Where Is ‘Grey’s Anatomy’ Filmed? All About the Real-Life Locations

For over two decades, Grey’s Anatomy has followed a group of doctors navigating love and loss inside a Seattle hospital. But as real as Grey Sloan Memorial feels to fans, the hospital sadly doesn’t exist.

Most of the show is shot on a Southern California soundstage. However, the exteriors of a real-life medical facility and a local college have been used for scenes that take place outside, according to Los Angeles Magazine and Architectural Digest.

Grey’s Anatomy production designer John Zachary even joked that if Grey Sloan Memorial were real, it would likely “cover 10 city blocks.”

“We have multiple ICUs, we have so many patient rooms, we have multiple conference rooms, we have clinics. There’s just so much,” he told Architectural Digest in May 2025.

Zachary added, “It’s a fine line that we walk in all these sets because it’s a serious hospital and there are these romantic, sometimes funny relationships that are the heart of the stories. So we’re constantly battling with how to present an environment that covers both of those areas.”

So, where is Grey’s Anatomy filmed? Here’s everything to know about the real-life filming locations, including Grey Sloan Memorial Hospital and Meredith Grey’s house.

Is Grey’s Anatomy filmed in Seattle?

Although the majority of Grey’s Anatomy episodes are filmed in Los Angeles, a few scenes have been shot in Seattle, where the show is set.

Scenes in Meredith Grey’s (Ellen Pompeo) house and on the rooftop helipad of Grey Sloan Memorial are both filmed in the Emerald City, per Los Angeles Magazine. The helipad is located on top of KOMO Plaza, a business center situated north of the downtown area.

Peter Horton, who directed the pilot, told Architectural Digest that Seattle’s Harborview Medical Center, which boasts a glass-sheathed exterior and helicopter pads, served as inspiration for Grey Sloan Memorial.

“It was this [building] sitting up on the hill overlooking the sound,” he recalled. “It just had a spirit to it.”

Is Grey Sloan Memorial a real hospital?

No, Grey Sloan Memorial is not a real hospital. However, some of the building’s exterior in earlier seasons was that of a real medical facility.

Los Angeles Magazine reported in 2015 that the Veterans Administration Sepulveda Ambulatory Care Center in North Hills, Calif., was the site of many scenes that take place outside of Grey Sloan Memorial. More specifically, the south side of the center is used for shots of the hospital, and the north side is used for shots featuring the cast exiting and entering the building.

Horton told Architectural Digest that some interior shots were also filmed at the hospital, including the interns’ tunnels in the pilot episode and the iconic airbridge.

“I took a look at that view with the bridge and the window, and I could have sworn I could see Bellevue across the sound,” Horton said. “It’s Los Angeles, but for some reason you look out and there’s this hill of trees.”

However, Zachary told Architectural Digest that production had been using West Los Angeles College as Grey Sloan Memorial since season 19. Some exteriors around the studio have also been dressed up for scenes outside the hospital.

Where are scenes in Meredith’s house filmed? 

Diehard fans would recognize the cozy exterior of Meredith’s house anywhere, and those who live in Seattle can even drive by it. The actual house is located along Comstock Street in the city’s Queen Anne neighborhood, according to Los Angeles Magazine.

T.R. Knight — who played George O’Malley until season 5 — told PEOPLE that he got a little teary-eyed when he returned to visit that specific portion of the set.

“Being back in Meredith’s house was actually surprisingly the most emotional,” the actor said in May 2025. “Everything else seemed surreal, but being back in the house — and in the kitchen, oddly enough, I don’t know why, specifically in the kitchen — it got me in the feelings a little bit. My eyes got a little wet with the salt water.”

Where is Grey’s Anatomy filmed?

Most of Grey’s Anatomy is filmed on six soundstages inside Prospect Studios in Los Feliz, Calif., according to Architectural Digest. That includes scenes from the hospital, the intern house and Joe’s Bar, which was initially filmed at the real-life McMurphy’s Restaurant & Tavern, which has since been renamed, in Pasadena, Calif., per Los Angeles Magazine.

However, production eventually built a replica of the watering hole on the soundstage.

While building the interior of the hospital on set, Horton said they wanted Grey Sloan Memorial to feel more expansive than typical hospitals.

“So much of a hospital show is long speeches as you’re walking through hallways and making turns and going into rooms that turn into other rooms,” the director told Architectural Digest. “We had this sense of needing space and size. It couldn’t feel small and claustrophobic like so many hospitals do.”