It is no secret that doctors are practically married to their profession as they seem to either always be at work, on call, or they are studying and researching while off the clock. When it comes to the surgeons in Grey’s Anatomy, they are no different.
The interns refuse to miss a single thing, so they pretty much live at the hospital. The attendings always feel like they have their hands full due to the craziness that always comes through their doors. Some might even say that Grey Sloan Memorial is the most comforting home they have ever known — that is, except for all the doctors (and a couple others) who called Meredith Grey’s house “home.”
Meredith’s home has seen its fair share of crazy over the last 20 seasons. Between fires, dinner parties that ended up in disaster, the countless couples who found a semi-private place to hook up, and the wholesome conversations that have been had over a glass bottle, it is safe to say that the Grey House is certainly a character in and of itself.
It has played a vital role in many lives, and, unlike the hospital, it provides a comfortable place for the overworked doctors to actually relax and take a break from all the chaos.
Check out which Grey’s Anatomy characters lived in Meredith Grey’s home.
20 Ellis Grey Originally Owned the Home
Moved in Before Season 1, Episode 1
To properly introduce Meredith’s home, we have to acknowledge that there was at least one homeowner before Meredith (Ellen Pompeo), and that would be her mother, Ellis Grey (Kate Burton).
From what Meredith has said over the years, it seems as if Ellis bought or inherited the home with Thatcher, and Meredith spent a short time growing up in it before moving to Boston. Ellis clearly kept up with payments of the home while she was away, as we all know from the pilot episode, but even when Meredith inherits it, she still considers it to be her mother’s house.
19 Meredith Moved Back to Her Childhood Home
Moved in Before Season 1, Episode 1
To kick off the series and reel fans in, the very first scene of the pilot episode is a rather awkward encounter between Meredith and Derek Shepherd (Patrick Dempsey). Derek wakes up on the floor of Meredith’s home after a night of fun, and he compliments Meredith on her house. Meredith quickly deflects and says that the place “was” her mother’s home and that she is selling it as soon as she can.
It becomes very apparent that Meredith wants to distance herself from either her mother or the memories that are in the house, but as we all know, that does not end up being the case. Over the next two decades, Meredith has had some of the best and worst times there, and she should feel proud to have opened it to so many people in need.
18 George O’Malley and Izzie Stevens Became Roommates
Moved in Season 1, Episode 2
After Meredith decides to keep the house, she lets it be known that she is looking for a couple of roommates. Izzie (Katherine Heigl), George (T. R. Knight), and many others start hounding and practically begging Meredith for a place to live, and after a lot of consideration, she caves.
Izzie and George happily move into the house and start to make the place really feel like home. Izzie bakes and cleans, and she brings a positive energy into the formerly dusty rooms. Then George just provides a judgement-free vibe that opens the door for the three of them to really get to know one another and bond.
17 Callie Torres Technically Moved in with Georgie
Moved in Season 3, Episode 2
If you don’t remember Callie (Sara Ramirez) moving into Meredith’s house, that is likely because it all went down in pretty much one episode. After Richard (James Pickens Jr.) found out Callie was living in the hospital, he kicked her out, and George took her back to Meredith’s.
The following episode jumps a week ahead, and George is visibly going crazy living with Callie. He asks Meredith to kick Callie out because he is not ready to live with his girlfriend, but Meredith has no problem with the living situation. By the end of the episode, George manages to explode, and Callie packs up her things and heads to a hotel until she can make other living arrangements.
16 Meredith Brought Alex Karev Home
Moved in Season 3, Episode 18
After Meredith almost dies, and she finds out that her mother actually did die, she brings Alex (Justin Chambers) into her home. Izzie is completely baffled by the fact that Meredith would even want someone like Alex to live with them. Meredith simply tells her that Alex is one of them, and she wants to do positive things with her newfound appreciation for life.
Alex seems completely happy with the whole situation as he likely wasn’t living in such great conditions before, and he was always made out to be the evil spawn that was banished from the rest of the group. In season nine, Alex goes on to buy Meredith’s home and call it his own, and like his very best friend, he allows others to stay there as long as they need.
15 Rebecca Pope Crashed with Alex
Moved in Season 4, Episode 15
Rebecca Pope (Elizabethe Reaser), also known as the woman who fell in love with Alex after her face was smashed in during a ferry boat accident, made her way to Meredith’s home in season four. At first, Alex thinks she just wanted to get away and see him, so he takes her back to his room that he’s been renting at Meredith’s house.
