“This is my house, I have to defend it.”
Contents
Thirty-five years on, Kevin McCallister’s house is still standing on a quiet street in Winnetka, Illinois, and every December a steady trickle of people drive out from Chicago to stand on the pavement and look at it. We understand the impulse completely.
The good news is that the house is only the start. Almost the entire film was shot within a few miles of it, along Chicago’s North Shore, and most of the locations are still recognisable. This is our full guide: exact addresses, what each place looks like today, how to string them together, and the one big thing about the house that nobody tells you.
Before You Go: How This Day Actually Works
Home Alone is a much tidier pilgrimage than most film-location trips, because John Hughes shot it almost entirely in one place.
- Winnetka is the hub. The house, the grocery store, the pharmacy corner, the Metra station and the Santa scene are all within about a mile of each other. You can genuinely walk between them.
- Two outliers. The church exterior is in Wilmette, four miles south. The church interior is in Oak Park, which is on the far side of the city and needs a deliberate detour.
- Getting there without a car. The Metra Union Pacific North line runs from Ogilvie Transportation Center in the Loop to Winnetka and Hubbard Woods in about 35 minutes. That is the civilised way to do it, and it drops you in the middle of the locations.
Half a day covers Winnetka comfortably. A full day gets you Wilmette and Oak Park too.
Travel Advisory
Several countries, including Canada, Germany, Denmark, and the U.K., have updated their travel advisories for the U.S. This follows incidents where foreign nationals were detained or expelled while attempting to enter the country. While the U.S. remains a generally safe destination, recent policies may negatively affect some travellers, particularly those in the LGBTQ+ community.
The Home Alone Filming Locations
1. The McCallister House
- Address: 671 Lincoln Avenue, Winnetka, IL 60093.
- The scene: all of it. The red-brick Georgian with the white trim, the fanlight over the door, the staircase Kevin sledges down, and the front steps where Harry and Marv meet the tar and the blowtorch.
- Today: instantly recognisable, still a private family home, and it changed hands in 2024 after going on the market to a great deal of press attention. Nothing about it is a museum. There is no tour, no gift shop and no admission. You look at it from the street.
- Please behave: Lincoln Avenue is a residential street and people live there. Stay on the public pavement, do not block driveways, do not go up the path, and keep the noise down, particularly in December when the traffic is heaviest.
2. The Murphy House Next Door
- Address: Lincoln Avenue, Winnetka, IL 60093, immediately by the McCallister house.
- The scene: the neighbours the McCallisters are always talking about, and the house Harry and Marv flood, giving Marv the memorable line about the Wet Bandits.
- Today: also a private home, and worth noting only because you will be standing right in front of it anyway.
3. Grand Food Center
- Address: 606 Green Bay Road, Winnetka, IL 60093.
- The scene: Kevin doing his first grown-up shop. Milk, eggs, fabric softener, and the moment the bag splits in the street outside.
- Today: still an independent grocery store, still trading, and one of the very few locations from the film you can walk straight into. Buy a carton of milk. It costs a couple of dollars and it is a much better souvenir than a photo.
4. The Hubbard Woods Pharmacy Corner
- Address: 940 Green Bay Road at Gage Street, Winnetka, IL 60093.
- The scene: the toothbrush. Kevin’s accidental shoplifting and the panicked sprint that follows.
- Today: the pharmacy is long gone and the unit has turned over more than once since, most recently as a chain bakery-cafe. The building and the corner are unchanged, though, and that is what you came for.
5. Hubbard Woods Metra Station
- Address: 1065 Gage Street, Winnetka, IL 60093.
- The scene: Kevin running from the pharmacy as a train passes on the tracks below.
- Today: a working commuter station, and if you came out from the Loop by rail this is very likely where you got off. It is around the corner from the pharmacy building, so the chase is a genuinely short run in real life.
6. Winnetka Village Hall and Chestnut Court
- Address: 510 Green Bay Road, Winnetka, IL 60093.
- The scene: Kevin catches the departing shopping-centre Santa in the little park just west of the Village Hall, and asks him to bring his family back instead of presents.
- Today: a small public park in the middle of the village, open and free, with the Village Hall behind it exactly as it appears on screen. It is a two-minute walk from Grand Food Center, so slot the two together.
7. Trinity United Methodist Church, Wilmette
- Address: 1024 West Lake Avenue, Wilmette, IL 60091.
- The scene: the exterior with the nativity scene Kevin hides in to escape Harry and Marv.
- Today: an active church about four miles south of Winnetka. The exterior is unmistakable. If you visit in December you will often find a nativity out front, which is either a nice coincidence or excellent commitment.
8. Grace Episcopal Church, Oak Park
- Address: 924 Lake Street, Oak Park, IL 60301.
- The scene: the best scene in the film. Kevin sits at the back during the choir rehearsal and has the conversation with Old Man Marley that turns the whole story around.
