4247 Maplewood Drive

4247 Maplewood Drive (click to enlarge)
Image from Chance EncountersDuring the canonical series, Amanda King lived at a house with the established address of 4247 Maplewood Drive, Arlington VA 22201.

The house, which she and her previous husband Joe King had purchased in the 1970s, was a Cape Cod-influenced Colonial house located in a suburban neighborhood. It also had a detached two-car garage with an attic over, and a back patio with a gazebo.

4247 Maplewood – Garage (click to enlarge). Image from Chance EncountersJoe and Amanda had selected the house due to its proximity to Washington, DC; its safe neighborhood and excellent school district; and the space it offered for their family.

When their marriage ended in 1982, Amanda retained ownership of the house, although she was required to take out a mortgage in order to buy out Joe’s portion of it. Fortunately, her mother Dotty West moved in a few months later, after selling her own house and contributing some of that sale’s proceeds toward Amanda’s mortgage. While this helped, Amanda still continued to have a mortgage payment obligation, which was a significant reason she was seeking paid work by late 1983.

4247 Maplewood – First Floor (click to enlarge). Image by April McGowanThe house’s floor plan was not intuitive, but it was definitely workable. The first floor featured formal living and dining rooms, a family room, and a large kitchen with an attached breakfast nook. While it was necessary to go up and down a partial flight of stairs between the front door and the family room, visitors could access the formal areas without any barriers. There was also, presumably, a half-bath under the full stairs, just off the foyer.

4247 Maplewood – Second Floor (click to enlarge). Image by April McGowanUpstairs, the house originally featured two bedrooms, a convertible den, a hall bath, and a master bedroom with an additional ensuite bath. Sometime after their purchase, Joe and Amanda elected to split one of the bedrooms into two smaller ones so that each of their sons could have a private bedroom. The convertible den became Dotty’s bedroom when she moved in.

While Lee Stetson never officially lived in this house, Amanda gave him a set of keys after their February 1987 marriage. They had planned for Lee to move in as soon as the King boys had adjusted to the change in their family circumstances. Unfortunately, the devastating car accident of October 1, 1987 — which claimed both Phillip’s and Dotty’s lives — meant this never actually happened.

After realizing that she and Jamie could no longer bear to live in the house they’d shared with Dotty and Phillip, Lee and Amanda agreed they would instead move into a short-term, rental townhouse in Arlington while Amanda prepped and sold the house. They would then purchase a house together. Lee and Amanda formally moved in together at the townhouse in December 1987, and Amanda sold the house in February or March 1988.

Due to their reassignment to London in the summer of 1988, Lee and Amanda put their purchase plans on hold and banked the proceeds from the sale against a future house purchase, to be made when they returned to the United States.

Notes:

  • The exterior of Amanda’s house is actually located at 4247 Warner Boulevard, Burbank, California 91505. It is a private residence that has been used in several different television and movie productions besides Scarecrow and Mrs. King. The Burbank residence has a substantially different floor plan than the one depicted in this entry.
  • There are many excellent write-ups and photographs of Amanda’s house. Some examples:
  • The floor plan featured in this entry was originally drawn by April McGowan and appeared at The Teddy Chronicles, which is now offline. The owner of this site downloaded the images when the closure of Angelfire.com was announced.