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The Belfrey Towers, headquarters of Belfrey Developments, are a Seattle location featured on ABC's Once Upon a Time. They first appear in the first episode of the seventh season.
History
In Hyperion Heights, Victoria Belfrey owns Belfrey Towers, in addition to being its CEO. One morning before Victoria is set to arrive for work, her assistant, Ivy, who is also her personal assistant, sharply hastens the other employees to look on-par and also reminds them not to make eye contact with her mother. After stepping out of her car in front of Belfrey Towers, Victoria heads into the building elevator until she reaches the floor for her office. She immediately asks Ivy where her granddaughter Lucy is as she is supposed to there. Ivy admits she doesn't know but will work on finding out, to which an unimpressed Victoria tells her to stop trying and start succeeding. ("Hyperion Heights")
While working at the front desk in Belfrey Towers, Ivy is met by Jacinda, Lucy's mother, who prompts her for the ticket Victoria promised her so she could attend Lucy's ballet recital. Ivy unceremoniously informs her that because the event is now a charity to raise money for disadvantaged children, the price of the ticket is now $550. Jacinda is floored by this, noting that her stepmother likely raised the price on purpose since her paycheck is only $500. Without missing a beat, Ivy instead simply states if she can't pay in cash at the moment, credit is also accepted. She then smiles smugly at her stepsister, but before Jacinda can think of an answer, both girls turn to see Victoria coming out of a meeting. Jacinda begs her stepmother to be lenient about the ticket price, both because her paycheck won't cover the cost and that she is trying her best to get her life in order, but Victoria coldly tells her second chances are earned, not given. Later in her office, Victoria looks at a note that Lucy sent her, with an accompanying bouquet of hyacinth flowers that bloomed in the Community Gardens yesterday. Detectives Weaver and Rogers arrive and receive instructions from her to find a way to make Henry leave Hyperion Heights, as Victoria believes he is a bad influence on Lucy. During the elevator ride down, Rogers asks his partner why they are taking orders from Victoria. Weaver agrees that neither of them work for her, however, they do work for him. After Weaver fails to do as she asked, Victoria berates him in her office while Weaver expresses little care for her reprimand, stating that she neither owns or controls him and that while their goals have aligned in the past, they won't always. After Weaver walks out of the room, Victoria is left to stew over his defiance of her. ("A Pirate's Life")
Upon retrieving a coffin containing her deceased daughter Anastasia's body, Victoria takes it with her to a floor in Belfrey Towers, where Gothel is sequestered as a prisoner. She wants the woman's help with enacting her plans of making Lucy surrender her belief willingly as a way to resurrect Anastasia, but Gothel refuses despite the latter's attempt at intimidating her. Gothel cautions that Victoria may succeed in breaking Lucy's belief and reviving her daughter, but she will still have to deal with her afterward. ("The Garden of Forking Paths")
During Halloween, Ivy is texting while at work when she sees Jacinda come out of the elevator, prompting her to notify security of a "trash problem." Jacinda assures her stepsister that she knows she is not allowed to see Lucy but that she wanted to drop off her Halloween costume. Ivy is less than pleased about babysitting Lucy, with Jacinda offering to take her place instead, however, Ivy brushes off the suggestion, not wanting to Victoria to find out. In her office, Victoria tells Weaver about an unsettling encounter she had that morning with one of his street informants, Tilly, and how she found medication in the girl's bag. She explains having spoken to Tilly's doctor on the phone about the necessity of the pills and then pressures Weaver to get her to start taking them again before she becomes too dangerous. Weaver is reluctant since her request doesn't align with his interests, but to motivate him into complying, Victoria implies that she can expose his many corruptive deeds and earn him a place in prison. Weaver warns her against threatening him, though she expresses no qualms about doing so and pushes him to choose who he'd rather go down: him or Tilly. ("Beauty")
