Betsy DeVos’s summer home deserves a special place in McMansion Hell
S E E D E D C O N T E N T
Two weeks ago , somebody untied Secretary of Education Betsy DeVos’s $40 million yacht from its mooring . It got me thinking about another opulent display of wealth owned by DeVos: her 22,000-square-foot nautical-themed summer mansion, located in Holland, Michigan. Just a few more years of climate change and it’ll be floating too.
My mission for the past three years as the creator of the architectural humor blog McMansion Hell has been to unpack what makes mansions like DeVos’s so terrible, from both an architectural and social standpoint. It’s bad enough that we have a president who oversaw a massive redistribution of wealth toward the already wealthy through tax breaks. What’s worse is that obscenely wealthy people like him waste all their money building pseudo-castles and other eclectic tragedies, all while wagging their finger at the rest of us telling us to eat cake.
Trump official and fellow rich person DeVos just rolled back Obama administration loan forgiveness rules for students defrauded by for-profit colleges . It’s unsurprising that she doesn’t want to forgive the student loan debts of those defrauded by for-profit colleges considering that she got her net worth of more than $1 billion from her husband’s company, the multilevel marketing giant Amway, which is often described as a cult . Meanwhile, her brother Erik Prince owns the Blackwater firm , which essentially sells mercenaries. As we can see, we are not dealing with nice people.
As someone who owes tens of thousands of dollars in student loan debt, getting paid to make fun of DeVos’s tacky seaside decor is one of few ways to both feed myself and make myself feel better. With that, I’d like to dedicate this essay to all of the public school teachers who taught me how to write.
![betsy_1[1].png](https://thenewstalkers.com/upimg/image/upimg_file/30922/800 "betsy_1[1].png")
Betsy’s house is, in general, a mess. The home attempts to play on the historical American school of architecture known as the shingle style . This style, often seen by historians as a combination of the emerging Arts and Crafts movement and 19th-century eclecticism, is known for its extensive use of shingles as a building material and its multi-massed (massing is a fancy word for a building’s three-dimensional forms) architectural complexity. Betsy likely went with this style because it is very popular in New England and in coastal enclaves of the rich and famous in general.
![betsy_2[1].png](https://thenewstalkers.com/upimg/image/upimg_file/30923/800 "betsy_2[1].png")
Even though Betsy is riffing on the shingle style, there is a difference between architectural complexity and a mess, just as there is a difference between a masterful use of vocabulary and replacing every word in a sentence with the longest synonym you can find in the thesaurus.
Betsy’s house looks like a compound of multiple unfinished parts, and nothing about its hulking facade really gels. This is partially because it has no fewer than 13 window styles — yes, I counted them — and because each of the wings of the house tries (perhaps intentionally) to be very visually different from the next.
![3_exterior_3[1].png](https://thenewstalkers.com/upimg/image/upimg_file/30924/800 "3_exterior_3[1].png")
For example, why is there a massive turret tacked on as if they couldn’t quite commit to a separate lighthouse? The house’s roofline somehow includes three separate roof types (clipped gable, dutch gable, and hipped)? Why are some columns stone and others wood? Why do none of the doors seem to be the front door? (Is there even a front door?) It’s a classic case of too many cooks in the kitchen, and none of those cooks are good at their job.
I don’t know how much this house cost, but according to the topical website PriceyPads.com , the house has three bedrooms and 10 bathrooms, three kitchens, eight dishwashers, 13 porches, and an elevator. Something about that ratio of bedrooms to dishwashers seems off to me, but what would I, a mere wretch, too dumb and poor to avoid being exploited by the predatory cost of higher education, know?
While the repairs are underway on one of her 10 boats , maybe poor Betsy can spare some of her precious time (otherwise spent being the villain of a Charles Dickens novel) reading essays like M.H. Miller’s in The Baffler , which describes in detail the toll student loan debt repayment takes on working families. Or she could take a gander at a recent Time article about how an entire generation of people have negative wealth .
In America, the rich get richer, and the poor have to beg the federal government to forgive the debts they owe to predatory for-profit colleges run by the rich who keep on getting richer. What do the rich do with all their money? Build horrific monstrosities with eight dishwashers and dismantle the public school system.
