# If you were fabulously wealthy, would you want a huge mansion? A smaller one? How about servants? **URL:** \ **Category:** In My Humble Opinion\ **Created:** [September 24, 2012, 8:20pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/if-you-were-fabulously-wealthy-would-you-want-a-huge-mansion-a-smaller-one-how-about-servants/635705 "2012-09-24T20:20:26Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 3
**Author:** ![Kalypso](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/df705f/32.png) [@Kalypso](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Kalypso)\ **Post date:** [September 25, 2012, 12:20am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/if-you-were-fabulously-wealthy-would-you-want-a-huge-mansion-a-smaller-one-how-about-servants/635705/41 "2012-09-25T00:20:43Z")
I’d probably keep it and redo it as I see fit. I’d have to have someplece to put the observatory, library, and again, the horses. I’d keep the staff; I’ve always wanted a butler. ---
**Author:** ![Trinopus](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/2bfe46/32.png) [@Trinopus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Trinopus)\ **Post date:** [September 25, 2012, 12:33am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/if-you-were-fabulously-wealthy-would-you-want-a-huge-mansion-a-smaller-one-how-about-servants/635705/42 "2012-09-25T00:33:09Z")
I would want a quirky mansion. An “Addams Family” house, or a Disney “Haunted Mansion.” A maze with lots of tiny rooms, twisty stairways, hidden doors, lots of little half-levels and garrets, where you can get horribly lost. (Many years ago, I actually had an apartment with a library that was maze-like, and had a section that swung on hinges, so I could trap people. Much fun!) ---
**Author:** ![Ludovic](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/7ab992/32.png) [@Ludovic](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ludovic)\ **Post date:** [September 25, 2012, 12:35am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/if-you-were-fabulously-wealthy-would-you-want-a-huge-mansion-a-smaller-one-how-about-servants/635705/43 "2012-09-25T00:35:45Z")
> [@Trinopus](#): > > I would want a quirky mansion. An “Addams Family” house, or a Disney “Haunted Mansion.” All I’d need is cantilevered turrets. But secret passages would also be a plus! ---
**Author:** ![DoctorJ](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/doctorj/32/2904_2.png) [@DoctorJ](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DoctorJ)\ **Post date:** [September 25, 2012, 12:43am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/if-you-were-fabulously-wealthy-would-you-want-a-huge-mansion-a-smaller-one-how-about-servants/635705/44 "2012-09-25T00:43:43Z")
I’d probably keep the mansion, or build my own well-located base of operations. I’d also have several far more modest places in various interesting locations. And hell yes, I’d have staff. Full grounds crew and cleaning crew, physical plant, a couple of cooks (I’d still do most of my own cooking–they’d mostly be consultants, or they’d cook when I didn’t have time), personal trainer, driver (I’d never drive again), guitar tech, staff to run the on-site winery and microbrewery, personal assistant, and a few random brilliant people to help me chase down whatever creative endeavor I’ve got on my mind at the time. All paid very well, of course, and with enough redundancy that they all get plenty of time off. ---
**Author:** ![oft\_wears\_hats](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/o/7993a0/32.png) [@oft\_wears\_hats](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/oft_wears_hats)\ **Post date:** [September 25, 2012, 1:20am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/if-you-were-fabulously-wealthy-would-you-want-a-huge-mansion-a-smaller-one-how-about-servants/635705/45 "2012-09-25T01:20:34Z")
> [@Robot\_Arm](#): > > Renting is fine, but moving sucks. And wouldn’t you love to have the perfect tinkering space for your electronics? > > I would probably sell the house. I don’t need ballrooms and butlers and all the trappings of a usual mansion. > > I’ve given some thought to what I would like. With nearly unlimited resources, it would be really interesting to try to create the perfect place. I’ve joked that I need a one-bedroom house with a three-car garage. Give me hundreds of millions and I might splurge; put in a guest bedroom as well. Well, I thought the idea was to only rent furnished places. That you have so much money that you don’t need to own anything anymore. Just own what you can carry, and rent the rest. I think I would find that liberating, in a way. However, spending some of the money on a modest but well-appointed house is also tempting to me. ---
