In April, photos of Mark Zuckerberg's D.C. mansion surfaced, prompting swift criticism on social media due to Zuckerberg's controversial reputation. The house, designed by Robert Gurney, has been compared to a McMansion and lacks flamboyance, featuring a monotonous red brick exterior and traditional design elements. The critique emphasizes the irony that wealthy houses are uniquely standard, reflecting their owners' ability to afford architects while lacking personality and originality. Zuckerberg's choice of architecture aims to solidify his cultural and political presence in Washington, D.C.
To social media users, the house looked like everything from a dorm at a mid-sized state college to, well, a McMansion-which it is, in spirit. The building itself, designed by long-time domestic architect for various elites, Robert Gurney, is not particularly flamboyant, at least as far as rich people's houses are concerned.
As soon as I saw the images, it made total sense that this was the kind of house someone as aesthetically beleaguered as Zuck would want to buy in order to cement the cultural and political capital he's looking for in D.C.
The true irony is that these kinds of rich people's houses are bespoke, but all in the same way-a way that says: 'I can afford an architect.' While their celebrity buyers range from Kim Kardashian to Gene Simmons, these houses are definitionally sleek and modern, each with a modicum of personality.
In Zuckerberg's case it's a nod to more traditional house forms, albeit in a slightly abstracted way: an image of 'house' instead of house itself.
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