Architecture is never a vacuum. This house sucks, but like all buildings, it is a reflection of both the people and the broader culture that make building it both possible and desirable. Those, too, irrefutably suck.
Kate Wagner is the creator of the viral blog McMansion Hell , a freelance design writer, and contributor at Curbed . Kate is $42,000 in student loan debt for her MA in architectural acoustics from Johns Hopkins University.
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The people who rule us.....
Different strokes for different folks. Although I prefer contemporary architecture I find that to be a great looking home. I'm not too crazy about the beige chairs the fabric is wrinkled but other than that it looks good to me.
I'm just glad to see that the oligarchs really are lizard people.
They could be upholstered in glove leather - it would be expensive enough to qualify.
NICE HOUSE !
This house withstood Blows …..Literally !
That's not the Whitehouse.
Yes it is. They still run the Democrat show....don't they ?
I looked up the town of Holland, expecting it to be on Lake Michigan, but it is not, it is a little inland on a much smaller lake. I also noticed that while the town is otherwise almost all white, befitting the elite status of some of the residents perhaps, the hispanic population is 22 %, indicating that maybe there is a lot of gardening and landscaping associated with all the big houses.
Just staying in line with the critique of her mansion, it is too visually busy.
It looks like there are 5 or 6 architectural styles on the third floor alone.
Oh!
A sneak-peak at America's future: a zillionaire and lots of groundskeepers...
She has 1000 million dollars.
So !
It's bad because the Congress and the Senate are ONLY Millionaires now ?
Funny....most didn't know what "Million" was until they were elected....according to them anyway.
Is that what that is?
I wonder if she refuses to pay her workers like Trump tends to do?
She probably employs illegals at less than minimum wage.
Architectural Diversity.
I can't stand her, but I do like the exterior stone work of the house.
There is Poor, Middle Class, Well Off, Rich and then there is Go To Hell Rich. DeVos is one of the latter few...
From a contractor's perspective, this house is probably unrecognizable from the original blueprint with a pile of costly change orders added along the way. I'm also surprised all the trim work isn't painted metallic gold on this thumper palace.
That's what I think. She kept adding stuff to the house while it was being built. "OO! I want a widow's walk!" For what reason, only she knows.
I don't begrudge people and their wealth. At least people were employed while the house was built. I'm sure she has an army of maids, cooks, and gardeners to tend to the house. But only 3 bedrooms? 22,000 feet and only 3 bedrooms. I wonder if any of the living rooms have pull out couches?
Hush yo mouth! A pull out couch in a Devos mansion?
I agree though. I don't begrudge anyone their wealth.
Air mattresses?
Lots of beds in those bedrooms for thumper family reunions.
Do you think they have to share?
'Air mattresses?'
Heavens to Betsy! No way!
I refer to these hideous structures as starter castles and McMansions.
The roof is a nightmare of ice dams and potential leaks in a area of lake effect snow as western Michigan.
Yikes. To me it is a monstrosity. In a way it reminds me of the Winchester house. Just kept adding on.
Then again some would not like my style. I would rather have something like this.
I like the lines of this house
Envy can be an ugly emotion, especially when taken to extremes as we see here.
I'm not envious of ugly houses or people with no sense of morality.
If bad taste was flammable you couldn't smoke in that house.
This house is the architectural equivalent of dogs playing poker on black velvet, but it's in a solid gold frame.
Did you forget that this is a discussion forum? That means we give our opinions on various topics, even when you don't agree.
Sure I would love to be rich also but the filthy rich bitch didn't earn a penny of it. Her husband did.
E.A So Misogynism POPS out!!
Its is only a logical Scientific fact that some, indeed are terrified with the Natural Gender!!
Font Added by E.A
What's to be frightened of about freaky fundamentalist rich bitches like DeVos other than her wanting to advance god's kingdom in the school system?
I have no idea though what the fuck you're talking about otherwise EA
What natural gender are people terrified of?
Yeah, what's the 'natural' gender and what is there to be terrified with????? Does anyone have a clue what EA is babbling about?
( Comment withheld because almost anything that I would say would be purple inked. )
E.A
I need you to explain how the " some " can be anything else if they can not figure out their own Arse, they want to tell others about …..
Can someone please translate this to a standard form of the English language? Thanks.
