Maps of Movies

The Apartment (1960)

Where The Apartment says it takes place, and where it was really shot.

A New York office tower, an apartment on a studio lot, and the real bench in Central Park between them

Scenes and places

The aerial that opens the film (1959)

The film opens high above Manhattan before it finds one worker among thousands. The city is the first character, and Baxter is a face lost in it.

Set in Manhattan from the air — The opening aerial view over Manhattan, before the story reaches the insurance company.

A single blog identifies this aerial; the story place itself has no fixed address.

Filmed at United Nations Headquarters, Manhattan — The aerial of U.N. Plaza that precedes the shot of 2 Broadway; the image is flipped left to right in the film. Google Maps · Apple Maps

How to get there:

Consolidated Life's tower (1959)

Baxter is a lonely office worker at Consolidated Life, one of thousands of identical desks. He has made himself useful by lending out his apartment key.

Set in Consolidated Life Insurance building — The insurance company's office tower, seen from outside as Baxter heads to work. Google Maps · Apple Maps

Same tower in the real city, but its lobby and floors were built elsewhere.

Filmed at 2 Broadway, Bowling Green — Exterior of the real office tower used for the company building; lobby scenes were a studio set. Google Maps · Apple Maps

How to get there:

The endless sea of desks (1959)

Baxter sits in a vast office of desks that seem to run on forever. He allows four managers to borrow his apartment for their affairs, and in return they praise him to personnel director Sheldrake.

Set in Consolidated Life, 19th floor — The vast open office where Baxter works among rows of desks.

The set shrinks toward the back to fake an endless row of desks.

Filmed at Samuel Goldwyn Studio, Los Angeles — The giant forced-perspective office set was built on a Hollywood soundstage. Google Maps · Apple Maps

How to get there:

Baxter's brownstone apartment (1959)

Baxter lends the key to managers on a strict schedule, and the neighbours take him for a playboy. His own home is where everyone else's secrets happen.

Set in Baxter's apartment, W 67th Street — The Upper West Side apartment the managers borrow; the dialogue gives West 67th Street.

The film's dialogue says W 67th, but the street used for the exterior was W 69th and the block was recreated on a studio lot.

The bench in the park (1959)

With his own apartment taken by a manager, Baxter has to wait outside. The park bench shows what his arrangement costs him.

Set in Central Park — A park bench close to Baxter's apartment street. Google Maps · Apple Maps

The park centre coordinate is used; the bench itself has no coordinate in the sources.

Filmed at Central Park, West Drive bench — A quick bench scene shot near the 69th Street apartment; the exact bench is not given by a coordinate. Google Maps · Apple Maps

How to get there:

Out of the lobby into the street (1959)

Baxter and Fran leave the building together, then part ways at a corner. She is going to dinner with a man she calls a former fling.

Set in Broadway and Beaver Street — The corner outside the company tower where Baxter and Fran part ways.

Exterior is the real street; the lobby behind it was rebuilt on a soundstage.

Filmed at Broadway and Beaver Street, outside 2 Broadway — They walk north along the building front and part at the corner of Broadway and Beaver; the lobby itself was a studio replica. Coordinate is that of 2 Broadway. Google Maps · Apple Maps

How to get there:

The Chinese restaurant on New Street (1959)

Fran meets Sheldrake at dinner, and he promises to leave his wife. Baxter does not know the man she is seeing is his own boss.

Set in Chinese restaurant, 52 New Street — The restaurant where Fran meets Sheldrake for dinner.

The street is real; the restaurant behind the sign was not.

Waiting outside The Music Man (1959)

Baxter waits at the theatre with the tickets Sheldrake gave him. Fran does not come, and he learns it is not a coincidence.

Set in Majestic Theatre — The theatre where Baxter waits for Fran with two tickets. Google Maps · Apple Maps

The real theatre, still landmarked, looks much as in the film.

Filmed at Majestic Theatre, 245 W 44th St — The Majestic showed The Music Man, the show Baxter has tickets for. Google Maps · Apple Maps

How to get there:

The bar on Christmas Eve (1959)

Baxter, shaken by what he has learned about Fran, lets a woman at a bar pick him up. He heads home with her, not knowing what waits in his apartment.

Set in A bar near Baxter's apartment — The bar where Baxter lets a married woman pick him up on Christmas Eve.

One blog places it at the Emerald Inn on Columbus Avenue; another says it was a studio set.

Characters

• C.C. Baxter — A lonely office worker who lends his apartment to managers to climb the corporate ladder.
• Fran Kubelik — An elevator operator at the company, to whom Baxter is attracted.
• Jeff Sheldrake — The company's personnel director, who also wants to use the apartment.