An Unlikely Umbrella Academy Connection in The Boys You Definitely Missed
Way back in 2019, fans of Amazon Prime Video's The Boys were introduced to scientific genius Dr. Jonah Vogelbaum, who served as a father figure to his "greatest failure," the villainous superhero Homelander.
Homelander confronted Vogelbaum about the truth of his progeny at Vogelbaum's home. Now retired, Vogelbaum resides in a beautiful Roaring '20s style mansion – complete with Roman columns, sprawling gardens, and a sparkling pool. For the most observant of fans, there's a reason you recognize that house.
The Parkwood Estate was built in 1917, originally as the home to Canadian car mogul Samuel McLaughlin. His family lived there until the 1970s, and after a decade of laying empty, it was named a National Historic Site in 1989.
Since then, it's been used as a popular filming location for films looking to show the estate of a wealthy character.
The home was also used on Netflix 's The Umbrella Academy in Season 2, the home Klaus uses when sent back to the 1960s. Like The Boys, The Umbrella Academy is a darkly comedic show based around heroic individuals. It was also pulled straight from a comic series; in this case, the work of My Chemical Romance frontman Gerard Way.
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The two series are by no means the only popular content that have utilized the Parkwood Estate. It sits in Oshawa, Ontario, not far from Toronto. Toronto has become a popular site to film, as it resembles an American city with far lower expenses.
Parkwood Estate was used as Professor Xavier's home in 2000's X-Men, in the 1995 Adam Sandler comedy Billy Madison, in the episode Billionaire Mugger of the USA show Monk, and dozens more.
The Boys itself has a few random connections to the mansion. It was featured in American Gothic, the short-lived series starring Antony Starr – who also played Homelander in The Boys. It was also featured in Canadian hockey comedy Les Boys – translated to The Boys.
When not being used for film production, the Parkwood Estate features guided tours of its legendary gardens and its three greenhouses, which house palms and tropical plants. Its gardens are restored to represent exactly how they would have appeared when the house was built. It also is used as a museum, complete with an art collection.
The Parkwood Estate was built by Toronto firm Darling and Pearson. It is the only remaining intact home of its type from that era. The Canadian Historic Sites and Monuments Board describes it as a "rare surviving example" of its kind, maintained to "illustrate as it was lived within."