Like the rest of New York City, the Big Apple’s official mayoral residence, Gracie Mansion, has entered a fresh new era. Zohran Mamdani has just moved in, and considering the thoughtful aesthetic details of his campaign—which his stylish first lady, artist Rama Duwaji, had a hand in designing—we’re pining for a look at how the couple decorates their new digs. Sadly for us interior-minded busybodies, the mayor offered few notes on how the pair plans to decorate the 1799-built Federal-style home during his moving-in press conference on Monday, which he held from the Upper East Side landmark’s front lawn—though he did give us a few small crumbs of information on what he intends to do with the home’s interiors during his tenancy.
Namely, Mamdani explained that he will be adding one particular must-have amenity to the bathrooms: “We will be installing a few bidets,” he said. “That’s an aspirational hope. But let’s see if we can get it done.” (If they do, it will bring an international flair to the NYC mayoral home; bidets have high usage rates in Asian, Middle Eastern, South American and European countries.)
Bidets aside, he only named “a new coat of paint” and a cat among his planned additions to the property. (“I am currently getting my allergy shots so that I can fight off my allergy to cats,” he explained of the latter.) Other than that, we are left to imagine what Mamdani and Duwaji will do with the few belongings that the New York Times witnessed being moved into the property: “a healthy-looking monstera plant, a garbage can, and a box labeled 'bedroom dresser mirror.’”
The 11,000-square-foot home, which has been the city’s official mayoral residence since 1942, certainly lends Mamdani and Duwaji more room to express their design sensibilities; the couple’s previous residence was a one-bedroom apartment in Astoria, Queens, which was reportedly prone to leaks. A five minute ferry ride, but worlds away, from the old neighborhood, Gracie Mansion features five upstairs bedrooms, which the pair will be given free rein to decorate to their liking. A formal ballroom and dining room, serviced by an in-house chef, are found on the main level, while a veranda overlooks the East River.
Before moving out, former mayor Eric Adams left a couple of things behind for Mamdani: a note (which Mamdani said he had not yet found) and a warning that he would be sharing his new residence with a supernatural roommate. “I haven’t yet met the ghost or heard from the ghost,” Mamdani joked of the dwelling’s allegedly haunted status.
“Rama and I intend to strive each day to be the best possible custodians of this beautiful home, because we know that we are only its temporary occupants,” Mamdani noted, adding his intentions of regularly sharing access to “the people’s house” with “New Yorkers who are not often the ones who get to visit such a place as this.” In the process, he might turn a few of them on to the simple luxury of a nice bidet.
