Vintage Photos of Psycho House and Bates Motel in the 1960s and 1970s

“For one particular Alfred Hitchcock thriller, the script called for Janet Leigh’s character, Marion Crane, to drive up a long and lonely road on a dark, rainy night, and search for a place to stay. Ms. Leigh found more than she bargained for when she stopped at a tiny motel with twelve rooms and twelve vacancies, run by a very odd man named Norman Bates. Of course the film was Psycho, and the house that Norman lived in above the motel has become one of the most recognizable in Hollywood.”

Alfred Hitchcock’s 1960 cinematic masterpiece Psycho, although originally distributed by Paramount, was financed by Hitchcock himself, and filmed at Universal Studios using the Revue Studios television crew from Alfred Hitchcock Presents. It was filmed on a tight budget, and accordingly, the exterior sets built for the film, the Bates Motel and home... were partly constructed from studio “stock units,” including in the case of the Bates home, a tower and front wall portion borrowed from an existing house set on the backlot’s Colonial Street. The Bates home, or “Psycho House” as it has come be known, was built as a two-walled exterior facade, as it would be filmed only from a vantage point within a 90 degree span.

The Psycho House became an iconic symbol of eeriness, and has appeared in countless films (including two Psycho sequels), television shows and advertisements. The set still stands on the Universal backlot fifty years later, although modified and twice relocated over the years. The original Bates Motel set no longer exists, but a reconstructed version of the motel has accompanied the home on the backlot and as a part of the studio tour for decades.

In 1959, Robert Bloch wrote a suspense novel, inspired by the Ed Gein murders in Wisconsin, about a single man and his mother. When Alfred Hitchcock’s assistant, Peggy Robertson, came across this book, she decided to show it to Hitchcock even though it had already been deemed unfit for film.

Once he decided to carry through with this film, he ordered Robertson to buy up every copy of “Psycho” so that no one would know the ending. He even went through strict security measures such as a closed set, no advanced screenings for critics, and no late entrance into the theatre once the film was released.

In 1960, the movie shocked the world by pushing the limits both in violence and sexuality. What was originally thought to be too inappropriate for film went on to be a widely recognized classic much appreciated throughout generations of movie-lovers.

Built in 1960 for the filming of Psycho, the original Psycho House was placed on the hill where the Chicken Ranch now sits overlooking the Bates Motel, which sat where Cabot Cove is today. The large mansion, said to be designed after an Edward Hopper painting titled “House by the Railroad,” set the perfect atmosphere of creepy as it loomed in the background of the motel.

The Bates home as seen in the film.

Psycho’s Bates home set is seen here as originally constructed, with no right-side or rear wall.

Bates Motel and home.

Bates home (with “Mother” in window)

Alfred Hitchcock and Bates home set – from the film’s trailer.

Alfred Hitchcock and Bates Motel – from the film’s trailer.

The Psycho House is seen here in the mid-1960s, now with a right-side wall which was constructed specifically for the set’s appearance in the 1964 film Invitation to a Gunfighter.

The Psycho House in the 1965-66 television series Laredo.

Rear view of Psycho House in 1971.

The Psycho House in the early 1970s.

The Psycho House, including a bat added by animation, is seen here in 1971 in the TV series Night Gallery.

Psycho House in May, 1979.