Sunnydale is full of run down buildings, underground tunnels, mausoleums, and haunted houses, making it a demon’s dream destination. Well, that, and the fact that the entire town sits on the Hellmouth.
There’s no shortage of vampire real estate in Buffy’s hometown, and once they’re moved in, these vamps really know how to spruce a place up to make it feel like home. Each vampire lair in the show was carefully crafted to give viewers a sense of the evil who calling that place home. There’s some good places, some bad, and they all have a special hint of ugly.
Best: Harmony’s Lair
Before she became a member of the undead club, Harmony was a typical high school valley girl with great style. She frequently sported pink clothing and butterfly clips, which at the time, were all the rage. Harmony’s sense of style remained once she became a vampire, with a few slight changes. She traded in the pinks for reds and the blues for blacks, giving her a more vampy feel. The thought and care that went into her lair’s decor makes it one of the best lairs to hang out in. Even Spike seemed to like the style upgrade he got when he was with Harmony.
Worst: Hawley Mausoleum
Spike lives here for most of seasons four, five, and six, until he eventually moves in with Xander and Anya. His lair screams bachelor pad, boasting very little furniture and an old black and white television set.
Dawn can be found hanging out here with Spike in a couple of episodes, which makes Buffy furious, and can you blame her? It’s small and dusty and uncomfortable, and also home to demons. This particular lair screams cliche vamp pad and is no place for a child, or any human for that matter.
Best: Angel’s Apartment
One could argue that this is vampire lair is the best because it’s not like any of the other lairs. Angel’s “lair” is really more of an apartment, just with fewer windows… actually, with no windows. This lair is the site of many of Buffy and Angel’s most romantic moments and heart-to-hearts, including the moment Angel experiences true happiness, turning him into Angelus. Once Angel is back to being a blood-thirsty demon, he trades in the comfortable bed with the high-thread-count sheets for something a little less human-friendly.
Worst: Vampire Brothel
When Buffy gets to college, she meets a new love interest, Riley, who seems like every parent’s dream boyfriend for their daughter. He’s smart, he’s a teacher’s assistant, he’s tall, he’s handsome, and he’s a member of a secret demon-fighting initiative. Of course, no one is perfect, and it’s revealed that Riley is into some pretty weird stuff.
One of the biggest snags in their relationship is when Buffy discovers Riley has been visiting a vampire brothel of sorts, where vampires lightly feed on humans and humans let them because supposedly, it feels good. The run-down shack where this all takes place is just as sketchy as the events taking place there.
Best: Dracula’s Mansion
Fans had to wait five seasons before getting to meet creator Joss Whedon’s version of Dracula, and luckily, he did not disappoint. The show fed into a lot of the old Vampire lore and Dracula cliches, and Dracula’s mansion was no exception. The biggest difference between the cliche resting place of the most famous vampire in vampire history and the Buffyverse mansion is the locations. In this world, Dracula doesn’t live in Transylvania, he’s in Sunnydale, obviously. But everything else is pretty much as one would expect to be; old, creaky, lots of candles, windy staircases, the basics were all accounted for.
Worst: Zachary’s House
In “Helpless”, Buffy is injected with some kind of human serum that takes away her slayer superpowers. She’s then put in a creepy old house with a serial-killer-turned-vampire and left to fight for her life without any strength to fight with. As Buffy runs around this run down, creaky, dusty old house, trying to escape a very strong and very psycho vampire, the viewers can’t help but wonder, “how the heck is she going to get herself out of this?”.
It’s easy to assume that this lair of Zachary’s was his house when he was a human (although we know it isn’t, as the Watchers brought him in). While Zachary chases Buffy, he also fills her in on his mommy issues, and this house definitely looks like it belongs to a guy who killed his mother. To put it mildly, it’s not cute.
Best: The Bronze
This only happens for one episode, but when the Bronze is turned into a vampire lair, it’s pretty cool. In the episode “The Wish”, Cordelia accidentally makes a wish to vengeance demon, Anya, that Buffy Summers never came to Sunnydale. Anya grants Cordelia’s wish and all hell breaks loose, literally. Willow and Xander are now evil vampires and leading the Order of Aurelius in their mission to raise the Master. The Bronze looks pretty much the same, even as home to a bunch of blood-sucking demons. The only difference being that in this Buffy-less world, people don’t go to The Bronze to dance, they go there to die.
Worst: The Master’s Lair
You would think that the first vampire, the original, the most powerful, the vampire of all vampires, the one most capable of killing the slayer, would live in a big castle surrounded by luxury and everything a vampire needs to live a lavish lifestyle, but that was not the case for the Master.
Most likely that is because the Master was a season one villain and the show couldn’t afford to give him the fancy lair he deserved. So, the Master lives underground surrounded by a lot of candles and the audience is frequently left wondering, “Where do you sleep?”
Best: Crawford Street Mansion
Once Angel becomes his evil alter-ego, Angelus, he trades in the modest, cute, human-friendly apartment for a major upgrade. The Crawford Street Mansion is the setting of what is arguably the best fight in the show’s entire seven season run. At the end of season two, Angelus shares the mansion with Spike, Cordelia, a couple of vampire guards, and Acathla the rock solid demon who, when awakened, will open the Hellmouth and unleash actual hell on earth. Buffy must stop this, and she does, after an incredible fight season involving a broadsword and one of the saddest season finales ever.
Worst: Bric and Broc
When the Master was still alive, his followers, the Order Of Aurelius, resided in a sunken church in Sunnydale and it was pretty cliche. After the death of the Master, his followers needed to find new digs for a few reasons. One, the Slayer knew where that church was, so they couldn’t hide there anymore, and two, they needed a better place to store the Master’s bones. The followers were hoping to resurrect the Master and chose this run down, old factory as the place to start a new. It was fine. It had a conveyor belt which came in handy when they kidnapped the Scooby gang. After Buffy saves her friends and dusts the Vamps, Spike and Drusilla move into the old warehouse, but Giles eventually burns it down in a fit of rage after Jenny Calendar’s death.