**Author:** ![oft\_wears\_hats](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/o/7993a0/32.png) [@oft\_wears\_hats](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/oft_wears_hats)\ **Post date:** [September 25, 2012, 1:21am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/if-you-were-fabulously-wealthy-would-you-want-a-huge-mansion-a-smaller-one-how-about-servants/635705/46 "2012-09-25T01:21:43Z")
> [@Misnomer](#): > > I’d sell the place and buy an awesome condo or townhouse in DC. In a heartbeat. > > (Any money left over after the sale/purchase would be used to pay for a parking spot near home. ;)) > > Fairfax? _Fairfax_?? 😕 If I had money and had to get a place around here, I’d pick McLean or Great Falls. I live in Fairfax now, and I have friends here. But yeah, McLean would also be nice. I mostly think of all those fancy-pants houses on Hunter Mill Road that I see every day on the way to work. Way too much house for me, but there’s a nice Tudor style on the east side of the road that I quite like. ---
**Author:** ![the\_diego](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/7bcc69/32.png) [@the\_diego](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/the_diego)\ **Post date:** [September 25, 2012, 1:31am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/if-you-were-fabulously-wealthy-would-you-want-a-huge-mansion-a-smaller-one-how-about-servants/635705/47 "2012-09-25T01:31:29Z")
I want to live in a hotel or a managed residence smack downtown but also have a personal retreat where I can still practice housekeeping. ---
**Author:** ![Enkel](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/df705f/32.png) [@Enkel](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Enkel)\ **Post date:** [September 25, 2012, 1:31am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/if-you-were-fabulously-wealthy-would-you-want-a-huge-mansion-a-smaller-one-how-about-servants/635705/48 "2012-09-25T01:31:30Z")
I’d turn the inherited mansion into a non-profit center to house/train homeless people and underage pregnant girls. I’d swap out the servants for professionals from that industry and set them up with starter money, but they’d have to also go for grants/donations to keep it running. (And if that made the neighbors mad… I’d love it all the more!) With the rest of the money, I’d rebuild my current house and finally set up the property the way I want it so that it could be a non-profit training center geared at educating about basic agriculture (like soil biology, animal husbandry), about sustainable living, and providing an Eco-tourism destination. I’d establish small breeding herds and/or breeding flocks for endangered breeds. And, I’d buy a Jetta Wagon w/TDI diesel engine setup for biofuel. Oh, and I’d like a heated jacuzzi in my new subterranean house please because come winter my old bones start to aching. ---
**Author:** ![Ranchoth](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ranchoth/32/1066_2.png) [@Ranchoth](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ranchoth)\ **Post date:** [September 25, 2012, 1:38am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/if-you-were-fabulously-wealthy-would-you-want-a-huge-mansion-a-smaller-one-how-about-servants/635705/49 "2012-09-25T01:38:15Z")
That depends…is the estate just a “[generic fancy mansion](https://www.google.com/search?um=1&hl=en&safe=off&client=firefox-a&rls=org.mozilla%3Aen-US%3Aofficial&biw=1197&bih=688&tbm=isch&sa=1&q=mcmansion&oq=mcmansion&gs_l=img.3..0l3j0i5j0i24l6.12349.13151.1.13358.9.7.0.0.0.0.121.655.4j3.7.0.cesh..0.0...1.1.PWkRj4mcLfI) in a nice place,” or is it some [architectural](http://i486.photobucket.com/albums/rr226/KrasesSkyscraper/center_of_universe_5k_16x12.jpg) [wonder](http://www.preservationnation.org/assets/photos-images/issues/11-most-endangered/Ennis_damage2_nthp.jpg) in an [amazing location](http://www.medimage.org/images/BanffSprings.jpg)? I mean, even if it’s the latter, but it’s a style (or lifestyle) I just don’t care for, I still might feel bad about just _selling_ it, especially if the estate was my uncle’s pride and joy or the like. I might decide to turn it into a museum or a school or something. As for the full staff—yeah, I like my privacy, and don’t relish the thought of being waited on—though a cook might be nice, I’ll give you that—I also admit that I have no idea what the experience is like. Maybe having dozens of servants and butlers would be the most awesome and useful thing I could ever experience, and it’d be a benefit to my life I could never imagine…or maybe I’d go drunk with power, and slowly degenerate from “normal me” to “Martha Stewart.” And eventually to “Howard Hughes, the final years.” So, who knows. _Maybe_ I’d love having Wayne Manor…though I might be better off just having the Batcave. ---
**Author:** ![Ranchoth](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ranchoth/32/1066_2.png) [@Ranchoth](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ranchoth)\ **Post date:** [September 25, 2012, 1:39am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/if-you-were-fabulously-wealthy-would-you-want-a-huge-mansion-a-smaller-one-how-about-servants/635705/50 "2012-09-25T01:39:24Z")
(_Boy_, that in-line image plugin is obnoxious, when used foolishly. Sorry, all.) ---
