Victoria Mars House: Real Mansion or Fictional TV Set?

Who Is Victoria Mars?

Victoria Mars is an heir to Mars, Incorporated—the private company behind Snickers, M&Ms, Skittles, Milky Way, and more. She didn’t just collect an inheritance. She worked her way up and served as Chairman of the Board, one of the most senior roles in the company.

She holds a degree from the Wharton School and is known in Delaware County, PA for her philanthropic work. Beyond that, she keeps a deliberate low profile. You won’t find her on magazine covers or at celebrity galas. That privacy is, in part, what makes people curious about how she lives—and where.

The Victoria Mars Residence in Newtown Square, PA

Victoria Mars lives in Newtown Square, Pennsylvania—an affluent area in Delaware County where large private estates are the norm, not the exception. The property sits near the Aronimink Golf Club, set well back from public roads.

There are no public photos of the interior, and that’s intentional. At that level of wealth, security and privacy aren’t afterthoughts—they’re built into the property itself. What we do know is that the surrounding area blends traditional architecture with modern infrastructure, which fits what most people in that tax bracket prefer. The estate reflects a family that has never needed to broadcast its success.

The Candy Fortune Behind the Address

To understand why people care about Victoria Mars’s home at all, you have to trace the money back to its source. Frank Mars started making chocolates in his kitchen in the early 1900s. His son Forrest Mars Sr. scaled it into a global business. Now, generations later, the family owns not just candy brands but pet food (Pedigree, Whiskas), food products, and more.

Because Mars, Incorporated is privately held, the family doesn’t file public earnings reports or appear on Wall Street. That secrecy has protected the business for over a century. It also means the family’s real estate holdings stay out of the spotlight—which is exactly how they want it. Worth noting: some financial analysts argue that keeping a fortune this private creates succession and governance challenges over the next decade, as the third and fourth generations take over. Time will tell.

Victoria Mansion: The Morse-Libby House in Portland, Maine

Here’s where the confusion really starts. Search “Victoria Mansion” and you’ll find a completely unrelated historic house at 109 Danforth Street in Portland, Maine. Built between 1858 and 1860, the Morse-Libby House—its formal name—was commissioned by Ruggles Sylvester Morse, a hotelier who made his money running luxury properties in New Orleans.

The house is a National Historic Landmark and one of the best-preserved examples of pre-Civil War domestic architecture in the United States. If you’re drawn to 19th-century craftsmanship, this is one of the most serious examples you’ll find in New England.

Architectural Details Worth Knowing

The Victoria Mansion is built in the Italian Villa style—asymmetrical, tower-topped, and layered with ornamental detail. Inside, the craftsmanship is extraordinary even by today’s standards. Artist Giuseppe Guidicini painted the ceilings to mimic open sky. Designer Gustave Herter produced custom furniture that still sits in the rooms today.

A few details that stand out:

• The “flying staircase” appears to float without visible support.
• The house had hot running water and central heating when it was built in the 1850s—decades before these features were common.
• Fresco paintings cover walls and ceilings throughout the main floor, most in their original condition.

It’s the kind of place that makes you stop and recalibrate what “craftsmanship” means. Modern construction rarely comes close.

Visiting the Victoria Mansion

You can visit. Tours run most of the year, and the Christmas season brings elaborate period decorations that draw visitors from across New England. Buy tickets online in advance—it sells out. The gift shop keeps the same hours as the tours.

The Victoria Mansion Society handles preservation, which is an ongoing project given the age of the materials. You can support that work through a membership donation. The mansion also operates as a wedding venue on a limited basis. If you’re interested, contact them directly for availability and costs.

One thing worth flagging: preservation funding for historic sites like this has gotten tighter in recent years. Membership donations matter more now than they did a decade ago. If you visit and love it, consider becoming a member.

The Fictional Mars House: Veronica Mars

A sizable share of the people searching “Victoria Mars House” are actually Veronica Mars fans who misspelled the name. In the show, Veronica lives in Neptune, California—a fictional coastal town—and works out of her dad Keith’s detective agency. The show ran from 2004 to 2007, was revived in 2019, and built a fanbase that’s still active.

The apartment and office were designed to feel lived-in and a little gritty—noir-adjacent, not glamorous. That aesthetic is a big part of why the show holds up. People still look up the “fictional address” of Neptune even knowing the town doesn’t exist.

Where Was Veronica Mars Actually Filmed?

Most of Season 1 was filmed in San Diego. The apartment Veronica lives in corresponds to The Inn at Sunset Cliffs—a real building near the ocean that fans still visit. Later seasons used locations in Long Beach as well.

Here’s a quick breakdown:

• San Diego: The majority of street scenes and exterior shots.
• Long Beach: Some later season locations.
• The detective office exterior: A real San Diego building, though the interior was a set.

Fan tourism to these spots is common. If you’re making a trip to San Diego, it’s worth swinging by the Inn at Sunset Cliffs—it’s a genuine location, and it’s publicly accessible.

Quick Comparison

Since the names overlap so much, here’s a direct side-by-side: