James Bond Houses and Other Stylish Spaces From the Films
It’s been sixty years since audiences were introduced to the soon-to-be international phenomenon known as Bond, James Bond. Welsh actor Sean Connery starred as secret agent 007 in the very first film adaptation of author Ian Fleming’s novels, Dr. No (1962) and, to put it in ’60s vernacular, audiences found him dashing, debonair, and deadly. A permanent fixture in pop culture, there are no less than six versions of Bond in over two dozen films, all of which feature the requisite femme fatale, exotic and historical locales, inimitable gadgets, and, of course, spectacular sets.
Inspired by German expressionism, the celebrated production designer Sir Ken Adam set the tone for the franchise. Over the years, audiences have been treated to brutalist villain’s lairs, fantastical underground headquarters, and assorted midcentury-modern interiors set against Caribbean and European backdrops. Production designers Peter Lamont, Dennis Gassner, and Mark Tildesley are a few who carried on the tradition of unforgettable visuals, including Dr. No’s tarantula room, actor Shirley Eaton painted head-to-toe in gold, weapons emerging from Bond’s Aston Martin DB5, and more.
Below, take a tour of the James Bond houses, cars, and more spaces where style remains a constant.
Photo courtesy of United Artists/Photofest1/11Dr. No’s Crab Key Facility
As the premiere film of the franchise, Dr. No sets the tone for the term “lair” with the modern residence of an evil villain bent on world domination. Production designer Ken Adam created Crab Key, the villainous Dr. No’s island retreat, which housed a nuclear reactor (shown here) as well as an underground apartment filled with modern designs and, surprisingly, antiques. As he notes in his book Ken Adam: The Art of Production Design, “The villains’ apartments always have antiques, period details mixed with modern, and a contemporary sixties style. The lair of the villain is adorned with antiques, large fireplaces, vast tables, and paintings by old masters.” The two most iconic elements of Dr. No’s quarters are probably his larger-than-life aquarium and his mod fireplace, which were created at London’s Pinewood Studios.
Photo: © 1964 Danjaq, LLC and United Artists Corporation2/11Goldfinger’s Rumpus Room
One of Adam’s most memorable designs was that of the large wood-paneled Rumpus Room in the 1964 film Goldfinger. Located at the Kentucky stud farm of Bond’s archenemy Auric Goldfinger, the luxe tack room transformed—at the touch of a switch—into a gas chamber. The space featured a reversible pool table that, when flipped over, revealed a model of Fort Knox. Also of note is the monumental stainless-steel fireplace, which wouldn’t have looked out of place in a John Lautner–designed home.
Photo: Larry Ellis/Getty Images3/11Blofeld’s Lair
As head of the global crime syndicate SPECTRE in You Only Live Twice, Ernst Stavro Blofeld required a fittingly sinister lair. Located inside a volcano in Japan, it doubled as a rocket-launch station. Adam’s design for the 1967 film turned into one of the most expensive and complex movie sets of its time. Constructed at Pinewood Studios outside London for a million dollars, it included a working monorail, a helipad, a command station, and a full-scale rocket launchpad. The set required more tubular steel than what was used in the construction of the London Hilton.
Photo: Anwar Hussein/Getty Images4/11The Elrod House
Immortalized in the 1971 film Diamonds Are Forever, the futuristic Elrod House in Palm Springs was designed by architect John Lautner and decorated by designer Arthur Elrod in the late ’60s. The residence belonged to billionaire Willard Whyte (Jimmy Dean) in the film and is considered one of the city’s most famous midcentury homes, featuring triangular clerestory windows, retractable walls of curved glass and a cone-shaped roof. Whyte has impeccable taste in furniture, as evidenced by the above image of Connery lounging in a Gaetano Pesce Up chair on set.
Photo courtesy of United Artists/Photofest5/11Willard Whyte’s Penthouse
Blofeld’s hideout in Willard Whyte’s palatial penthouse, also in Diamonds Are Forever, was one of Adam’s more contemporary sets. The circular floor design echoed a similar motif Adam used in the famous War Room in 1964’s Dr. Strangelove (Adam and Stanley Kubrick were frequent collaborators). The leather furnishings, dramatically slanted ceiling, and chrome tubular chandelier look just as chic today.
Photo courtesy of United Artists/Photofest6/11Bond’s Sports Car Turned Submarine
No Bond film would be complete without a powerful and heartbreakingly beautiful sports car. For the 1977 film The Spy Who Loved Me, a Lotus Esprit transformed into a submarine, complete with fins, an underwater smokescreen, a periscope, torpedoes, and sea-to-air missiles (apparently all after-market options). The Lotus was said to be “discovered” by producer Albert “Cubby” Broccoli, who happened to notice it parked outside of Pinewood Studios on his way to the set one day. Adam served as the film’s production designer and Peter Lamont its art director. By this time, Roger Moore had replaced Connery in the role of Bond.
Hulton Deutsch/Getty Images7/11Taj Lake Palace
Worldwide locales are another key component of the Bond franchise. The Monsoon Palace in Udaipur, India, served as the opulent residence of villain Kamal Khan in the 1983 film Octopussy, while the nearby Lake Palace was transformed into the heavily guarded island home of jewel smuggler Octopussy (Maud Adams, seen here) and her circus troupe. Lamont had taken over as production designer by this time and created an elaborate lair of a bedroom, complete with a sculpted-bronze octopus bed, a regal corona, and gilded details on the arches and walls.
Photo: Keith Hamshere8/11The Ice Palace
Lamont created this icy structure for villain Gustav Graves in the 2002 film Die Another Day, which features Pierce Brosnan as Bond. Yet another legendary bit of Bondsian technology makes an appearance here: an orbital mirror satellite code-named Icarus. The Ice Palace was inspired by the Ice Hotel in Jukkasjärvi, Sweden; producer Barbara Broccoli thought it would make an intriguing location after reading about the gelid hotel in a magazine.
Photo: TCD/Prod.DB / Alamy Stock Photo9/11The Ocean Club
The 23rd installment in the Bond franchise, the 2006 flick Casino Royale marks Daniel Craig’s first appearance as 007. He tracks down a bomb maker in Madagascar and criminal bankers in the Bahamas and Italy, but it is at the Four Seasons Resort Ocean Club in Nassau, Bahamas, where Bond relaxes in a beachside villa while in hot pursuit of shady financier Alex Dimitrios. The Paradise Island Bahamian-style resort ironically opened in 1962, and this year is celebrating the Bond anniversary with a secret menu featuring shaken-not-stirred martinis.
Photo: TCD/Prod.DB / Alamy Stock Photo10/11Villa Dar Bianca
It appears everyone in Bond’s orbit lives in style. Case in point: 007’s archnemesis Blofeld (most recognizable stroking his favorite accessory, a long-haired white Persian cat) resides in a scene-stealing contemporary Moroccan villa in the 2015 film Spectre, for which Dennis Gassner served as production designer. Designed by architect Imad Rhamouni (who studied under Philippe Starck) in 2006, the linear two-story property Villa Dar Bianca (complete with two swimming pools) is bathed in natural light and tall glass walls, a perfect hideaway to plan world domination. The house with the sophisticated pedigree and views of the Atlas Mountains was on the market in 2015 for $4.3 million.
Photo: TCD/Prod.DB / Alamy Stock Photo11/11Bond’s Jamaican Retirement Retreat
Daniel Craig takes a final bow as Bond in the 2021 film No Time to Die. Retired and living the good life fishing and reading in Jamaica, he is called back to duty in search of yet another villain bent on worldwide domination. Production designer Mark Tildesley and set decorator Vérnonique Melery created an idyllic getaway for the world’s most famous spy, an open-air retreat with a Japanese hip roof and concrete floors on a secluded Coca Beach. “The house went through different kinds of stages and inspirations. It’s a bit Japanese, a bit more local Jamaican, and sort of integrates all the different styles,” says Melery. Bond’s custom furnishings (made in London’s Pinewood Studio) were influenced by 1900’s French designer Paul Poiret, Italian Brazilian designer Lino Bo Bardi, and 20th-century designer George Nakashima.