If it didn't make we want to pee all the time, I'd rather live here:
I took my daughter to see this house when she was considering an architecture major. It's a small house that is not much more than a cabin, despite the dramatic site.
Wright was an architectural genius but his civil engineering skills were questionable. They had to restructure the concrete decks or the entire house would have collapsed into the stream about 10 years ago. They were supported by steel cribbing when we visited and we were told not to walk more than a few feet from the house because of the danger of cracks and even collapse.
It is and has been restricted due to the water damage.
There is a similar one near to where I used to live in PA.
Very similar, no stream running through it.
Restricted historic deed, asking 4 times the average price for square footage, no garage, can't add one.
What's the point?
Fallingwater has now been fixed because the civil engineer who oversaw the project died recently. You can see the new reinforcements under the main patio.
Wright was told that there was a structural problem during construction, but he told the construction crews to Shut up and just follow the prints! The decks started sagging soon after construction.
I guess its about the view and the because it's unique.
I would be happy renovating this old grist mill into a viable home - if it's iconic it's only because the great wildlife photographer Thomas Mangelsen took the photo of it.
I love the vistas of these sites but the pragmatist in me reminds me that streams occasionally flood, and that house would be SOL in that situation.
It's art on a large scale.
I can understand that
but having been a guest, I would never buy it even for fair market value,
just not my cup of tea, i suppose.
If you mean the old grist mill, it's probably been there for a century and hasn't floated down the stream yet. However, it's just a dream anyway.
Where is this grist mill?
West Virginia
That's a nice one.
Isn't that what the balcony is for, to pee over?
I guess it is about the view and the because it's unique.
Please delete the bubblegum.
Frank Lloyd Wright home, Taliesin West, Scottsdale AZ.
The Biltmore Hotel in Phoenix AZ...One of the great hotels of the world.
Frank Lloyd Wright is usually given credit as the architect but was actually only a consultant for four months on the project. The actual architect was Albert Chase McArthur.
I love Wright designs.
I've always liked that. I want to see Taliesin in Wisconsin, and the Johnson Wax building with the mushroom room.
I haven't seen Taliesin in WI but it looks stunning....Great how the preservation of the building is an on going project...Well worth preserving.
I looked up the Johnson Wax Building with the mushroom room. Now that is an interesting looking room.
Taliesin is essentially my back yard.
Taliesin West :
I'm not sure how I feel about this house. The stonework (if you want to call it that) looks more like concrete with some rocks thrown in for texture. We have a retaining wall like that and it's coming out as soon as we can do it.
The parabalas (?) are interesting, but I never cared for them unless they are supporting a vine.
The pool looks inviting....
FLW wanted to be close to Nature, so he put big rocks in the concrete walls. The rocks weren't just tossed in, though. They were arranged with a flat surface tangent to the wall surface, to maximize rock appearance, while having a wall that was in fact mostly concrete.
In the second photo from the top, the walls illustrate another of his rules: no right angles! The house and grounds consist almost exclusively of straight lines... but they never meet in right angles.
Ok, I get the rocks in the concrete concept. But there are right angles....look at the rock/concrete walls. However, I am not an artist nor an architect so maybe I'm seeing things that aren't there
Nope!
Look again. The walls' edges meet - the edge of the low wall on the left continues on, as a groove, into the higher wall ahead. None of the junctions are right angles.
As you stroll through the house, the only right angles you find are mechanical necessities like doors.
The stainless steel bathroom that we glimpse in the seventh photo violates all the rules. Since stainless steel is quintessentially "unnatural", a sort of "anti-rock", FLW went all-out, with right angles everywhere. After an hour wandering about without any right angles, the bathroom is a shock!
Ok....got it
Tax-dodging Trump flunky won’t fly the US flag on her $40 million yacht
Education Secretary Betsy DeVos is dodging more than $2 million worth of taxes by registering her yacht in the Cayman Islands rather than the United States.
Trump often roars about the need to respect the flag in his racist rants against NFL players who kneel during the national anthem. Yet as it turns out, embattled Education Secretary Betsy DeVos refuses to fly the American flag on at least one of her family’s ten yachts.
Devos’ 164-foot yacht — the one that was recently untied and set adrift — flies the flag of the Cayman Islands, not the stars and stripes.
