers are moving pieces of Delia's art into the living room.

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Delia is momentarily trapped against a wall of the house's exterior by a piece of her sculpture, foreshadowing the ending scene in which Beetlejuice also uses one of her sculptures against her and says (mimicking her line from earlier), "This is my art, and it is dangerous!". The railing she also has installed in the stairwell is made out of snakeskin, and it later becomes an actual snake under Beetlejuice's power.

The Sandworms Are Never Explained

Sandworms surrounding the Maitland house from Beetlejuice

Perhaps more than any other entity from one of his movies, the sandworms surrounding the Maitland residence have come to represent Tim Burton's distinctly whimsical yet dangerous aesthetic. With their writhing black-and-white striped bodies and heads-within-heads full of jagged teeth, they're one of the most grotesque creatures in Burton's arsenal, and yet they're utterly fascinating.

After the Maitlands cross over into the Neitherworld, the sandworms surround their house like attack dogs, lunging at Adam or Barbara whenever they try to leave their property. It's never explained where they came from or where they go, their only objective seemingly to keep the Maitlands inside.

The Deetz's Renovations Aren't Part Of The Neitherworld

Barbara and Adam Maitland looking in wonderment at the Deetz's renovations to their home

As the Maitlands become more accepting of the fact that they've died and passed over into the Neitherworld, they begin to see just how much their perception of the world of the living has changed. As Delia makes more changes to the house, they can't tell where one plane of existence ends and another begins.

Barbara views some of the changes Delia's made as evidence that they're in the Neitherworld, in no small part because Delia's aesthetic choices are gruesome, bizarre, and inconsistent with the styling of most modern homes.

It Becomes A Hybrid Home By The End

Lydia Deetz floating in the foyer of her home and dancing in Beetlejuice.

The Deetzes weren't the only people spearheading a renovation of the Maitland home — the house was being renovated by the Maitlands even after they purchased it, so the home never looked "finished" until after it was purchased by the Deetzes. Irony abounds when the Deetzes finish their remodel and purposefully choose to make other parts of the house look unfinished.

By the end of the movie, both the Maitlands and the Deetzes learn to live together in the home, and Lydia Deetz's test scores are celebrated by both families. When Lydia floats above the stairwell, fans can see it's been returned to its original 19th-century glory with the floral wallpaper and warm woods, while Delia has been allowed to maintain some of her kitschy art.

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