<P> Principal photography for the first season began in January 2012 in Harford County, Maryland, on the Eastern seaboard of the United States . Filming of exterior scenes in 2013 centered primarily in and around the city of Baltimore, Maryland, which is about 40 miles northeast of Washington, D.C. </P> <P> Among the numerous exteriors filmed in Baltimore, but set in Washington, D.C., are: Francis and Claire Underwood's residence, Zoe Barnes' apartment, Freddy's BBQ Rib Joint, The Clean Water Initiative building where Claire works, The Washington Herald offices, the Washington Opera House, the Secretary of State's building, Hotel Cotesworth, The Georgetown Hotel, Werner's Bar, Tio Pepe's, the DuPont Circle Bar, as well as scenes set in other locations, including Peter Russo's campaign rally in Pennsylvania and The Sentinel (military academy)'s Francis J. Underwood Library and Waldron Hall in South Carolina . </P> <P> Most of the interior scenes in House of Cards are filmed in a large industrial warehouse, which is located in Joppa, Maryland, also in Harford County, which is about 17 miles north east of Baltimore . The warehouse is used for the filming of some of the most iconic scenes of the series, such as the full - scale reconstruction of most of the West Wing of the White House, including the Oval Office, the Congressional offices and corridors, the large' Slugline' open - plan office interior, and domestic interiors such as the large townhouse rooms of the Underwood residence and a large loft apartment . Extensive filming for season 5 was also done at the Maryland Historical Society in Mount Vernon, Baltimore . </P> <P> The series uses green screen to augment the live action, inserting views of outdoor scenes in windows and broadcast images on TV monitors, often in post-production . The Production Designer, Steve Arnold, also describes in detail the use of a three - sided green screen to insert street scenes outside car windows, with synchronized LED screens above the car (and out of camera shot), that emit the appropriate light onto the actors and parts of the car, such as window frames: "All the driving in the show, anything inside the vehicle is done on stage, in a room that is a big three - sided green screen space . The car does not move, the actors are in the car, and the cameras are set up around them . We have very long strips of LED monitors hung above the car . We had a camera crew go to Washington, D.C. to drive around and shoot plates for what you see outside when you're driving . And that is fed into the LED screens above the car . So as the scene is progressing, the LED screens are synched up to emit interactive light to match the light conditions you see in the scenery you're driving past (that will be added in post). All the reflections on the car windows, the window frames and door jambs is being shot while we're shooting the actors in the car . Then in post the green screens are replaced with the synced up driving plates, and it works really well . It gives you the sense of light passing over the actors' faces, matching the lighting that is in the image of the plate". </P>

Where is house of cards white house scenes filmed