**Author:** ![panache45](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/panache45/32/64_2.png) [@panache45](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/panache45)\ **Post date:** [September 25, 2012, 3:34am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/if-you-were-fabulously-wealthy-would-you-want-a-huge-mansion-a-smaller-one-how-about-servants/635705/51 "2012-09-25T03:34:09Z")
I’d sell the mansion, along with the servants, and find a gorgeous picturesque piece of land on Kauai, Hawaii, and build a dome house . . . just one huge space with no permanent walls. Hire a landscaper, a fitness coach, a nutritionist/cook and a cleaning person. My partner and I would once again try to coexist in the same space, now that the space is much larger. And we’d have lots of dogs & cats. ---
**Author:** ![Sekigahara](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/e19adc/32.png) [@Sekigahara](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sekigahara)\ **Post date:** [September 25, 2012, 3:40am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/if-you-were-fabulously-wealthy-would-you-want-a-huge-mansion-a-smaller-one-how-about-servants/635705/52 "2012-09-25T03:40:09Z")
Before I bought a house a friend of mine told me “You don’t own houses, they own you.” Holy shit is that true. If I was rich I would immediately sell my house and spend the rest of my life traveling. ---
**Author:** ![GuanoLad](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/guanolad/32/42_2.png) [@GuanoLad](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/GuanoLad)\ **Post date:** [September 25, 2012, 4:05am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/if-you-were-fabulously-wealthy-would-you-want-a-huge-mansion-a-smaller-one-how-about-servants/635705/53 "2012-09-25T04:05:46Z")
I live alone, and have no expectation of that ever changing, even if money somehow made me more attractive. So a gigantic mansion and a cadre of servants would be quite impractical. A regular sized family home would be large to me, and I’d want a cleaning service and a gardener, but that’s about all. ---
**Author:** ![Kenm](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/bc79bd/32.png) [@Kenm](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Kenm)\ **Post date:** [September 25, 2012, 5:00am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/if-you-were-fabulously-wealthy-would-you-want-a-huge-mansion-a-smaller-one-how-about-servants/635705/54 "2012-09-25T05:00:59Z")
If Unca Scrooge left me his zillions I’d have built a nuclear-powered replica of the original Queen Mary, and wearing my 18th-century Royal Navy hat travel the oceans until I became bored ordering my minions to polish whatever needs polishing. By that time my 200-foot-underground house in Middle-of-Nowhere, Saskatchewan, would be complete, so I’d drive my '38 Buick Roadmaster Limited with its two front-fender-mounted, wide-whitewall spare tires onto the 20-square-acre trap-door elevator (more than big enough for 100 semis at once delivering whatever I order on the net) — hidden under plastic wheat, robot gophers and three feet of snow in season — and disappear into my 200-acre underground mansion where I’d buy Alberta, sell it to China and watch the fun on my dozen Imax-size TV screens tuned to the news channels as I slowly stroke a white cat while failing to stop the ghost of a smile. ---
**Author:** ![Gleena](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/b3f665/32.png) [@Gleena](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Gleena)\ **Post date:** [September 25, 2012, 5:21am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/if-you-were-fabulously-wealthy-would-you-want-a-huge-mansion-a-smaller-one-how-about-servants/635705/55 "2012-09-25T05:21:49Z")
We just bought our dream house so the mansion and staff goes. I do the only thing that needs to be done to the house we have - a complete and utter kitchen teardown and reno to my specifications, then were’re sweet. Of course, I rent a house in whereever I feel like living while the reno is going on. I still finish my law degree, too. Full time, no more job. Lots of student pro-bono instead. My housekeeper comes once a day instead of once a week, like now. My personal trainer meets me at the gym every day instead of fortnightly, like now. I have every single tech toy I’ve ever wanted. Life would be sweet indeed, but it’s very sweet now so no loss. ---
**Author:** ![Lynn\_Bodoni](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/e47c2d/32.png) [@Lynn\_Bodoni](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Lynn_Bodoni)\ **Post date:** [September 25, 2012, 6:36am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/if-you-were-fabulously-wealthy-would-you-want-a-huge-mansion-a-smaller-one-how-about-servants/635705/56 "2012-09-25T06:36:47Z")
I only need enough space to keep my books, and enough servants to keep things tidy. The cats also have their requirements. So yeah, I’m gonna need that mansion and staff. ---
**Author:** ![Zebra](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/z/c0e974/32.png) [@Zebra](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Zebra)\ **Post date:** [September 25, 2012, 7:36am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/if-you-were-fabulously-wealthy-would-you-want-a-huge-mansion-a-smaller-one-how-about-servants/635705/57 "2012-09-25T07:36:36Z")
I’d go total Winchester and have them keep adding on the mansion all the time. I want secret passages. I want bouncy rooms. I want a solarium. A music room. I want to host the best haunted mansion ever. And of course I will need the room to swim in my money. I want a family of four to live there and I would no idea who they are or ever even see them. ---
