Ralphie's House in ‘A Christmas Story’ Is for Sale in Cleveland

Holiday traditions hold a lot of meaning for people, and when you watch the same movie every December, you’re bound to feel an attachment to it. Now, those who have long loved the holiday classic A Christmas Story can actually own a piece of the movie’s history. Ralphie Parker's (played by Peter Billingsley) house in A Christmas Story is for sale in Cleveland.

WKYC’s 3News broke the story of the iconic home going on the market. The home was featured prominently in A Christmas Story, a film released in 1983 and recounted the antics of young Ralphie and his brother at Christmastime. Is a piece of film history on your Christmas shopping list? If not, you might just watch the sequel on HBO Max.

A Christmas Story was set in part at the home of Ralphie and Randy Parker, two young boys growing up and preparing for Christmas in 1940. Young Ralphie’s reminiscences are of his childhood in a fictional town in Indiana, but that isn't where the actual house is located.

The movie was filmed in Cleveland, Ohio, and Toronto, Ontario. The home now going up for sale is located in the Tremont neighborhood of Cleveland at 3159 West 11th Street.

Although the exterior of the Cleveland house is what’s shown as the Parker home in the movie, many shots meant to be the inside of the house were actually filmed in Toronto.

The house was built in 1895, so it needed a lot of renovations when the owner bought it off eBay in 2004. CBS News reported that Brian Jones bought the home for $150,000.

Cleveland’s A Christmas Story house is also adjacent to a museum dedicated to the film. Although the movie only brought in about $19 million at the box office when it debuted in 1983, within a few years it gained a loyal following when Warner Bros. purchased the film rights.

In 1988, the cable network TNT held its first “24 hours of A Christmas Story” as somewhat of a stunt. However, it caught on and millions of Americans tune in annually at some point during the 12 consecutive airings of A Christmas Story on Christmas Eve. Now, TBS also airs the movie for 24 hours straight.

The film director sent location scouts to 20 cities to find the perfect town to represent Indiana in the 1940s and chose Cleveland. Higbee’s, a real department store at the time, allowed filming to occur in the store, which helped tip the scales in favor of Cleveland.

Since 2006 the house from A Christmas Story has been open to tourists. The real estate listing states that the entire “campus” is 1.3 acres, five buildings, and seven parcels. The house is “nostalgically upgraded with somewhat ancient appliances” and the museum is also included.

The museum is located at 1103 Rowley Avenue and houses a collection of movie props, costumes, photos, and other memorabilia related to the movie’s filming. Two empty lots, a staff parking lot, and a rental property are also included in the listing.

Jones hasn’t listed an official price, so interested buyers may have some options, though it’s likely that the $150,000 price in 2004 won’t be enough today to get the whole set of movie properties. He did state to 3News, “Price will matter, but not necessarily the highest price that's the right fit for this business and this piece of nostalgic Americana."