11 Real Life Locations That Look Like They’re From A Wes Anderson Movie
Symmetrical, harmoniously coloured – he likes yellows, greens and reds, he was on board with millennial pink before it was cool – and just that perfect amount of retro. It’s the train carriages in The Darjeeling Limited, the nautical themes in The Life Aquatic of Steve Zissou, the hotel in, um, The Grand Budapest Hotel.
If you’re as obsessed as we are with the way Wes Anderson movies look you might want to follow @accidentallywesanderson, an account that rounds up all the places in the world that adhere to that very specific Wes-thetic. These are some of our favourite real life locations that are accidentally completely, totally Wes Anderson.
1. Fjord ASA boat company, Norway
https://www.instagram.com/p/Blko7c-FYpa/?hl=en&taken-by=accidentallywesanderson
The blue and raspberry chairs, the bracketed windows, the seaside vistas… Fjord ASA’s ferries are about as Wes Anderson as they come. Launched in the mid 19th century the business really took off in the 20s, an era that many associate with Wes’ aesthetic. Today, it’s Norway’s largest car ferry operator, transporting more than four million cars – containing more than 10 million people – every year.
2. City of Toronto Archives, Ontario
https://www.instagram.com/p/BkXZAablXtn/?hl=en&taken-by=accidentallywesanderson
Wes Anderson = symmetry, and would you look at these perfectly symmetrical shelves? (The cornflower blue, orange and red detailing is pretty Wes, too.) Opened in 1992, these archives were designed by an architectural firm to house all the official records of the city of Toronto in those neat cardboard boxes.
3. Bar Luce, Milan
https://www.instagram.com/p/BkHyPNsFAyX/?hl=en&taken-by=accidentallywesanderson
If you think this picture looks like it came straight out of a Wes Anderson movie you’re not wrong. Wes himself actually designed Bar Luce, a traditional Milanese coffee shop, alongside the Fondazione Prada in 2015. There are old school pinball machines and jukeboxes in one corner, terrazzo floors throughout, and a counter where you can feast on sweets that look straight out of The Grand Budapest Hotel. A must visit for next time you’re in Milan.
4. Budapest HEV, Budapest
https://www.instagram.com/p/BiW2PFaF6mL/?hl=en&taken-by=accidentallywesanderson
Glossier, eat your heart out. The original millennial pink can be found in these railway cars, built in 1887 to transport Budapest locals through their city and are still running to this very day.
5. Warrender Baths, Edinburgh
https://www.instagram.com/p/BlAl3bWFRAM/?taken-by=accidentallywesanderson
This Scottish pool, originally built in 1886, retains its original Victorian architecture and traditional facilities, and is one of the most beautiful indoor pools in the world. A white, beamed roof and pale blue walls, coupled with the tiled pool, make for an open, light-filled space.
6. Palazzo della Gherardesca, Florence
https://www.instagram.com/p/BiEyaQHFBBX/?hl=en&taken-by=accidentallywesanderson
Hailing back to the 15th century, this Palazzo is now a Four Seasons hotel, which means you can rent this very room and rest your head upon this very bed. The detailing in each suite is exquisite, featuring muted colours, velvet finishing and creative artwork.
7. City Hall, Aarhus
https://www.instagram.com/p/BcfN_W9FClk/?hl=en&taken-by=accidentallywesanderson
This room is almost too pretty to be a city hall, don’t you think? But that’s exactly what this is, a municipal building designed by Danish architects Arne Jacobsen and Erik Molle and interior designed by Hans Wegner in the late ‘30s before opening to the public in 1941. We’re particularly big fans of the floral stenciling on the walls and those cosy, hygge-esque rugs.
8. Vaucluse Yacht Club, Sydney
https://www.instagram.com/p/BhbmadaFF8H/?hl=en&taken-by=accidentallywesanderson
Any Sydney-siders reading this? You’ll probably be familiar with the Vaucluse Yacht Club, a small boat house in Watson’s Bay. With its red, white and blue colour scheme and – you guessed it – symmetrical design, we can see why it might appeal to any students of Wes Anderson’s aesthetic.
9. St. Vincent Pilgrimage Church, Austria
https://www.instagram.com/p/Big-HDbl35O/?taken-by=accidentallywesanderson
Nothing says Wes Anderson quite like a church perched on a mountainside. It’s the kind of thing that wouldn’t look out of place in The Grand Budapest Hotel. This one dates back, incredibly, to 1253, although the version you can visit today was consecrated in 1491.
Worshippers make the journey to the tiny little building, nestled at the foot of Australia’s biggest mountain the Grossglockner, because of a legend that a flask of Christ’s Holy Blood is kept inside the church’s sacristy.
10. Dar Bayram, Tunis
https://www.instagram.com/p/Bmf1wzWFeJZ/?hl=en&taken-by=accidentallywesanderson
Doesn’t this yellow door look like it came straight from Moonrise Kingdom or The Life Aquatic with Steve Zissou? Its sunny, lemon-bright colour is a perfect approximation of Wes’ aesthetic. The door is part of an ancient palace in the Tunis medina build in the 18th century. Today it’s a five star hotel servicing the luxury travel industry.
11. Elmwood Country Club, Iowa
https://www.instagram.com/p/BmNxgrjlMMU/?hl=en&taken-by=accidentallywesanderson
When is Wes Anderson going to make a golf movie? The sport seems designed perfectly to slot into a Wes Anderson movie seamlessly. (Don’t you think Margot Tenembaum would have looked fantastic in golf checks and pleated skirts?) If Wes does decide to make his great golfing epic, we bet he’ll shoot here. This country club in Iowa has a look that is entirely Wes’ own.
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