Collinwood Mansion

[Janelle Spyker]

Collinwood Mansion is a house featured in the Gothic horror soap opera Dark Shadows (1966–1971). Built in 1795 by Joshua Collins, Collinwood has been home to the Collins family—and other sometimes unwelcome supernatural visitors—since its inception. The house is located near the town of Collinsport, Maine, overlooking the Atlantic Ocean. Almost every resident of the town is too scared to even drive by the house due to rumors and legends. The house has more than 40 rooms, most of which are closed off due to lack of inhabitants and financial reasons, and more than a few secret passageways, including a room that is a gateway to a parallel timeline, a stairway through time, and one room that appears to be a playroom to some, and nothing more than a linen closet to others. Most of the household activity is centered in the drawing room and foyer and sometimes the kitchen, dining room, and study. Collinwood has, throughout its history, seemed to upset and anger its inhabitants and anyone else who is unfortunate enough to step over the threshold and through the enormous oak front doors. It has been the scene of much death, random violence, and other such misfortune. Most local people find it easier to just avoid it and the Collins family altogether.

[Janelle Spyker]

[Janelle Spyker]

Interior of Collinwood

The house had three main sections to it — the central area that was still in use, and an east wing and west wing that were generally closed off and unused. The following rooms appeared on-screen throughout the run of the original series:

Foyer and main drawing room — This was the principal setting for much of the series. A grand stairway and mezzanine looks over the foyer and leads to the second floor. The parlor had large bay windows that overlooked the ocean. The paneling on the back wall contained the entrance to a secret passage that led to Quentin Collins' west wing study. Several portraits of Collins family ancestors hang around the parlor and foyer — most significantly a portrait of Barnabas Collins from 1795 that hangs in an alcove by the main entrance.

Bedrooms — There are ten second-floor rooms in addition to servants' quarters in the back of the first floor. The two most often depicted were David Collins' room, and Victoria Winters' (David's governess') room. Both rooms were in the same hallway, with a door that led to the west wing (normally kept locked).

[Janelle Spyker]

[Janelle Spyker]

[Janelle Spyker]

[Janelle Spyker]

[Janelle Spyker]

[Janelle Spyker]

[Janelle Spyker]

[Janelle Spyker]

https://www2.bc.edu/~kuchar/collinwood/movies/MOV00438.MPG

[Janelle Spyker]

Basement — Used as storage. It was chiefly noteworthy because one locked room, a wine cellar, was supposedly used as a makeshift grave for Paul Stoddard, Elizabeth's husband. (In reality, he wasn't actually buried there, and was very much alive. Paul's shifty friend Jason McGuire convinced a hysterical Liz that she had murdered him, and that he buried the body there.)

Breakfast room — This room was shown only occasionally in the first year of the show. In one scene, early in the morning, Roger Collins walks out the door to the terrace and stretches. In the real life house used for the exteriors, Roger just walked out of the actual breakfast room.

Study — Located off the foyer, next to the parlor. It was only occasionally seen, but was used to house the 'remains' of Victoria after she was hanged in 1796 (although she was really not dead but placed in suspended animation by Angelique).

West Wing room — A large study filled with old papers. This is the scene for one of the series' first supernatural occurrences when David pulls a mean prank by locking Victoria in, trapping her there all night. The ghost of the recently murdered Bill Malloy appeared to her.

[Janelle Spyker]

Garden terrace — Located just outside the terrace. It has a water fountain, small plaza and a gazebo.

Tower room — Structurally, the house was constructed around a large central tower that contained an attic room. In 1796, this room was used temporarily to house Barnabas Collins' coffin. In 1897, Judith Collins Trask housed the crazed Jenny (wife of Quentin) there.

Quentin Collins' study — A large private study used by Quentin in 1897. Judith Collins, Quentin's elder sister, had the entrance sealed up after servant Beth Chavez shot and killed Quentin in the tower room. In 1968, David Collins and Amy Jennings discover a hole in the wall that leads to the room. In there, they find Quentin's skeletal remains. The two children then encounter and become possessed by the spirits of Quentin and Beth Chavez.

Parallel Time room — One of the strangest rooms in the house, this grand bedroom suite was a conduit to an alternate reality. Normally it was one more unused east wing room. However, when viewing it from outside the doorway, characters could see the Collins family members of another world. In that other Collinwood, the room was the private quarters of Angelique, who was the first wife of Quentin (the lord of the manor in this reality) and mother of Daniel (David). The inhabitants of that other reality were unaware that they were being observed (although Angelique and a few other Parallel Time characters saw into the “normal time” counterpart room occasionally). An invisible barrier usually kept the two worlds separate, but Barnabas and Julia were both able to pierce it. When a fire destroyed the Parallel Time Collinwood, the gateway to that other world was (presumably) broken for good. However, in 1840, Daphne Harridge "discovered" it as well, and Lamar Trask pierced the barrier just before dying.

[Janelle Spyker]

Playroom and stairway through time — In 1840, a particular room was used as a playroom for children. In 1970, the same room was used as a linen closet. Yet behind the room was a stairwell that the 1840 Quentin Collins placed an enchantment on. Quentin, a student of magical arts, constructed the stairway using magical means to make it ascend through time into the future. He believed his experiment was a failure, but actually succeeded. Barnabas and Julia used the stairway to travel back from 1995 to 1970. Later, Julia (and later still Prof. Stokes) used the stairwell to travel from 1970 to 1840. After Barnabas, Julia and Prof. Stokes used the stairwell one last time to get back to 1970, Desmond Collins destroyed it.

Additionally, the 1970 film House of Dark Shadows included scenes set in a terrarium (in scenes cut from the theatrical release) and a swimming pool, but these were never shown in the original series.

[Janelle Spyker]

Collinwood Estate
Collinwood mansion is the largest and most prominent building on a vast estate that shares the same name as the house. Although the Collinwood mansion was built in 1795, the Collins family has lived on the estate grounds since Colonial times in other dwellings.