Remembering: Martha's Westport Television Studios

Westport Digital Studios, Inc. was located at 19 Newtown Turnpike in Westport, Connecticut. It was leased by Martha Stewart Living Omnimedia from 1998 to 2004 and produced many of the most memorable segments of Martha's television show. The studios were housed in a 1929 office building and warehouse, which Martha converted into one of the most beautiful television studios ever built. Prior to leasing this building, Martha filmed her television show on her personal properties: Turkey Hill in Connecticut and Lily Pond in East Hampton. Her private kitchens and gardens were the backdrop to her teaching segments. While outdoor gardening segments continued at her private residences, the new studios allowed Martha to greatly expand her television production team, providing much more space (indoors and outdoors) to develop ideas and produce daily content.

The studio complex featured a number of different production and post-production areas: three studio sound stages, a broadcast-ready digital control room, a shoot-ready prep kitchen with stainless-steel work surfaces, radio broadcast facilities where her Ask Martha segments were taped, editing suites, offices, a guest cottage for overnight housing, an on-site gym featuring an entertainment system, a commissary and 8.5 acres of wooded grounds, aesthetically maintained for "backyard" filming with a deck, a patio and multiple barbecue grills. 

Two primary kitchen studios were designed to film the cooking segments; the kitchen design of Studio B was based on Martha's kitchen at Turkey Hill Road.This set also included a dining area and a projects/crafts room. Studio A, shown in the top photograph and below, was based on her Lily Pond Lane kitchen in the Hamptons. There was an adjacent study and dining area in Studio A, each with its own functional gas fireplace. Studio A also contained the mud room and pantry. Studio C featured natural lighting where a number of set vignettes could be staged: a living room, a dining room, a laundry room, a bedroom and a bathroom. All were designed to Martha's exact specifications, intended to replicate rooms in her own homes.In total, the studios accounted for nearly 7,000 square feet of space.

The kitchen in Studio A, shown here, was modeled after Martha's kitchen in East Hampton. It had soapstone countertops by the Vermont Soapstone Company in Perkinsville, Vermont. The Viking range had six gas burners, a double griddle and two ovens: one conventional and one convection. Two other Viking ovens were built into the back wall. Each drawer in the kitchen served its own storage purpose: knives, baking racks, cookie cutters, tart shells, etc., were all assigned their own drawer. There were even two under-counter refrigerated drawers for easy access to chilled cookie dough and pie crusts.The kitchen cabinets are made of Poplar wood. Lucifer lights were installed inside all of the glass-front cabinets to illuminate Martha's dinnerware collections. The walls of this studio were painted using Martha Stewart Everyday paint in "Twine". The cabinets were painted "Westport Green."

The studio spaces were designed by a company called Meridian Design Associates and built by contractor Structure Tone Inc., a construction firm that operates across the United States, the United Kingdom and Asia. Structure Tone worked with Martha and her production team to ensure all of the requirements were met to Martha's exact specifications. On its website, Structure Tone breaks down the design:

"The new 32,000 square-foot space included two 2,000 square-foot stage kitchens, a 1,000 square-foot prep kitchen, a 500 square-foot commissary with seating for 40, fully equipped gym and post production and office support facilities. Representatives of Martha Stewart Living preferred natural gas instead of electric or propane for cooking purposes. Since natural gas was not currently in this area of Connecticut, our staff worked closely with Yankee Gas to bring the service to the building to supply the kitchen equipment and new HVAC system. In addition, Ms. Stewart requested the ability to change the kitchen set-up in the main studio (Studio A). With all the necessary hook ups for kitchens, including connections for gas, water and vent lines, our staff installed six separate valve locations under the studio floor. These lines facilitate quick and easy changes to the kitchen layout."

This is the craft area of the studio, organized with tools and supplies for any craft project and spaces to display some of Martha's interesting collections. All of the surfaces in the crafts/projects room were made of durable Dupont Corian. It also contained a working flower refrigerator.

A washer and dryer in the laundry room set were fully functional, as were all of the appliances at the studio. Here, Martha demonstrated many homekeeping tasks, such as stain removal from textiles, ironing, folding, organizing and clotheskeeping.

Martha is pictured here with her mother, "Big Martha" (Kostyra), in the Turkey Hill kitchen set, Studio A.

Martha shown in Studio A with four of the nine Emmy's the Martha Stewart Living program was awarded during its eleven seasons on the air - most of which were filmed at the Westport Studios. (The show was nominated for 22 Emmy's in total.)

Westport Digital Studios Inc. was in operation for a period of just over 14 years, six of which were under Martha's supervision. The building is currently home to Westport's Museum of Contemporary Art.