# From a luxury standpoint, how good/bad is the White House? **URL:** \ **Category:** In My Humble Opinion\ **Created:** [May 31, 2020, 6:35pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/from-a-luxury-standpoint-how-good-bad-is-the-white-house/854801 "2020-05-31T18:35:23Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![Velocity](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/velocity/32/18006_2.png) [@Velocity](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Velocity)\ **Post date:** [May 31, 2020, 6:35pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/from-a-luxury-standpoint-how-good-bad-is-the-white-house/854801/1 "2020-05-31T18:35:23Z")
AIUI, the White House is a fantastic place to live in terms of service - you have Secret Service and some of the finest chefs/staff in the world - but its accommodations are actually rather lousy (by standards of the rich, not us common peons.) It has all sorts of stuffy couches, drapes, chandeliers and 1800s stuff but couldn’t hold a candle to Bill Gates’ riverside mansion in Washington State, for instance. Probably nowhere as good as Obama’s $44 million Martha’s Vineyard estate. Very old fashioned and dim. How does it compare to most CEO/celebrity homes? ---
**Author:** ![Velocity](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/velocity/32/18006_2.png) [@Velocity](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Velocity)\ **Post date:** [May 31, 2020, 6:36pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/from-a-luxury-standpoint-how-good-bad-is-the-white-house/854801/2 "2020-05-31T18:36:23Z")
edit: Question also applies to the vice presidential residence or the Blair House. ---
**Author:** ![Procrustus](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/procrustus/32/2994_2.png) [@Procrustus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Procrustus)\ **Post date:** [May 31, 2020, 7:06pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/from-a-luxury-standpoint-how-good-bad-is-the-white-house/854801/3 "2020-05-31T19:06:12Z")
> [@Velocity](#): > > It has all sorts of stuffy couches, drapes, chandeliers and 1800s stuff but couldn’t hold a candle to Bill Gates’ riverside mansion in Washington State, for instance. Nitpick. If you’re talking about Gates’ primary home, it’s on Lake Washington and not a river. (He very well might own another home on a river somewhere, but I haven’t seen it mentioned.) As for the White House, it seems perfectly fine, but nothing amazing about the living quarters (as far as I can tell from watching House of Cards) ---
**Author:** ![Loach](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/loach/32/350_2.png) [@Loach](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Loach)\ **Post date:** [May 31, 2020, 7:26pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/from-a-luxury-standpoint-how-good-bad-is-the-white-house/854801/4 "2020-05-31T19:26:36Z")
It’s a dump. Just joking. When Trump came in they did a bit of renovation but it was mostly cosmetic. The big thing they did was replace the heat/AC which was almost 30 years old. The main thing that sets it apart from modern mansions is it’s not modern in design. Millionaires, billionaires and even those with enough money for a McMansion are used to big rooms and open floor plans. Go into any Georgian mansion and the rooms will feel small to modern sensibilities. They can keep it fancy but they haven’t made it bigger. ---
**Author:** ![running\_coach](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/running_coach/32/15836_2.png) [@running\_coach](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/running_coach)\ **Post date:** [May 31, 2020, 8:00pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/from-a-luxury-standpoint-how-good-bad-is-the-white-house/854801/5 "2020-05-31T20:00:20Z")
> [@Velocity](#): > > AIUI, the White House is a fantastic place to live in terms of service - you have Secret Service and some of the finest chefs/staff in the world - but its accommodations are actually rather lousy (by standards of the rich, not us common peons.) It has all sorts of stuffy couches, drapes, chandeliers and 1800s stuff but couldn’t hold a candle to Bill Gates’ riverside mansion in Washington State, for instance. Probably nowhere as good as **Obama’s $44 million Martha’s Vineyard estate.** Very old fashioned and dim. > > How does it compare to most CEO/celebrity homes? [Not quite.](https://www.forbes.com/sites/kathleenhowley/2019/12/08/barack-and-michelle-obama-buy-marthas-vineyard-estate/#4be0612c3167) > [@](#): > > **The Obamas paid $11.75 million for the property listed with a $14.85 million price tag.** The same day the deed was recorded, a mortgage for $7.05 million also was put on the record. ---