Having more difficulty than she expected with breaking Lucy's belief, Victoria visits Gothel again and tries to bribe her with tea in exchange for information. Gothel suggests Victoria is looking at things the wrong way because belief can only be removed if it's severed at the root, but she refuses to give any more specifics unless Victoria provides her with her "special tea." Meanwhile, as Lucy is waiting in the tower lobby for her grandmother to pick her up for ballet lessons, she complains to Ivy that she'll be late. Ivy, once again texting on her phone, shushes her, and without glancing up, tells the girl that she is busy looking for an "annoyed babysitter" emoji. When Sabine drops by to give Lucy a bag of her homemade beignets, Victoria arrives as well, ignoring Ivy's questions about where she was and instead sends her to pick up some herbs without telling her what she needs them for. Victoria also informs Sabine that she is increasing her rent by 8% and nonchalantly suggests it's a family discount, to which an annoyed Sabine declares her intent to fight back and not be intimidated by her. Ivy returns with the procured herbs, but when she expresses curiosity about where her mother is headed with them, Victoria cautions her to stop both her questions and complaining and start doing her job before she decides to hire another assistant to take her place. Victoria then goes to see Gothel at the top floor, but while she is still in the elevator, Ivy uses the security camera to spy on her and then phones Henry to tell him she has a lead on her mother's schemes. However, Roni shows up instead, intent on blocking Ivy's attempt at seducing Henry and wants to see proof that Ivy is not pretending to go against her mother. Ivy then leads Roni to the room she saw Victoria go into earlier, but unknown to Roni, she is aware of Gothel's presence in the room and tells her to hide. Additionally, she plants a photo in an open locker for Roni to find. Noticing her mother has had a bad day, Ivy visits her in her office and offers to help her in any way she needs. Victoria dryly remarks on her kind gesture and talks about the dream of guiding and caring for a daughter who she could lean on in the same way someday, however, she laments that not all daughters are created equal and Ivy would do best to realize just how badly she is failing right now and that she will continue to fail. Later on, Ivy returns to see Gothel, who startles her and causes her to break the herbal tea Victoria prepared. The woman questions if the plan worked and if she has gained Roni and Henry's trust, which Ivy confirms she has and that she fooled them as much as she did to her mother. Gothel praises her cleverness, and Ivy suggests she continue playing her part with Victoria as they discussed. Before leaving, Ivy turns back to tell Gothel not to call her by her cursed name but her real one: Drizella. ("Greenbacks")
On another day, Ivy walks into Victoria's office to find her mother suffering from a migraine. She offers to take the flowers away, citing that their pollen may be the cause, and Victoria grudgingly agrees, complaining that at least it'll stop her from having to hear Ivy's grating voice. In reality, Ivy retrieves these flowers for Gothel and brings them straight to her. Gothel examines them and detects the smallest seed of magic before instructing Ivy to bring her some dirt to plant it in. After Gothel uses the flowers and soil to magically grow a thorny bush, Ivy collects one of the thorns, squeezing its liquid into a vial which she intends to use on Roni to trigger her true memories. ("Wake Up Call")
Learning her granddaughter has been sneaking into town without her permission, Victoria scolds Lucy before grounding her and sending her to her room. Before departing from the office, Lucy defiantly tells her grandmother that she can punish her now, however, when her parents break the curse and her family is reunited, Victoria will be the one left all alone. Victoria visits Gothel again with tea during which she admits Lucy is still stubbornly clinging to her belief though she is sure she can wear the girl down in time. She notices a speck of dirt on the ground and begins to suspect Gothel has had another visitor besides herself. Back in her office, Victoria reviews the elevator security footage which shows someone wearing black pumps exiting the floor where Gothel is being kept but the screen goes to static, obscuring her from seeing the person's face. She goes to Ivy's work desk and fishes around under it until she discovers a pair of heels that match the ones she saw, revealing to her that her daughter knows about Gothel. Weaver arrives to tell her that Rogers is dangerously close to solving the Eloise Gardener case, to which Victoria orders him to take care of the issue or she will find someone who will do it in a more permanent fashion. Upon confronting Gothel about Ivy, Victoria learns her daughter has been awake this whole time, but to ensure Ivy will have no one to depend on anymore, she moves Gothel from the top floor of Belfrey Towers to another building. While Victoria is away, Rogers storms in and convinces Ivy to give him access to a tracking system on her mother's car, as he has reason to believe Victoria is holding someone captive. After Victoria's arrest, Jacinda comes to Belfrey Towers to reunite with Lucy, thinking she now has custody of her since her stepmother is now unable to look after her, but instead Lucy is taken in by social service workers. ("Eloise Gardener")
