Skip to main content

The Lumon building from ‘Severance’ is just a short drive from New York City

The building was built in the 1960s, and was abandoned in 2007 before being revived in 2013

The Severance Building.
Apple TV+

If you’ve actually watched Severance, you probably know that the Lumon headquarters where Mark and his friends go to work every day isn’t exactly the most welcoming building. If you’re the kind of person that just has to know whether you’re secretly severed, though, you can visit the real-life location where the exteriors of the Lumon headquarters are filmed.

As it turns out, the building is the Bell Works building in Holmdel, New Jersey. It was once the home of Bell Labs, the research arm for AT&T. The building is now home to multiple business, and according to reporting in Curbed, it was first designed in 1962 by architect Eero Saarinen and was opened as a mid-century office space.

Recommended Videos

Numerous cutting-edge technologies were developed in the building, including the basis for cell phones, before it was eventually abandoned in 2007. In 2013, though, the building was revived by developer Ralph Zucker, and its lobby and outdoor spaces are now often used as stand-ins for the Lumon headquarters.

Severance is not the first show to use the rather imposing exterior of the building, but it has become the show that most people associate the building with.

“I have heard that we have a lot more people coming in and taking pictures of themselves in the space,” Zucker told Curbed. “We have a whole team that works on social media, and they’re inundated.”

There is, unfortunately, no official tour of the building as it is still a workspace where actual people work. As such, you can only visit the exteriors or the lobby, which should be plenty for the Severance obsessed.

“We always understood that people would realize that this was not, you know, real life,” Zucker added. “Although Severance portrays the headquarters as this empty devoid-of-life space, in reality, we’re literally teeming with life.”

Joe Allen
Joe Allen is a freelance culture writer based in upstate New York. His work has been published in The Washington Post, The…
May’s top picks: What to stream on Apple TV+
Apple TV+ has an impressive library that includes great movies and shows
Austin Butler in Masters of the Air.

When computer company Apple announced that it was getting into the streaming TV game, there were plenty of people who were skeptical about the company's ability to pull it off. Why would the tech giant, which is most known for the Macintosh and the iPhone, have any credibility in making television shows? It doesn't seem the two ideas would mesh in any meaningful way, but in the years since Apple TV Plus launched, the company has come up with some pretty impressive original shows, and it picked up a Best Picture Oscar on top of that.
What's even more impressive is that these Apple TV+ shows and movies run the gamut from comedy to drama, and they are all set in wildly different and imaginative places. Any loyal Apple customer, and I am definitely one, will tell you that they buy their stuff because it's simply better than the alternative. As it turns out, the same thing is true for the streaming service.
If you're looking for more great stuff to stream, you should also check out our lists of the best shows on Netflix, the best shows on Hulu, and the best shows on Disney+.

Masters of the Air (2024)

Read more
9 best Walton Goggins TV shows: From Justified to The Righteous Gemstones
Google Goggins and you'll find a show you love
Walton Goggins in The White Lotus season 3

My favorite type of actor is the one where I'm watching my new favorite show, and they appear on the screen, and I immediately tell my brother (who happens to be my go-to TV-watching partner), "It's that guy!" No name, no recollection of where I've seen him before. "He's in everything!" This is the best compliment someone can give an actor when they star in a new project. Sure, it's probably fun to be Tom Hanks or Denzel Washington, but those superstars almost devour the characters they play. It's sometimes a disservice to a story when the actors are so famous that they can't help but overshadow the role they're playing.

Walton Goggins is the ultimate "I know him!" TV actor of the 21st century. This man is a chameleon to the highest degree. Goggins transforms from a bitter boomer on a vacation to a transgender motorcycle mama in the blink of an eye. His talents have finally garnered him the recognition he deserves. Before he outgrows his discreet status as TV's most versatile performer, it's time to collect all of his best TV shows into one nice package. After reading this list you'll finally be able to put a name to his face when he's in another great show. These are the best Walton Goggins TV shows.

Read more
Jessica Chastain and Adam Driver are set to headline the latest prestige series from Apple
No release date has been announced for the project yet
Adam Driver and Scarlett Johansson in Marriage Story

Few things are likely to get a series greenlit faster than the presence of Adam Driver and Jessica Chastain. Two of our best working actors are set to team up in The Dealer, a series from Apple TV+.

According to reporting in Variety, the show is described as “a biting exploration of power, class, seduction and culture set inside the glittering world of the high-end art market, told through the eyes of an aspiring super gallerist, played by Chastain, and the tangled relationship with her most gifted and unnerving artist, played by Driver.”

Read more