- Today: here is the catch that trips people up. The church interior and the church exterior are two different buildings in two different suburbs, 20 miles apart. The inside is Grace Episcopal in Oak Park. It is a working parish, so check service times before you turn up, and be respectful if anything is happening.
- Worth combining: Oak Park is also Frank Lloyd Wright’s home and studio and the largest concentration of his work anywhere. If you are making the trip out, make a half day of it.
9. O’Hare International Airport
- Address: 10000 West O’Hare Avenue, Chicago, IL 60666.
- The scene: the McCallisters’ catastrophic dash to the gate, and, in a lovely bit of production thrift, the Paris arrival as well.
- Today: you will almost certainly pass through it anyway. The terminals have been substantially rebuilt since 1990, so treat it as trivia rather than a stop. Take the Blue Line and note that the running-late-for-a-flight energy has not changed at all.
The Big Thing Nobody Tells You About the House
You cannot see the inside of the McCallister house, and not because it is private. Almost none of the interior is that house.
The production found the real house too cramped to work in, so only a handful of shots, mainly the entrance hall and the staircase, were filmed there. Everything else, every booby trap, the basement furnace, the attic, the kitchen, was built as a full two-storey set inside the gymnasium of New Trier Township High School’s West campus in Northfield, a few miles away.
The same campus did double duty in ways that are hard to unsee once you know:
- The aeroplane cabin interiors were built on the basketball courts.
- The flooded Murphy basement was shot in an empty swimming pool on campus, which is a much more sensible way to flood a basement than flooding a basement.
So the exterior on Lincoln Avenue is completely genuine, and the interior you have watched every Christmas since childhood was a school gym. Both things are true and we find the second one delightful.
Can You Do It All in a Day?
Yes, easily, which makes this a much more forgiving trip than the Ferris Bueller locations across the same suburbs.
- Half a day, no car: Metra to Hubbard Woods, walk the pharmacy corner, the station, down Green Bay Road to Grand Food Center and Chestnut Court, then over to Lincoln Avenue for the house. Train back. Around three hours including the journey.
- A full day, with a car: the above, plus Trinity United Methodist in Wilmette on the way back, and Oak Park for the church interior and the Frank Lloyd Wright houses.
- Doing it in December: allow more time and expect company at the house. This is peak season for exactly this trip.
Practical Notes
- Best time to go: December, obviously, for snow and lights and the full effect. Be warned that Chicago in December is genuinely cold, often below freezing, and the North Shore gets lake-effect wind. Dress properly. Any other month is quieter and warmer but you lose the atmosphere entirely.
- Getting there: Metra Union Pacific North from Ogilvie Transportation Center to Winnetka or Hubbard Woods, roughly 35 minutes. Buy a ticket on the Ventra app before boarding.
- Cost: almost nothing. Every location on this list is free to look at. The Metra fare and lunch are the whole budget.
- The one rule: these are real homes and real neighbourhoods, not a film set. The Winnetka locals have been extraordinarily patient for thirty-five years. Be the visitor who does not test that.
Home Alone Filming Locations: Your Questions Answered
Where is the Home Alone house?
671 Lincoln Avenue, Winnetka, Illinois, about 20 miles north of downtown Chicago. It is a private residence and there is no tour or public access.
Can you go inside the Home Alone house?
No. It is a private family home. It is also worth knowing that the interiors you remember were not filmed there anyway. Only the entrance hall and staircase were shot in the real house; the rest was a purpose-built set in a school gymnasium in Northfield.
Was Home Alone filmed in Chicago?
Almost entirely in the Chicago area, yes, but mostly in the northern suburbs rather than the city. Winnetka, Wilmette, Northfield and Oak Park do nearly all the work. O’Hare is the main location inside the city limits. Home Alone 2, by contrast, is a New York film.
Which church is in Home Alone?
Two of them. The exterior with the nativity is Trinity United Methodist Church at 1024 West Lake Avenue in Wilmette. The interior, where Kevin talks to Old Man Marley, is Grace Episcopal Church at 924 Lake Street in Oak Park.
Can you visit the Home Alone locations without a car?
The Winnetka cluster, yes and easily. Take the Metra Union Pacific North line to Hubbard Woods or Winnetka and everything is within walking distance. Wilmette is also on the same line. Oak Park is reachable on the CTA Green Line but it is a separate trip.
Is the Home Alone house decorated at Christmas?
That is entirely up to whoever owns it, and it varies year to year. Do not travel on the assumption that it will be lit up like the film, and do not knock on the door to ask.
Where to Stay
Most people base themselves downtown and treat Winnetka as a morning out, which is what we would do. The Loop and River North both put you a short walk from Ogilvie Transportation Center for the Metra north, and give you the rest of Chicago on your doorstep. Staying on the North Shore itself is quieter and more expensive, and leaves you a long way from dinner.
Planning the rest of the trip? Read our full Chicago guide, and if you would rather chase a summer film than a winter one, our Ferris Bueller’s Day Off locations guide covers the same North Shore suburbs and the whole downtown Loop.
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