**Author:** ![Sleel](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/73ab20/32.png) [@Sleel](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sleel)\ **Post date:** [September 25, 2012, 7:57am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/if-you-were-fabulously-wealthy-would-you-want-a-huge-mansion-a-smaller-one-how-about-servants/635705/58 "2012-09-25T07:57:13Z")
My wife and I have talked about what we’d do if we won the lottery. Both of us said right away: build our own house or buy one that’s really close to our dream version already. One in the US, one in Japan. No mansion. I’d hire a good architect and have about a weeks worth of meetings together to discuss feasibility on some ideas I’ve had on innovative design, with my wife to keep me from attempting something totally insane. And to make sure it looks nice; she’s got better taste than me (how she ended up choosing _me_, I’ll never understand). Our ideal house probably isn’t particularly large. We both like spacious but human-scale rooms and a decent amount of surrounding land or landscaping. A mansion would be more work and worry than it’s worth. We like privacy too. We stayed at a very nice resort hotel in Jamaica for our honeymoon. The service was very good, but being waited on was uncomfortable for us. We’re used to doing things ourselves. We could have at least a few servants or hired staff. Housekeeping, a cook, groundskeeper, but I don’t think we’d ever want people living there with us full time. ---
**Author:** ![Tapiotar](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/3be4f8/32.png) [@Tapiotar](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Tapiotar)\ **Post date:** [September 25, 2012, 10:57am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/if-you-were-fabulously-wealthy-would-you-want-a-huge-mansion-a-smaller-one-how-about-servants/635705/59 "2012-09-25T10:57:50Z")
Wouldn’t keep the mansion, but I would buy a much smaller, architect-designed house in the Puget Sound area for my base. Good kitchen, library and patio/deck with views are essential, but the rest is pretty modest. Oh, wait, i do want to have a secret rooms and a secret exit. Yes. I’d have a cleaning service and accountant, but I’d do my own cooking or eat out. No live in servants, except for my masseur Sven, who acts as chauffeur when necessary. I’d rent apartments or villas for extended stays in places like Istanbul or whereever else strikes my fancy. An indulgence; go on some of the great train journeys of the world. But this wouldn’t put a big dent in the McDuck fortune, so I’d also give away a couple million. Set up college funds for the children or grandchildren of various friends, get the best medical treatment possible, any personal assistance needed, and financial independence for a couple friends who have chronic, devasting illnesses. Donate to educational and environmental institutions. Help randomly chosen people who need help. Donate to hospice, and help fund hospice training programs. ---
**Author:** ![Mnemnosyne](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mnemnosyne/32/3347_2.png) [@Mnemnosyne](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mnemnosyne)\ **Post date:** [September 25, 2012, 12:53pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/if-you-were-fabulously-wealthy-would-you-want-a-huge-mansion-a-smaller-one-how-about-servants/635705/60 "2012-09-25T12:53:38Z")
Although I would likely never build or buy a mansion if I was given a huge pile of money, if I received the mansion itself, after giving it some thought, I would probably keep it…assuming keeping it wasn’t a burden, and with the megabucks posited it doesn’t sound like it would ever be one unless I somehow manage to spend them all. Definitely have a staff; I like the idea of having people to do all my little things for me, especially cleaning and such. Also good for organizing things, since at the moment, keeping things organized can be a frustration for me. I really like having everything neat, tidy, exactly in its place, but I hate having to take the time and effort to do it myself, so having people to do it for me would be great. Organize my files, my books, my collection of movies, etc. Many of the rooms would probably get remodeled to some degree, and I’d install lots and lots of cameras, too. I want every corner of the building being filmed at all times, and all the video dated, organized, and stored. Probably get a private IMAX screen installed for watching movies and playing any games I can manage to get to fit the format. I’d likely wind up using more of the mansion than I expected to in the end. When you have something like that, you generally put it to more use than you expected to get out of it. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/if-you-were-fabulously-wealthy-would-you-want-a-huge-mansion-a-smaller-one-how-about-servants/635705.md?page=2) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/if-you-were-fabulously-wealthy-would-you-want-a-huge-mansion-a-smaller-one-how-about-servants/635705.md?page=4)