The Frankenstein family's estate on Lake Geneva is called Belrive. In Mary Shelley's novel Frankenstein; or, The Modern Prometheus, Belrive is the Frankenstein family's home near Geneva, Switzerland, and it is closely tied to Victor Frankenstein's childhood and family life.
Victor grows up in a prosperous, educated household with his parents, Alphonse and Caroline Frankenstein. The estate represents security and affection before Victor's scientific ambitions draw him away from home. His later recollections of Belrive contrast sharply with the isolation, secrecy, and guilt surrounding his creation of the creature.
Belrive is easy to confuse with the Villa Diodati, the real mansion near Lake Geneva where Byron stayed during the famous summer of 1816. Mary Shelley and Percy Bysshe Shelley visited the area, and the storytelling challenge that summer helped inspire Frankenstein, but Villa Diodati is not the Frankenstein family's fictional estate. “Belrive” is also distinct from “Belle Rive,” an earlier name associated with Villa Diodati.