The Wrong House: The Architecture of Alfred Hitchcock

In this imaginative and scholarly book, Steven Jacobs explores the architectural elements of Alfred Hitchcock’s films and the vital role they played in providing atmosphere and facilitating plot development. Hitchcock famously left nothing to chance, and from the Greenwich Village apartment that provided the set for Rear Window or the now-iconic Bates house in Psycho, every architectural entity plays a significant role both in setting the scene and in advancing the suspenseful narratives of which Hitchcock was master. Having worked as a set designer in the early 1920s, the director remained intimately involved with his films’ sets throughout his entire career. With the help of reconstructed floor plans made specially for this book, the author explains how, for example, confined spaces reinforce vulnerable characters’ sense of being powerless, while readers also learn of the importance of stairs and windows at key moments in Hitchcock’s masterpieces.