The interior of Frasier's apartment is one of the most iconic and widely recognized sets of any television series, thanks to the careful curation by the prop department and the iconic taste of its principle lead. When Dr. Frasier Crane left Boston and the set of Cheers, the apartment he selected in Seattle befit his newfound celebrity status as the host of his own psychiatric radio program. It showcased his "eclectic" decor style, his love of antiques, and his flair for the dramatic.
His younger brother Niles' apartment(s) were less sensationalized, but no less prone to ostentatious grandeur. After he divorced his wife Maris, he moved into both the Shangri-La and the Montana. The former was a dodgy establishment that set his neurosis into full swing, while the latter was a plush bastion of affluence where he could truly stretch his wings as a newly single bachelor. Here are 10 things you never knew about the iconic apartments.
EVERYTHING IN FRASIER'S APARTMENT WAS WILDLY EXPENSIVE
When Frasier's father Martin first sets foot into his swanky Seattle apartment, Frasier asks, "So, what do you think with what I've done with the place?". As Martin's eyes take in a panoramic view of the decor, Frasier expounds, "You know, every item in here was carefully selected", which accounted for the style being "eclectic".
There was a lamp by Corbu, an Eames chair, and of course, the famous couch that was an "exact replica of the one Coco Chanel had in her Paris atelier", to name a few. The set designers spent about $500,000 dollars to create the set, with the Pastoe curved sideboard coming to $3,200 and the Wassily chair at $1, 395.
NILES' APARTMENT HAS A PANIC ROOM (BECAUSE OF COURSE IT DOES)
Niles Crane is just as fastidious as his older brother Frasier but with some notable exceptions - he's far more prone to neurotic outbursts and is completely petrified of germs. In Season 10, we learn that Niles' posh apartment at the Montana has one special feature for selective guests - a Panic Room.
The Panic Room is completely soundproof, has its own bathroom, and comes with its own air conditioner and heating unit. It also has a refrigerator and a 40" flat screen, should the inhabitant need to stay a while. No Panic Room would be complete without a hard wired satellite phone system and intercom with a direct connection to building security. It can sleep 4 comfortably, and offers a view of security cameras throughout the apartment.
SOME OF THE ITEMS IN FRASIER'S APARTMENT HAD TO BE HAND MADE
While Frasier makes a big deal about his couch, a replica of one owned by the perfume designer Coco Chanel, the couch doesn't exactly live up to its hype. It was expensive, but only because the set designers had to cover a regular couch in $15,000 dollars worth (24 yards) of Italian suede.
Marty's chair, which you'd think could be found at any second hand store, had to be assembled as well. The prop department took a regular easy chair and draped it with yards of appropriately tacky fabric from a retailer that specialized in exactly that sort of upholstery.
THE SET FOR NILES' APARTMENT WAS IN ANOTHER SIT-COM
After divorcing his wife Maris, Niles has to temporarily seek refuge at a highly discounted apartment complex ironically called the "Shangri-La". It's completely unbecoming his refined tastes (it has a Murphy bed, after all), but he makes do because anything is better than living with Maris.
RELATED: Frasier: 10 Worst Things Niles Has Ever Done, Ranked
If you look closely at his apartment, though the furnishings are different, it's the same set used for Robert's (actor Brad Garrett's) apartment in Everybody Loves Raymond. Both series were filming in 1996, and the film schedules allowed the series to swap out furniture as needed for taping episodes.
FRASIER'S SPECTACULAR VIEW ISN'T POSSIBLE
Frasier's apartment is roughly 700 to 1,150 feet from the Space Needle, inside what's known as Seattle Center. His fictitious apartment building Elliott Bay Towers is between the Seattle Repertory Theater and the International Fountain, and his apartment number (1901) indicates that he would be on he 19th floor (out of 20).
Fans have painstakingly researched the view from Frasier's apartment and given the fictitious area his apartment building would have been in, there would have been no view as spectacular as the one Frasier boasted. The skyline simply wouldn't have been oriented that way, and the Space Needle wouldn't have been visible.
NILES' APARTMENT AT THE MONTANA WAS ENORMOUS
After Niles' separation from his wife Maris in 1997, he moved into the Montana, an even more luxurious apartment building than the Elliott Bay Towers. We know this because the doorman for the Montana lives in Frasier's building, implying that if he has enough money to do that, the inhabitants of the Montana must be even wealthier than anyone living there.
The ground floor of Niles' apartment has an enormous living and dining room, with an enormous staircase in the center that leads up to the landing of the 1st floor. The 1st floor contains Niles' bedroom, a gift wrapping room, a study, and a library. It may have more rooms, as while lost on the 1st floor, Martin once discovered a secret door to a hidden chamber. There's even a 2nd floor, but the layout is barely discussed.
FRASIER'S APARTMENT WAS THE SIZE OF A HOUSE AND COST A FORTUNE
While it's difficult to surmise a full floor plan, especially since some areas seem overly large (the living room) while others seem relatively small (the corridor with Daphne's bedroom), the square footage for it is roughly 2,000, or the size of a small house.
We know this because in the episode "You Can't Tell A Crook", Jimmy the con explains he's visually outlined the floor plan and he guesses it to be 2,000 square feet, which Frasier confirms. A 3 bedroom, 2. 5 bathroom apartment of 2,051 square feet today in Seattle at the swanky Kinects Tower would go for $8,360 a month on average, or roughly 3 million to purchase.
NILES' APARTMENT HAD A RELAXATION ROOM
When you're as neurotic as Niles Crane, it makes sense that you'd want a sanctuary to retreat to at day's end. That's why on the second floor of Montana apartment, he had a relaxation room installed. It's accessible through one of two secret passageways in the apartment, or through the guest room on the second floor.
It comes complete with a roomy shower, a wet bar, a Jacuzzi, and an enormous flat screen television. What it doesn't seem to have, is a noise deprivation tank, which is something that Niles and Maris used to make full use of when they were married and living in their mansion.
FRASIER'S APARTMENT IS FULL OF SUGGESTIVE AFRICAN ART
Amidst the designer furniture and pieces of priceless art that encompass Frasier's abode, there's a variety of artifacts he's collected that are worthy of note. While many fans are already familiar with a certain African fertility statuette that has made appearances in several episodes, they may not have taken a full gander at the entire wall of suggestive artifacts he possesses.
In a few scenes he stands directly in front of it, and we can see figures with elongated appendages, as well as two figures embracing intimately. Perhaps Frasier keeps so many of the pieces around him so that he'll be more lucky in love, though their quantity never seems to improve its quality in his case.
THE SET FOR FRASIER'S APARTMENT WAS USED IN THE ODD COUPLE
Not only was the set of Frasier's apartment housed on the same sound stages that had been used when he played Dr. Crane on Cheers, it was also used as the apartment of Oscar and Felix in the new television adaptation of The Odd Couple starring Matthew Perry and Thomas Lennon.
The comedy on Frasier, which vacillated between slapstick and witty repartee was very similar to the erudite humor in the film version of The Odd Couple starring Jack Lemmon and Walter Matthau. The new version follows a similar tone, with the characters interacting humorously with aspects of the apartment, such as the glass doors that lead onto the veranda. Changes include a door too the kitchen, which Frasier's apartment never had.