Robert Reed lived in half of a mansion during The Brady Bunch
In the 1970s, Robert Reed was doing double-time on television between The Brady Bunch and Mannix. On The Brady Bunch he played the role of Mike Brady, the "Father of the Year" to six kids. On Mannix he played the role of Lt. Adam Tobias for 22 episodes.
One would think that with two hit series under his belt, Reed would be living the high life. Possibly tucked away in some mansion in Beverly Hills or living in a beautiful home with an oceanside view. However, in a 1970 interview with The Miami Herald, Reed described his living situation at the time.
According to the interview, Reed lived in what could be called "half a house." The house was once a great, big and beautiful Pasadena mansion, but was broken into two by an insurance firm that bought the property. Instead of a whole mansion, Reed had to settle for half of a mansion. Oh, the privilege of being an actor.
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"It still seems strange living in a house when you know the neighbors next door live in a part of the house that would have originally been yours," he said.
Although he may have only had half of a house, he still knew how to make it look extravagant. According to the interview, the house was complete with coffered ceilings, a huge walk-in fireplace, grand entrance steps and a huge front walk.
Reed explained the house needed a lot of fixing up and although we will never get to see the house ourselves, Reed did his best to describe it.
"The library of the house next door, which matches this huge living room, is now their kitchen, because we got the kitchen," he said. "But since, by consequence, we ended up with no dining room, we turned the large butler's pantry into one."
Besides the interior, Reed also spent a lot of time on his home's exterior. Turns out, Reed had quite the green thumb! He turned the home's once dry and neglected yard into a beautiful sculptured garden with a manicured lawn.
"You have to put up with a lot of things that 'aren't alright' before you can find or afford the kind of furniture a house like this cries out for," he said. "So the house is currently a melange of good antiques that I'm picking up, old reproductions and new reproductions."
Reed may not have had a whole house, but he should be used to sharing his space after being the father of six on The Brady Bunch!
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