A week after Victoria's death, Ivy is in her mother's office sorting through her many belongings, during which Henry comes to see her. She shares with him her confusion over what to do with herself now that the mother she hated is dead and the fact Victoria had loved her all this time without her knowing it. Having no one else to turn to in this difficult time, she considers Henry the only one who understands her as he has lost family like her and perhaps they could fix each other. She draws him into a kiss, but Henry pulls away, suggesting to her that this isn't what she needs right now. Ivy believes otherwise and tries to kiss him again, however, Henry reasons he has been where she is and done stupid things to drown out his feelings when his family died. Ivy becomes upset at his insinuation of her, but he explains she's still in the grieving process and trying to hold onto something as a distraction. Despite how alone Ivy feels, he persuades her to reach out to the remaining family she has left, Jacinda and Lucy, even if she feels they hate her because they could help her figure out the person she is meant to be now. Ivy later finds some of Jacinda's old belongings that Victoria kept and takes Henry's advice by going over to her stepsister's apartment. ("Knightfall")
In her mother's old office, Ivy angrily converses on the phone with someone whom she hired to track down Anastasia. She impatiently tells the person to do as she asked before hanging up. At some point, the Candy Killer leaves a heart-shaped box in a pink bag outside the room, which Eloise picks up when she goes in to see Ivy. Eloise hopes to renew the previous deal they had to find Anastasia and obtain her magic, but Ivy declines to help her as it means her sister will die and the magic will go to Eloise so she can get her hands on the Dark One Dagger. Eloise muses that while Ivy's desire to honor Victoria's dying wish is noble, she won't find Anastasia if she has run out of time. She then hands the bag to Ivy, telling her it was in the lobby when she came in. Ivy takes a look at the box inside the bag, which has a card with her name on it, as Eloise states that she's already siphoned some of Anastasia's magic and intends to take the rest once Ivy is gone. Ivy is unconcerned about the Candy Killer coming after her, even when Eloise insists she will end up dead like the murderer's other two victims, but Ivy refuses to give in to her, to which Eloise leaves. Later, Ivy exits the building's parking garage, where she hears someone approaching and threatens the person to come out and try some of her pepper spray. However, she becomes scared when the lights go out and rushes to go back through the building door, only to find it's locked. As Ivy turns around, she sees a masked man with a knife before he charges at her. Ivy pepper sprays him, although the stranger trips her after she tries to run. Her attacker attempts to stab her, but she kicks him with her stiletto and flees while he's down. After making a deal with Samdi to secure her own freedom, Ivy brings an unconscious Anastasia to the office to allow the witch doctor to imbue her sister's magic in a magic bean, which she wants to use to escape from Eloise. In the middle of the extraction, Eloise arrives to wake up Anastasia, whom she persuades into killing Ivy for betraying her. Anastasia prepares to do just that by grabbing onto a piece of glass, however, Ivy owns up to her mistakes and reveals Eloise set them up so if either of them kills one another, Eloise will get Anastasia's magic either way. In the end, Anastasia chooses her sister over Eloise, who departs with her plans failed. Afterward, Weaver and Roni arrive to see the destroyed office and Ivy tells Roni of her wish to return to the New Enchanted Forest with her sister so Eloise cannot reach them. Ivy asks for her forgiveness for cursing everyone and poisoning Henry, and Roni offers her the belief that she can change. Anastasia powers up the magic bean, and after a portal is opened, she and Ivy step through to go home together. After the sisters are gone, Roni expresses surprise at Weaver for allowing Anastasia to go since she was the Guardian he was seeking in order to reunite himself with Belle. Weaver, while not having given up on his mission, says he believes everytime he does good, it brings him closer to Belle and he has hopes one day another Guardian will appear. ("Sisterhood")
Investigating the indoor parking lot where the Candy Killer attacked Ivy, Rogers and Weaver are unable to find a single trace left behind by the assailant. They discuss the benefit of Ivy's decision to leave town as soon as she did, in order to be far from the killer's grasp, though they believe the next victim may not be so lucky. ("Breadcrumbs")Visitors
Trivia
On-Screen Notes
- According to its front sign, Belfrey Developments is an architecture, design and project development company. Its website is www.belfreydevelopments.com.[1] ("Hyperion Heights")
- The Belfrey Towers are located across from Hyperion Plaza. ("The Garden of Forking Paths")
- The secret room, where Eloise Gardener is kept as prisoner, is located at the top floor of the Towers. ("Greenbacks")
Fairytales and Folklore
- The Belfrey Towers are a reference to Rapunzel's tower from the fairytale "Rapunzel," as the owner of the company is Victoria Belfrey, whose New Enchanted Forest counterpart is Rapunzel.
