Bourne Legacy House is Dr. Oliver Bronson House
Bourne Legacy House
Bourne Legacy house is the Dr. Oliver Bronson house a historic landmark in Hudson, New York. The Bourne Legacy /Oliver Bronson house was originally built in 1812 for Samuel Plumb as a Federal style house. The Money Pit movie house is a beautiful example of Federal Style if you want to get a look.
Later when Dr. Oliver Bronson owned it he had architect Alexander Jackson Davis redesign and modify the house. It became an example of Hudson River Bracketed (American) architectural style. The house got a room addition, extended eaves, decorative brackets, and a veranda. It is notably one of Thee earliest examples of this decorative style in the country.
Little wonder why The Bourne Legacy production people loved the home for the films location of Dr. Marta Shearing’s home. Beautiful and mesmerizing Rachel Weisz plays Dr. Shearing. Of course Jeremy Renner landed the role of Kenneth James/Aaron Cross, the Bourne Legacy chem-enhanced physical and mental abilities pill-popping hero.
The Bronson House is ‘Bourne’ again. This is the first scene in the movie when we see the real Bronson house acting as Dr. Shearing’s home.
After testing the condition of the house it was determined it could not handle The Bourne Legacy heart-pounding action scenes. So the set designer rebuilt the historic home. They recreated the white washed old floors, the large windows streaming the house with light, paint flaking walls, and the stunning unforgettable three-story spiral staircase. However, portions of the movie were filmed on site at the Bronson House filming for eight days doing exterior shots.
HISTORY: Bronson sold the house in 1853. The house buildings and property became a girls jail for a period of time. Then abandoned in 1970 becoming neglected for many years; oh baby, then it fell apart…. Adopted by Historic Hudson for repair and landing on the National Historic Landmark in 2003.
Historic Hudson has raised money over the years and is restoring the home. A site called Dr. Oliver Bronson House Day Book is dedicated to the home’s restoration updates.
Western side of Bronson house. The third story rectangular block is a single room. The house is said to be of the then romantic American architecture. In The Bourne Legacy I think the third story block is where Dr. Marta Shearing hid from her assailants.
A 2011 restoration Phase I photo as the work progresses.
Front door, Federal Style, with elliptical fan light, raised molding, wood dividers and swag.
From Historic Hudson. The elegant spiral staircase is original.
Interior restoration revealing beautiful carved details.
THE BOURNE LEGACY MOVIE HOUSE:
The movie production team painstakingly reproduced the Bronson house interior to be an exact replica, even to the point of the house under construction details.
Spiral staircase screenshot is a beautiful reproduction of the real Bronson House.
Outside scenes for the movie where shot at the real Dr. Oliver Bronson House. This scene is Dr. Shearing on the porch greeting CIA agents hell-bent on assassinating her asap.
Shooting scene look at the large entryway.
Aaron Cross a.k.a, Legacy hero, saves Dr. Marta Shearing’s life by killing all the evil CIA agents. They had 8 minutes to hightail it out of there or be killed by another round of assassins.
I was drawn in watching The Bourne Legacy action scene when the house was destroyed first from the bullets flying and finally the house fire. The house on fire scene was a separate replica built on Staten Island for the movie. It’s unclear if the replica burning house is/was also the house built for inside filming. I hope the replica built for the inside movie scenes was not burned down, but that’s HOLLYWOOD.
Visit Historic Hudson to learn more about the Oliver Bronson/Bourne Legacy house.
RegisterStar, National Historic Landmark, Dr. Oliver Bronson House Day Book, Wiki, and as linked above.
I would stand in line for this. There’s always room in life for this.
Step right up to see Jeremy Renner’s Million Dollar Mansion he built and recently sold. See more Movie Houses here.