The social media networks are all a buzz about Matthew Broderick reprising his role as Ferris Bueller in "Ferris Bueller's Day Off"—not in a new movie but in a Super Bowl 2012 ad for Honda, the carmaker. Already people are talking about how the commercial is an homage to that classic 1980s film—from Matthew Broderick calling in sick to his agent (versus his high school) to his talking directly into the camera.
Of course, the commercial is designed to sell the Honda CRV, and I hoped that the commercial would end with Matthew Broderick racing through his neighbors' yards to get back home in time before getting caught. And that trip down memory lane in my mind through Ferris Bueller's neighborhood got me wondering: what ever happened to the Ferris Bueller house? No, I'm not talking about the white, two-story colonial where the main character lived. I'm talking about Ferris' best friend Cameron's house—the glass house through which Cameron managed to crash his father's expensive red sports cars.
Turns out the Ferris Bueller house is located in Highland Park, Illinois, a Chicago suburb. Like so many John Hughes' films—John Hughes directed the movie—the story was set outside Chicago.
(FYI, "Risky Business" was set in Glencoe, and "The Breakfast Club" was set in Northbrook, though the characters call it Shermer, a fictional town. While we never know exactly where Kevin in "Home Alone" lives, the house used in "Home Alone" was located in Winnetka, Illinois. That "Home Alone" house sold in 2011 for $2.4 million. John Hughes directed all three films.)
Last year the Ferris Bueller house was for sale. The NBC affiliate in Chicago has a slideshow on its website of the home's interior; it really was a glass house. According to the real estate listing for the home, the asking price for this nearly 4,400 square foot home that was built over a ravine was $1.65 million. Zillow, however, says the home is only worth $1.4 million. Unfortunately for Ferris Bueller fans that might be in the market for a new home, that house is no longer for sale.