Popular Culture
- The scene where Victoria enters the Belfrey Towers in "Hyperion Heights" is a homage to the 2006 film The Devil Wears Prada,[2] in which Meryl Streep's Miranda Priestly enters the Runway building in a similar way.
- Rebecca Mader, who plays Zelena, plays Jocelyn, one of Miranda's employees, in the movie.
- Glenn Close's Cruella DeVil has also a similar scene and entrance in the live-action film 101 Dalmatians.
Set Dressing
- Two paintings by the American artist Augustine Kofie are decorating the walls inside the lobby. One can be seen next to Ivy's reception desk[3] (note that the show's version is cropped and the original version is bigger),[4] while the other one appears next to the elevator[5] and is a painting from the artist's 2011 exhibition Circulatory System.[6] ("Hyperion Heights" et al.)
- The machinery seen in the top level of Belfrey Towers[7] (the room where Eloise Gardener is kept) is the same prop used in the control room of Storybrooke Power Inc.[8] ("The Garden of Forking Paths" et al.)
Filming Locations
- The Anvil Centre Office Tower at 11 Eighth Street in New Westminster doubles as the Belfrey Tower for exterior scenes.[9]
- The Anvil Centre Office Tower is located at an intersection of Columbia and Eighth Street in New Westminster.[10] The name "Columbia Street" can be seen on a street sign during an establishing shot of Belfrey Towers in "A Pirate's Life."[11]
- The scene where the construction workers deliver Anastasia's coffin to Victoria Belfrey in "The Garden of Forking Paths" was filmed in the rear loading bay of the Anvil Centre.[12]
- This location also doubles as Tannhauser Industries in The Flash episodes "Monster,"[13] "The Death of Vibe"[14] and "Snow Pack."[15]
- The scenes in Victoria's office were filmed on a television set at The Bridge Studios.[16]
Appearances
| Once Upon a Time: Season Seven | ||||||||||
| "Hyperion Heights": | "A Pirate's Life": | "The Garden of Forking Paths": | "Beauty": | "Greenbacks": | "Wake Up Call": | "Eloise Gardener": | "Pretty in Blue": | "One Little Tear": | "The Eighth Witch": | "Secret Garden": |
| Appears | Appears | Appears | Appears | Appears | Appears | Appears | Appears | Mentioned | Absent | Absent |
| "A Taste of the Heights": | "Knightfall": | "The Girl in the Tower": | "Sisterhood": | "Breadcrumbs": | "Chosen": | "The Guardian": | "Flower Child": | "Is This Henry Mills?": | "Homecoming": | "Leaving Storybrooke": |
| Absent | Appears | Absent | Appears | Appears | Absent | Absent | Absent | Absent | Absent | Absent |
References
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Notes
- ↑ 1.0 1.1 In "Eloise Gardener," Victoria Belfrey says to Lucy, "You can go downstairs to your room. You're grounded." This means that Lucy, and Victoria (who was given custody of Lucy), both live in Belfrey Towers.