Road To Perdition | Film Locations
The real star of Sam Mendes’ graphic novel is the somberly photographed veteran Conrad L Hall, who died shortly after filming.
Most of the film was shot on location around Chicago, although the city’s Bronzeville Armory became a soundstage for the interiors of hit man Michael Sullivan’s (Tom Hanks) homes. and mob boss john rooney (paul newman). the armory, at 35th street and giles avenue, south of the chicago loop, has been converted into a school.
Rock Island, the town where the Sullivans and the Rooneys live, is in the center of West Dundee, about 30 miles west of Chicago. the opening scenes of michael jr’s (tyler hoechlin) robbery were filmed here on main street between first and second streets.
a studio in los angeles is the city street where sullivan and rooney drink at ‘o’neill’s’, which is on the warner brothers lot in burbank.
About ten miles northeast of Dundee is the town of Barrington Hills. A couple of miles west of town, a farmhouse on Old Sutton Road, just south of County Line Road, became the home of Michael Sullivan.
Rooney’s grandest mansion is the Charles Dawes House, 225 Greenwood Street, Evanston, North Chicago, now home to the Evanston Historical Society and open to the public.
On the southern tip of Chicago is the Pullman Historic District and the Florence Hotel, 11111 South Forrestville Avenue, where Rooney’s son Connor (Daniel Craig) resides, as well as the warehouse where young Michael discovers the work of his father.
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Pullman Historic District is a unique community, built between 1880 and 1884 as a model industrial city planned for the Pullman’s Palace automobile company. In 1960, the area was threatened with demolition to make way for the construction of an industrial park. Local residents protested the demolition, and thanks to their efforts, the town of Pullman was designated an Illinois Historic District in 1969.
The Historic Pullman Visitor Center is located on the site of the Game Building at the corner of 112th Street and Cottage Grove Avenue. You can start your own self-guided walking tour by picking up a copy of the walking tour brochure, or you can take a guided tour.
The Sullivans head to make a deal with Al Capone’s right-hand man, Frank Nitti (Stanley Tucci), arriving in Chicago at the Lasalle Street Bridge, where the modern buildings had to be digitally removed from the skyline.
the exterior of nitti’s ‘hotel lexington’ is the wrigley building, 400-410 north michigan avenue, but its glamorous lobby and staircase are those of the chicago hilton and towers, 720 south michigan avenue. The hotel is also featured in My Best Friend’s Wedding, Home Alone II: Lost in New York and the Runaway.
the ‘eatmore grill’ is also in town. It was the Salvation Army clothing store, which later became a Thai restaurant (and has since closed), at 3900 North Lincoln Avenue, north of the city in the North Central district.
On the way, Sullivan and his son stop at St. Paul’s Lutheran Church, 1407 West Church Road, west of Beecher, south of Chicago.
Meanwhile, unscrupulous crime scene photographer Maguire (Jude Law) is sent to track down the couple. He meets Sullivan at the ‘Englewood Diner,’ an actual diner originally located on Peabody Square in the Boston suburb of Dorchester.
was purchased for the film, on ebay, and transported to open land outside of chicago for filming. Fully restored, it was sold to its original owner, to become the Downeast Restaurant, in Eliot, on the southern tip of Maine. now it seems to have moved again.
With Nitti protecting Connor Rooney, Sullivan decides to hit Capone’s organization where it hurts. Teaching his son the skills of being a getaway driver, on the tree lined road in the sweet woods forest preserve in glenwood, south east chicago, he embarks on a series of bank robberies.
The chain of banks, which seem to be everywhere, can be seen in Momence’s downtown business district on Route 1, about 50 miles south of Chicago.
When the mob money is withdrawn, Sullivan tracks Capone’s accountant Rance (Dylan Baker) to the Geneva Hotel (a royal establishment, but long since closed) in the city of Geneva, south of Dundee. Home to a large Swedish community, not Swiss, this historic town is the site of a bloody shootout in which Maguire is shot in the face with a shotgun.
the church, where sullivan takes rooney to the crypt to let him know that his own son has been stealing from him, is the church of st. Sylvester, 2157 North Humboldt Boulevard in Palmer Square, in the Logan Square district of northwest Chicago. .
It’s across Lake Michigan to Saugatuck, Michigan, on the opposite shore, about 30 miles southwest of the Grand Rapids.
The motel, in which Sullivan narrowly evades Maguire, was the 1930s white dog inn on the Blue Star Highway, had been damaged by fire in 1998 and was scheduled for demolition after the filming.
also gone is the ‘doom’ beach house, where the movie ends. It was built for the film and later dismantled, a few miles north of Saugatuck in Port Sheldon Township.