**Author:** ![Velocity](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/velocity/32/18006_2.png) [@Velocity](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Velocity)\ **Post date:** [May 31, 2020, 8:01pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/from-a-luxury-standpoint-how-good-bad-is-the-white-house/854801/6 "2020-05-31T20:01:53Z")
> [@running\_coach](#): > > [Not quite.](https://www.forbes.com/sites/kathleenhowley/2019/12/08/barack-and-michelle-obama-buy-marthas-vineyard-estate/#4be0612c3167) Whoops, my bad memory. But regardless, the White House is probably a dump compared to the Obama estate. ---
**Author:** ![Bijou\_Drains](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/bijou_drains/32/2814_2.png) [@Bijou\_Drains](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Bijou_Drains)\ **Post date:** [May 31, 2020, 10:23pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/from-a-luxury-standpoint-how-good-bad-is-the-white-house/854801/7 "2020-05-31T22:23:08Z")
they did a major renovation from 49 to 52. Truman and family had to move out. You can read about it here: > **[White House Reconstruction](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/White_House_Reconstruction)** > > Pages for logged out editors learn more > > > The White House Reconstruction, also known as the Truman Reconstruction, was a comprehensive dismantling and rebuilding of the interior of the White House from 1949 to 1952. A century and a half of wartime destruction and rebuilding, hurried renovations, additions of new services, technologies, the added third floor and inadequate foundations brought the Executive Residence portion of the White House Complex to near-imminent collapse. In 1948, arc... Before that work it was said to be in bad shape. ---
**Author:** ![Exapno\_Mapcase](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/exapno_mapcase/32/1051_2.png) [@Exapno\_Mapcase](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Exapno_Mapcase)\ **Post date:** [June 1, 2020, 12:24am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/from-a-luxury-standpoint-how-good-bad-is-the-white-house/854801/8 "2020-06-01T00:24:28Z")
One reason Trump flies to Mar-a-Lago almost every week is that he hates how deficient the White House is compared to what he’s used to. He hates Camp David even more, akin to going camping. It’s a perpetual problem with government facilities. We want them to be modern and technologically up-to-date but resent spending a dime of taxpayer money to do so. That’s why states’ unemployment systems failed so miserably, why the rollout of Obamacare failed, why the stimulus money didn’t get to those in need, why the IRS can’t collect overdue taxes, and an additional list of examples that would bust through the 20,000 character limit of a post. All governmental bodies in this country are seriously, dangerously, hopelessly underfunded from top to bottom. It’s yet another multi-trillion dollar crisis that’s about to crash down on us that nobody is paying a bit of attention to. ---
**Author:** ![hajario](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/hajario/32/171_2.png) [@hajario](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/hajario)\ **Post date:** [June 1, 2020, 12:29am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/from-a-luxury-standpoint-how-good-bad-is-the-white-house/854801/9 "2020-06-01T00:29:41Z")
> [@Bijou\_Drains](#): > > they did a major renovation from 49 to 52. Truman and family had to move out. You can read about it here: > > [White House Reconstruction - Wikipedia](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/White_House_Reconstruction) > > Before that work it was said to be in bad shape. It was totally falling apart. The gutted it except for the exterior walls and started over. The floor plan is completely different than it was\* so it’s still the same size as before. \*Which is why the stories of seeing Lincoln’s ghost in the bedroom where he used to sleep are silly. ---