Unfortunately, he soon learns that Rebecca actually is having issues with understanding reality, and the truth eventually comes out that she has an underlying borderline personality disorder. Alex does his best to take care of Rebecca at Meredith’s house, but it becomes too much. Rebecca attempts to kill herself, and Izzie has her admitted to psych.
14 Derek Shepherd Was Not a Fan of the Roommate Situation
Moved in Season 5, Episode 1
Meredith is not known for big romantic gestures or beating around the bush, so when she asked Derek to move in with her while they were on the way to see a patient, it felt completely casual. She fumbles a bit while asking because she is nervous about the whole commitment and heart-on-the-line aspect, but he does not hesitate to say yes.
Now, the problem with them living together means absolutely no privacy. Meredith is comfortable with people crashing on couches and taking up spare rooms, but Derek just wants to live with the woman he loves while having some form of privacy.
13 Meredith’s Old Friend Sadie Comes to Town
Moved in Season 5, Episode 8
While a lot of Meredith’s personal past has remained a mystery, one old friend comes barreling through her home like a wrecking ball full of bad decisions and risky behavior. Sadie Harris (Melissa George) excitedly runs through the house looking for “Death” (aka Meredith), and she simply crashes on the couch for the next few weeks while trying to establish herself as an intern at the hospital.
Happily, it did not take long for Meredith to see that she had grown apart from her former friend, so Sadie’s time in the household and at work did not last long.
12 Lexie Grey was Considered a Stray
Moved in Season 5, Episode 9
Although Meredith tried her absolute best to put some distance between herself and every person she was biologically related to, she ended up actually really loving her younger sister, Lexie (Chyler Leigh). Lexie was first perceived as a wounded puppy who just wanted to be acknowledged, but after she almost lost her job due to some bad decisions made with the other interns, Derek took it upon himself to really welcome Lexie into the Grey household.
It is Derek who brings Lexie back to Meredith’s house and fixes her up with a bed. Over the next several months, Lexie bounces around the house and other places, but she eventually feels comfortable calling her sister’s house her home as well.
11 April Kepner and Jackson Avery Needed a Place
Moved in Between Seasons 6 and 7
After losing their friends to the mass shooting at Seattle Grace Mercy West, Jackson (Jesse Williams) and April (Sarah Drew) move into Meredith’s home. Now, unlike everyone else, there is no specific scene with the two asking for a place to stay or Meredith opening the door for them while they bring their bags in.
Instead, their presence is gradual throughout the first few episodes of season 7 until Jackson is shown to be having nightmares about the shooting and April is perkier than ever about making a chore chart. It speaks volumes on Meredith’s part about having a house full of grieving individuals, but it seems like her childhood home is what keeps a small piece of sanity and safety in everyone’s lives.
10 Zola Finally Found Her Home
Moved in Season 8, Episode 10
While Meredith really didn’t mind that a lot of people stayed at her house, she completely lit up with joy when one little girl showed up with a bag full of things and a social worker saying that the baby in her arms was Meredith and Derek’s newest addition to the family.
The moment Zola arrived to permanently stay with Meredith and Derek was the day Meredith became the greatest mom in the world. She wanted nothing more than to take care of her daughter, and happily, Meredith’s home was a comforting and warm place filled with love, laughter, and genuinely good people. Much like Meredith, Zola got to grow up in the house for a significant amount of time, and she even had her height marked on a door frame just beside her mother’s marks.
9 Cristina Yang and Alex Became Roommates
Moved in Season 9, Episode 6
After finishing up their dream house, Meredith and Derek move out of her childhood home, and Alex Karev buys it from her. However, before he even walks through his front door as a new homeowner, Cristina (Sandra Oh) has already moved her bedding and things into the living room. She tells Alex that she wants to rent from him, to which he actually smirks.
This moment is incredible because Cristina, who has just moved back from Minnesota after watching her beloved mentor die, humbles herself and openly asks for help. Cristina ends up living in her best friend’s home until she moves to Switzerland, but that does not mean that she does not occasionally join Meredith or even Alex in bed every once in a while to have a heartfelt staring-at-the-ceiling session.
8 Jo Wilson Made the House a Home
Moved in Season 9, Episode 22
After getting into a physical fight with her boyfriend, Jo (Camilla Luddington) shows up at Alex’s house and asks to stay. Before all of this, she was trying to help Alex make the place feel more like a home by buying a couch and telling him to add a few things to make his life a bit easier. With Jo finally there and their feelings for one another finally out in the open, Alex actually likes going home each night.
