Explore the real-world places that appear in House of Leaves by Mark Z. Danielewski. Each location on the map shows what happens there in the novel, the real history of the place, and what's there today. Featured locations include Ash Tree Lane House, University of Virginia, The Tattoo Parlor, Zampanò's Apartment, Exploration Team Base Camp and 5 more.
Rural Virginia — The Navidson family home
Will Navidson, Karen Green, and their children Chad and Daisy move to this seemingly ordinary house on Ash Tree Lane. The house becomes the center of supernatural terror when Will discovers that the interior dimensions exceed the exterior measurements. The hallway that shouldn't exist leads to the dark, ever-changing labyrinth that consumes the family's sanity and nearly destroys their lives.
Rural Virginia has been home to colonial-era farmhouses and properties dating back centuries, with many homes built on land grants from the colonial period.
The specific house on Ash Tree Lane is fictional, but rural Virginia contains thousands of similar older homes, many now serving as private residences or bed-and-breakfasts.
Charlottesville — Academic research and analysis
Various academic experts from UVA are consulted about the Navidson Record footage. The university's architecture and psychology departments provide scholarly commentary on the impossible geometry of the house. Professor of English Literature and other unnamed academics contribute to Zampanò's exhaustive analysis of the house's supernatural properties.
Founded by Thomas Jefferson in 1819, the University of Virginia is one of America's most prestigious public universities, known for its distinctive Rotunda and academic village design.
UVA remains a leading research institution with over 24,000 students, famous for its historic campus and strong programs in literature, architecture, and psychology.
Visit: University of Virginia (historic site)
Los Angeles — Johnny Truant's workplace
Johnny Truant works at this tattoo parlor where he first learns about Zampanò's death and the mysterious manuscript. Between tattooing clients, Johnny becomes increasingly obsessed with transcribing and organizing the fragmented notes about the Navidson Record. His mental state deteriorates as he spends sleepless nights working on the manuscript.
Los Angeles has had a thriving tattoo culture since the mid-20th century, with parlors concentrated in areas like Hollywood and Venice Beach.
LA remains one of America's tattoo capitals, with hundreds of parlors ranging from street shops to high-end studios serving celebrities and artists.
Los Angeles — The blind man's final dwelling
The elderly, blind Zampanò dies alone in this apartment, leaving behind the massive, obsessively researched manuscript about the Navidson Record. Johnny discovers the apartment filled with academic books, photographs, and the scattered pages of Zampanò's life's work analyzing the impossible house footage. The apartment becomes Johnny's inheritance and curse.
This area of Los Angeles has been home to working-class residents and retirees for decades, with many older apartment buildings from the mid-20th century.
The neighborhood continues to house a mix of long-term residents and newer transplants, with older apartment buildings mixed with modern developments.
Inside the House — Before entering the labyrinth
Holloway Roberts, Wax Hook, and Jed Leeder establish their base camp in the house's living room before their doomed expedition into the dark hallway. They set up equipment, cameras, and supplies here before venturing into the impossible corridor that leads to the ever-changing labyrinth. This becomes the last normal space before their descent into madness and death.
Base camps have been used by explorers and researchers for centuries when investigating unknown or dangerous territories.
The concept remains central to modern exploration, from mountaineering to cave exploration and archaeological digs.
Inside the House — The impossible corridor
Will Navidson discovers this dark hallway that measures exactly five and a half minutes to walk from end to end, yet doesn't appear on the house's exterior. The hallway is cold, lightless, and leads to an enormous spiral staircase descending into darkness. It's here that the house reveals its impossible nature, defying physics and geometry.
Hallways and corridors have been architectural features for centuries, but none have ever defied the basic laws of spatial measurement.
The hallway exists only within Danielewski's fictional house, representing the fear of domestic spaces becoming alien and threatening.
Deep within the House — Descent into darkness
At the end of the hallway, Will discovers an enormous spiral staircase descending into absolute darkness. The staircase seems to go down forever, with walls that shift and change. Holloway's team attempts to map and explore these depths, but the staircase becomes a maze of branching passages that trap and ultimately destroy the exploration team.
Spiral staircases have been used in architecture since ancient times, often in towers and deep structures, but none have ever possessed supernatural properties.
The Great Staircase exists only in the novel's fictional house, symbolizing the descent into psychological and supernatural horror.
Los Angeles — Johnny's other job
Johnny works part-time at this video rental store, where his obsession with the Navidson Record manuscript begins to affect his job performance. He becomes increasingly distracted and erratic, spending his shifts thinking about the house and Zampanò's notes rather than helping customers. His deteriorating mental state becomes apparent to his coworkers.
Video rental stores were ubiquitous in American suburbs and cities from the 1980s through early 2000s, serving as community gathering places for movie lovers.
Most video rental chains like Hollywood Video have closed due to streaming services, with only a few independent stores remaining as nostalgic curiosities.
Various Locations — Scattered academic sources
Zampanò references numerous academic institutions, libraries, and archives in his obsessive research about the Navidson Record. These include universities, film archives, and research centers where he claims to have found supporting documentation for his analysis. Many of these sources prove to be fictional or non-existent, adding to the mystery.
The Library of Congress, established in 1800, is the world's largest library and serves as the research arm of the U.S. Congress and the de facto national library.
The Library of Congress houses over 170 million items and continues to serve researchers, scholars, and the public as America's premier research institution.
Visit: Library of Congress (library)
Deep within the House — Where space becomes meaningless
At the deepest point of the house's impossible interior, space itself breaks down into a shifting, growling darkness. Here, Holloway faces the house's ultimate mystery before his death, and Will Navidson later confronts the source of the house's supernatural power. The labyrinth's heart is where all the house's impossibilities converge into pure, threatening void.
Labyrinths have appeared in human culture for thousands of years, from ancient Greek myths to medieval cathedral floors, representing journeys into the unknown.
The concept of the labyrinth continues to fascinate architects, psychologists, and artists as a symbol of complex psychological and spiritual journeys.
More by Mark Z. Danielewski: All Mark Z. Danielewski books
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