**Author:** ![fedman](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/278dde/32.png) [@fedman](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/fedman)\ **Post date:** [June 1, 2020, 2:20am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/from-a-luxury-standpoint-how-good-bad-is-the-white-house/854801/10 "2020-06-01T02:20:50Z")
> [@Velocity](#): > > AIUI, the White House is a fantastic place to live in terms of service - you have Secret Service and some of the finest chefs/staff in the world - but its accommodations are actually rather lousy (by standards of the rich, not us common peons.) It has all sorts of stuffy couches, drapes, chandeliers and 1800s stuff but couldn’t hold a candle to Bill Gates’ riverside mansion in Washington State, for instance. Probably nowhere as good as Obama’s $44 million Martha’s Vineyard estate. Very old fashioned and dim. > > How does it compare to most CEO/celebrity homes? I can’t remember the source, but my understanding is that residents have to personally pay for what happens in WH (chefs, food, cleaning, etc) ---
**Author:** ![running\_coach](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/running_coach/32/15836_2.png) [@running\_coach](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/running_coach)\ **Post date:** [June 1, 2020, 2:52am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/from-a-luxury-standpoint-how-good-bad-is-the-white-house/854801/11 "2020-06-01T02:52:26Z")
> [@fedman](#): > > I can’t remember the source, but my understanding is that residents have to personally pay for what happens in WH (chefs, food, cleaning, etc) Off the top of my noggin, the Pres pays for personal food and entertainment and such but the staff is already paid for from a separate budget. ---
**Author:** ![Bijou\_Drains](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/bijou_drains/32/2814_2.png) [@Bijou\_Drains](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Bijou_Drains)\ **Post date:** [June 1, 2020, 11:11am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/from-a-luxury-standpoint-how-good-bad-is-the-white-house/854801/12 "2020-06-01T11:11:52Z")
For a long time when they had big dinners the food was almost always French. The chefs were experts in French dishes. That’s no longer the case now , not sure when it changed. ---
**Author:** ![chappachula](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/d2c977/32.png) [@chappachula](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/chappachula)\ **Post date:** [June 1, 2020, 1:26pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/from-a-luxury-standpoint-how-good-bad-is-the-white-house/854801/13 "2020-06-01T13:26:34Z")
> [@running\_coach](#): > > the Pres pays for personal food and entertainment and such but the staff is already paid for. So if the Pres orders a cheeseburger brought to his room at 9 o’clock at night, does he order it like room service in a hotel? That’ll be $12.50 , and no tipping. 🙂 ---
**Author:** ![Ashtura](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ashtura/32/2963_2.png) [@Ashtura](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ashtura)\ **Post date:** [June 1, 2020, 1:39pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/from-a-luxury-standpoint-how-good-bad-is-the-white-house/854801/14 "2020-06-01T13:39:03Z")
Eh, I think it depends on if you care for “old school fancy”. I do, and I think it’s nice. ---
**Author:** ![Balthisar](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/balthisar/32/2825_2.png) [@Balthisar](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Balthisar)\ **Post date:** [June 1, 2020, 3:16pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/from-a-luxury-standpoint-how-good-bad-is-the-white-house/854801/15 "2020-06-01T15:16:52Z")
> [@Exapno\_Mapcase](#): > > That’s why states’ unemployment systems failed so miserably, why the rollout of Obamacare failed, why the stimulus money didn’t get to those in need, why the IRS can’t collect overdue taxes, and an additional list of examples that would bust through the 20,000 character limit of a post. Seriously? There’s a 20,000 character limit? That’s not even a power of two. ---
**Author:** ![UDS](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/u/ecae2f/32.png) [@UDS](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/UDS)\ **Post date:** [June 1, 2020, 4:03pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/from-a-luxury-standpoint-how-good-bad-is-the-white-house/854801/16 "2020-06-01T16:03:01Z")
> [@chappachula](#): > > So if the Pres orders a cheeseburger brought to his room at 9 o’clock at night, does he order it like room service in a hotel? That’ll be $12.50 , and no tipping. 🙂 Yes, he is charged for the cheeseburger. But there is no service charge for delivering it to his room, so it costs the same as it would if he had it as a regular meal. Basically, the president pays for the groceries which are used in preparing private meals for himself and his family and friends, and taxpayers pay for groceries used for meals served on official occasions. The kitchen and serving staff are fully paid for by the taxpayer. If the President wants to send out for a McDonald’s cheesburger, a publicly-paid staff member will go out and get it, but the cost of the burger itself is added to the President’s tab (which I believe he settles monthly). ---
