This New Bedford house is the 'star' of 'Invitation to a Bonfire' TV series.
NEW BEDFORD — When Laura Parrish and Thomas Lavin first purchased the Whalehouse in 2015, they always wondered what it would’ve been like to experience their home in the early 1900s.
Now, their wish has come true with AMC filming “Invitation to a Bonfire” on their street.
“One of the reasons why I came to New Bedford is that the architecture is just so incredible, and I’m glad that it’s being spotlighted in this capacity. I think it’s amazing,” Parrish said.
On Wednesday, the production company returned to the downtown area to shoot scenes in Custom House Square after previously transforming shop windows on William Street into 1930s-era stores in October.
“Everyone in downtown has been excited and surprised by the filming, but we’ve had to keep this a secret for almost a year,” Parrish said with a laugh.
The three-story Victorian home, now an Airbnb, once belonged to author Herman Melville’s sister. It was constructed in 1855 by whaling merchant Henry Taber as a wedding gift to his daughter Abby Taber Hunt and later served as a prestigious art school and then a bed and breakfast.
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“They told us that we weren't allowed to talk about it. We weren't allowed to post about it. We couldn't tell our neighbors, our family, they basically said we had to keep it entirely under wraps,” Parrish said.
What’s the story about?
Set at an all-girls boarding school in New Jersey, the story follows a young Soviet refugee Zoya, who is an outcast at the school.
The series stars Tatiana Maslany, known for her title role in the new Disney+/Marvel series "She-Hulk" as well as "Orphan Black."
Maslany will star opposite Pilou Asb?k as well as Freya Mavor who also appears on the HBOMax series "Industry" and starred opposite John Malkovich in the mini-series "The ABC Murders" on BBC.
The story is loosely based on the marriage of Vladimir and Véra Nabokov.
Lavin said he is almost finished with the book. “It's exciting to read it. It reads like a podcast and is kind of fun,” he said. “My wife listens to a lot of true crime stuff. And it feels a lot like that kind of spirit.”
The series will be a mystery that revolves around the fact that two people (a husband and his mistress) have met an untimely death, but it’s not clear how it happened until the end.
On Wednesday, the crew filmed late into the night, describing the content of the scene as “very promiscuous,” although nothing was seen outside to that nature.
How did AMC choose The Whalehouse?
In March 2022, Parrish said while she was away, she received a note from a location scout for the television series hoping to use their house for the show.
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“I just thought it was a solicitor,” Parrish said. “But, we have done a lot of filming stuff here in general, it has been on Discovery ID, 20/20, A&E and recently highlighted in that New York Times article. The fact that someone from AMC was here in New Bedford was purely happenstance.”
Over the next two months, Parrish and Lavin worked with AMC, with a production team visiting the house every few weeks.
“They had come out two or three more times and basically had verbally told us that they were pretty close to selecting the house, but they wanted to know whether or not they could paint the house, too,” Parrish added.
When Parrish and Lavin first purchased the house, they knew the house would eventually need a major facelift.
“I half jokingly said to Laura when I had moved in, that we'd get Hollywood to paint the house,” Lavin said. “I put that out in the universe and now….”
AMC helped renovate The Whalehouse exterior
In May 2022, they officially signed their residence to be used as the story’s main house for the series, working with AMC to repaint and update the exteriors.
“I wanted to be able to hire the people that I wanted to hire because painting a historic house is extremely difficult,” Parrish added. “I wanted a team who could understand and appreciate old homes, and I really wanted to work with somebody local.”
Earlier that summer, Parrish had already started restoring all 72 windows in the house, working with Chuck Hawk of Gallery X, who was responsible for painting the house the last time it was painted in 1983.
Working alongside New Bedford Owl Eye, a landscaping and painting service, over the next few months, the team took on the major restoration project before filming began in the middle of September.
Lavin also worked closely with the team, refurbishing the entire fence that runs around the house’s entire perimeter.
Filming inside the house is in Randolph
The team scraped, sanded and painted. Parrish said clapboards on the house were rotted and there was carpenter ant damage. The front portico had to be completely rebuilt as well.
However, the main exterior of the house is built with Cypress wood which is very durable and rot resistant. “A lot of it could be put back in place, but the pieces that were replaced, we tried to replace it with the same type of wood,” Parrish said.
AMC added the landscaping a week before the shoot and recreated the doorway to the house, as well as added a fake wall and partition. The rest of the furniture in the house was completely removed for the shoot.
Although filming is taking place in the front of the house, the interior of the house will be shot on a 60,000-square-foot sound stage in Randolph.
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Parrish said they worked hard to completely copy the house’s interior and recreate it on their stage for filming. She will be visiting the set next week.
“They're taking the doors back and forth between the set (in Randolph) and my house so that they don't have to recreate two sets of antique 200-year-old doors,” said Parrish. “And then can also match when they switch from location to location.”
Utilizing the entire neighborhood
Meanwhile, the neighbors are also pitching in to accommodate the film crew with the house across the street offering up their backyard for craft services, which provides food and beverages to TV and film crews.
The streets around Madison have been shut down so neighbors have been asked to park their cars a few streets over. The law offices of Lang, Xifaras & Bullard on Orchard Street, have also offered up their driveway to the crew.
On Wednesday, two giant cranes approached the house to create giant spotlights over the house to add more light for the night shoot.
The house next door, which used to be for visiting artists and professors from the Swain School of Art and Design, is the green room to hold actors as well as do their hair and makeup.
“I'm really happy that I was able to share my home and everybody has been so delightful and kind and welcoming to me,” said Donna Torres.
Torres made the cast and crew beef stew on the first day and kale soup the second. “I’m always about feeding people,” she said with a smile.
She was lucky enough to meet actor Asb?k, who plays Leo in the series. He is best known for his performance as Euron Greyjoy in “Games of Thrones.”
“He says the quote, ‘Here I am, with a thousand ships, and two good hands,’ so I said to him that I don’t have a thousand ships, but I have two good hands and they’re here to serve,” she said, adding that the actor was down-to-earth and very fun to hang with for a few minutes.
“We took a selfie together!”
Filming will continue in mid-February
Parrish said they kept the Airbnb open during the summer because people had already booked the rooms. “We book at least three months in advance,” she said.
“There were moments where it was a little bit less than ideal. But I'm incredibly thankful that because we have guests who come and stay here, because they appreciate old historic homes, a lot of people were really excited to meet our crew.”
The rental will be closed until the first half of filming concludes in mid-December.
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Parrish said “Invitation to a Bonfire” will be back from January to the middle of February. Filming will continue to take place in the downtown area as well as on Madison Street. The house is also attached to be available for shooting if the series is renewed for a second season.
"It's magic. Not just for us, but it's something that is bringing the energy to the entire community,” Lavish said.
“That we're able to do something that elevates all of New Bedford, seeing the entire city gain a huge bump from this — it’s amazing.”
Standard-Times staff writer Seth Chitwood can be reached at [email protected]. Support local journalism by purchasing a digital or print subscription to The Standard-Times today.
This article originally appeared on Standard-Times: AMC's 'Invitation to a Bonfire' filming at New Bedford's Whalehouse
