Since 1959, the Bates Mansion, better known as “the Psycho house,” has stood on the Universal Studios Hollywood backlot. Over the years, the building has been expanded, relocated, renovated, and completely rebuilt—the facade, anyway, since that’s all it ever was. The house features prominently in the Universal Studios tour, and it’s made appearances in everything from Murder, She Wrote to Big Momma’s House.
But despite the popularity of Universal Television’s Bates Motel (which actually films in British Columbia), the house has fallen into disrepair in the last decade. Enter the Facebook group Save The Psycho House, which has started a Change.org petition to persuade Universal Studios to give the house a facelift:
Visitors to the house today will see evidence of warped, rotting timber… Gaping holes in the woodwork with large sections of missing planks of wood… Decorative woodwork damaged and some sections missing completely from around the porch… Shingles rotten, damaged and missing from the roof… All in all it's not a pretty sight and if something is not done soon to help stop the decay, we feel it may pass a critical point of no return!
The petition currently has over 4,000 signatures, just shy of its goal of 5,000. Universal Studios doesn’t seem to have any active plans to demolish the building—the group basically says the house is getting run down, and they’re concerned for its safety. But when it comes to such an iconic movie set (not to mention backdrop for America’s Next Top Model craziness), a little forethought can’t hurt.