**Author:** ![Gyrate](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/gyrate/32/3588_2.png) [@Gyrate](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Gyrate)\ **Post date:** [June 1, 2020, 4:33pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/from-a-luxury-standpoint-how-good-bad-is-the-white-house/854801/17 "2020-06-01T16:33:28Z")
> [@Velocity](#): > > AIUIProbably nowhere as good as Obama’s $44 million Martha’s Vineyard estate. > [@Velocity](#): > > Whoops, my bad memory. > > But regardless, the White House is probably a dump compared to the Obama estate. Why are we specifically comparing the White House to the **Obama** “estate” rather than, say, any of the current President’s multiple properties and residences? ---
**Author:** ![hajario](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/hajario/32/171_2.png) [@hajario](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/hajario)\ **Post date:** [June 1, 2020, 5:15pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/from-a-luxury-standpoint-how-good-bad-is-the-white-house/854801/18 "2020-06-01T17:15:29Z")
> [@Gyrate](#): > > Why are we specifically comparing the White House to the **Obama** “estate” rather than, say, any of the current President’s multiple properties and residences? Or the estates of the last few Presidents prior to Obama. ---
**Author:** ![Fretful\_Porpentine](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/fretful_porpentine/32/2873_2.png) [@Fretful\_Porpentine](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Fretful_Porpentine)\ **Post date:** [June 1, 2020, 5:30pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/from-a-luxury-standpoint-how-good-bad-is-the-white-house/854801/19 "2020-06-01T17:30:22Z")
> [@Bijou\_Drains](#): > > For a long time when they had big dinners the food was almost always French. The chefs were experts in French dishes. That’s no longer the case now , not sure when it changed. [With the Clintons, apparently:](https://foreignpolicy.com/all-the-presidents-meals-state-dinners-white-house-infographic/) > [@](#): > > The generation gap between George H.W. Bush and Bill Clinton came down to two Mexican state dinners. When Bush hosted President Carlos Salinas de Gortari in October 1989, the menu featured supreme of sole in Champagne, roast saddle of veal farci, marquise potatoes, spinach timbale, and a watercress and Belgian endive salad. For President Ernesto Zedillo’s state dinner six Octobers later, guests dined on spiced partridge breast, toasted pear and poppyseed bread, acorn squash with smoked chili sauce, a salad of fall field greens, and a sweet corn and tequila ice cream mold with lime sauce for dessert. This is about what I would have guessed before looking it up – Clinton was the first baby-boomer president after _seven_ consecutive presidents born between 1908 and 1924. For my grandparents, who were in the same birth cohort, Fancy Food was French. They did eat other ethnic cuisines sometimes, like Chinese or Italian, and Christmas at my maternal grandparents’ house was all about the Polish home cooking, but going out for a really special occasion meant going to a French restaurant. Per the same (long, but interesting) article, the Reagans were apparently more adventurous eaters than the rest of the Greatest Generation presidents, introducing things like pita bread to White House state dinners. ---
**Author:** ![Velocity](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/velocity/32/18006_2.png) [@Velocity](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Velocity)\ **Post date:** [June 1, 2020, 6:02pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/from-a-luxury-standpoint-how-good-bad-is-the-white-house/854801/20 "2020-06-01T18:02:55Z")
> [@hajario](#): > > Or the estates of the last few Presidents prior to Obama. Well, George W. Bush has an extremely modest (comparatively) house on his ranch in Texas, not worth mention or comparison to the WH. [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/from-a-luxury-standpoint-how-good-bad-is-the-white-house/854801.md?page=2)