When Jo, much like Derek, says that she is not a fan of all the comings and goings of people, Alex explains that regardless of who holds the keys to the house, it will always be a place for people to come to when they need help or a place to crash.
7 Arizona Temporarily Needed a Place to Call Home
Moved in Season 11, Episode 7
After her very messy separation with Callie on top of dealing with her very strict new mentor, Arizona (Jessica Capshaw) finds herself at a loss. She didn’t feel comfortable being alone and keeping so many secrets, so when she was told to go home, she ended up at Alex’s house. She apologizes for not calling first, but with her suitcase in tow and a sad look on her face, Alex welcomes her in.
Arizona gives a hint of a smile as a ‘thank you’ because she and Alex have always had a back-and-forth relationship. It is nice to see that, even when things go wrong, he is still willing to bring her into his home without any judgment.
6 Meredith and Her Sisters Moved in Together
Moved in Between Seasons 11 and 12
After grieving Derek’s death and being on her own with her two children for nearly a year, Meredith finally comes back to Seattle and asks Alex if it is okay for her and her children to move in. Instead of just accepting them like any other roommates, Alex sells the house back to Meredith, and she moves in with her children and sisters.
Maggie (Kelly McCreary) and Amelia (Caterina Scorsone) are more than happy to live together, but they quickly learn that they have very different personalities. Amelia ends up moving out, but she returns when relationships don’t go her way. In season 17, Winston (Anthony Hill) and Owen (Kevin McKidd) actually call Meredith’s house the Sister House because they always gravitate back to it and bring everyone they love with them.
5 All of Meredith’s Kids Were Finally in the House
Moved in Between Seasons 11 and 12
Obviously, where Meredith goes, her children follow. However, not all of her children had the chance to live in her childhood home until the start of season 12. Surrounded by the walls where her height marks are and the warm energy of her sisters, Meredith’s children seem to be truly content in the house.
The attic was redone to make separate rooms for the three Shepherd children, and with many people still coming and going through the front door, they were definitely entertained at all hours of the day.
4 Maggie’s Mom Needed a Comfortable Place
Season 13, Episode 12
While Maggie was living in her biological mother’s house with her family, her adoptive mother, Diane (LaTanya Richardson Jackson), paid her a visit. She made herself at home doing laundry, cooking lasagna, and just being helpful in the best way possible.
Later on, when Diane was diagnosed with aggressive breast cancer, she officially moved into the house while undergoing chemo treatment. She still tried to be as helpful as possible, but Meredith and Maggie both saw her losing energy at a rapid pace. Eventually, she had to be moved to the hospital for round-the-clock monitoring.
3 Link & Scout Moved in During the Pandemic
Moved in Between Seasons 16 and 17
After having their son together, Link (Chris Carmack) and Amelia felt all the affects that came with the Covid-19 Pandemic. Link and Scout moved into Meredith’s home with Amelia, and there, they did their absolute best to help raise all the children.
During this season, fans watch the two and many others rally around and serve as a village for the Shepherd children while their mother was in the hospital. It is incredible to see how much Link stepped up as a father and a fun uncle, but it is more important to remember that fans could sympathize with his predicament as they, too, were trying to juggle many hats along with their new responsibilities.
2 3 New Interns Received Keys to the House
Moved in Season 19, Episode 7
Season 19 was monumental for many reasons, but one major event happened right in the middle of the season: three interns — Lucas (Nike Terho), Mika (Midori Francis), and Simone (Alexis Floyd) — found themselves with keys to the infamous Sister House.
They were essentially passed the torch by each of the sisters and subconsciously told to find a way to make their new friends their family. It is a wonderful change of events, as Meredith needs to find closure with her time in Seattle, but no one wants the story of the young surgeons to end.
1 Benson Kwan Joined His Friends
Season 20, Episode 6
The most recent addition to the Sister House is an intern who did not initially receive a key from one of the sisters. After Lucas moved out of the house, Benson “Blue” Kwan (Harry Shum Jr.) moved in. Lucas is completely baffled at the new arrangement because he had not been gone very long, and Blue just seems perfectly content as he makes himself at home in Lucas’ old room.
Since this incident, there has been some tension in the air with the interns, but in the end, they are all learning to let certain things roll off their backs as they have bigger problems to worry about.