And this foreign flag isn’t just a unpatriotic decorating choice. It’s also a scheme that helps DeVos “avoid taxes, regulations, transparency requirements and domestic employment laws,” Newsweek reports.
Newsweek estimates that the DeVos empire would owe the state of Michigan roughly $2.4 million if it registered the $40 million yacht there, rather than in the Cayman Islands.
The yacht is technically owned by RDV International Marine, an affiliate of the company tied to the DeVos fortune. RDV is located in Grand Rapids, Michigan, and the boat is typically docked in the Great Lakes.
DeVos is estimated to be worth $1.3 billion. To put that into perspective, a $2.4 million tax bill for DeVos would be like $92 for a family making $50,000.
State taxes for yachts help pay for services like a police force to help owners if their yachts are ever set adrift.
The good people of Ohio, where DeVos’ yacht was set adrift, were forced to cover those expenses for her, since the billionaire refuses to pay her fair share to the ports she routinely visits in the United States.
In addition to stiffing the people of Michigan and Ohio, DeVos can also skirt a number of U.S. laws and regulations by turning her back on Old Glory.
By choosing the Cayman Islands over the country she serves, DeVos can hire a crew from outside the United States, skip out on paying for workers compensation insurance, and avoid mandatory inspections and certifications by the U.S. Coast Guard, one Miami maritime lawyer told Grand Cayman Magazine in an article titled, “The super-rich and their super-yachts.”
Many professional athletes respectfully take a knee during the national anthem in order to draw attention to systematic racism in the United States.
Meanwhile DeVos, whose boss constantly bellows about putting “ America first ,” flies the Cayman flag on her $40 million yacht so she can save a few bucks.
Well being a patriotic American I register my boat in the great state of Missouri. And there is a decal of the American flag on her as well.
My income is a lot closer to the $50,000 then it is to $1.3 billion.
I like your boat, Kav. How fast does it go?
Top speed around 50 MPH, Trout
Fast enough to pull my fat ass on a tube.
I haven't been tubing or skiing in forever. I mentioned something about to Mr Giggles the other day and he laughed at me. Said I had no business getting on skis ever again
LOL, well do we have to listen to Mr. Giggles.
Indeed BF, except in cases where I pull up a really BAD FISH...
Someone untied her yacht causing her 40 million dollar yacht 10,000 dollars worth of damage. What a shame.
Removed
If Trump didnt name this unqualified woman to his cabinet I never would have heard of her. It's his fault.
Public Bathroom "Choice" ?
But sooooo true !
Reagan was the first POTUS to use the title Czar for public positions.
OMG, Reagan was the Manchurian Candidate....
I don't know how true it is but, my sisters first husband is said to come from the family that owns this place,
It must be nice to live like an Earl or Count. The first year of my life was spent in my grandmother's apartment above her store, and the next 17 years were spent in this home that my father bought for about $3000. My brother and I shared a bedroom because the third bedroom was rented out to help carry the costs.
I don't have any pictures of any childhood homes but, I did happen to find a picture of the type of home I remember from my days in the first grade, after we lived there for about two years, we lived in duplex's until we moved to North Carolina.
I dont either, BUT I can still see them on Google maps. It's weird ~!
LOL
Except for the one in Carol City, Florida, which I've found a picture of the type of home it was and, that one is in Carol City, I really don't want to remember any of them but, memory is a funny thing, I can picture them all in my head, even the ones from when we first moved to Florida from Kansas and, I was 6 months old then. I think my brother has all the old pictures of places we lived but, he hasn't put all of them on his computer yet or, at least shared them with the rest of us.
I was lucky to get that photo - I searched the address on the internet, and the photo came up from a real estate agency that had listed the house for sale.
It's funny, I don't remember any of the address's, just city's we lived in, of course that's easy for my early childhood, we lived in Dade County Florida till I was in the seventh grade.
I remember my Mother's face when she realized that she had finallly paid off the family home.
Joy followed by dumbfounded disbelief?
The home was originally $3,000 in 1952
They paid a total of just over 108K in principle and interest over 30 years
by the time the home was "paid off" the insurance and taxes exceeded the original monthly payments by several hundred $$$
The home appreciated briefly to $200,000 before 2008 and now fluctuates around $60,000 - $70,000