Planned palace upsets neighbors in wealthy D.C. suburb

[Private Dick]

Originally Posted by Crawford

Well, and all the lobbyists, contractors, lawyers, consultants and the like, who, collectively likely outearn the DC area govt. employees, and who, in most cases, are being directly paid by the federal treasury.

Absolutely... and those high-earning people work for private interests whose financial success spreads far beyond the Beltway.

If someone is blaming DC area people for "sapping" the wealth from the rest of the nation, then the blame has to go directly to lower-paid govt employees (who obviously cannot afford to build the "palace" in the article), because they are the only ones who are truly "sapping" and "living off everyone else". If one wants to include all the contractors, lobbyists, etc. in that "sapping" group, then blame capitalism and our system. DC just happens to be where the laws are made and the national budget originates from -- so it makes sense for large, national and international firms to have major presence there.

It's simply not out of the ordinary for a national capital to have a disproportionate concentration of wealth or prosperity relative to the rest of its nation's current economic climate.

[novawolverine]

Originally Posted by bunt_q

I ask you the same question. If not the presence of the federal government, what is driving DC's success (relative to other metros around the country)?

Also... sleep deprivation clinic. Right. That's not a luxury for the well-to-do (or people with kick-ass health insurance, at least)... sure... Regular people drink a beer, or a glass of warm milk. They don't go to a chain of sleep deprivation clinics to get medicated up so they can sleep through the night.


Also, you people need to lighten up. You have sticks jammed so far up your a**es you can't even pick out a joke, a hunger games reference, etc. OH MY GOD it must be another EVIL TEA PARTIER here to spout lies! Chill out. It's not like liberals can't have a reasonable discussion about federal spending. If this guy building the house built cluster bombs or serine gas, I'm sure you'd be all up in arms about the evil military industrial complex ruining the planet. If you can't lighten up, at least try not to be a total hypocrite.

Why don't you just admit that you didn't read the article and are moving this discussion into the same direction that a lot of DC threads tend to head towards?

[ocman]

Originally Posted by MonkeyRonin

Is there anything more douchey than giving your house a name?

If you give it a french name you can resell it at 10 times its actually worth.
Because french names are just classy.

Granted there aren't many pictures of the neighborhood, but from what I see, the location is insulated by forest. I wonder if this is a case of not wanting to seem less rich than someone else, than about neighborhood character. It's usually the latter, but it this case, I don't see any other houses around.

[10023]

Originally Posted by MonkeyRonin

Is there anything more douchey than giving your house a name?

Probably but that's up there. A house has to earn a name...

[Centropolis]

Originally Posted by emathias

Hey Mr. History, you know a Frenchman created the plan of Washington, right? You know Detroit is a French name because it was founded by the French. That the first non-native credited with kicking off what became Chicago was a Frenchman, and for decades after 1776, French was spoken more than English in the Great Lakes region which was all part of Quebec for a while. That the entire Great Lakes region was included in New France, a colony for nearly 250 years before the Revolution. Even today, in addition to Louisiana, there are counties in New England where French is commonly spoken.

French was spoken in the French settled mining district just south of St Louis and just west of Ste Genevieve into the twentieth century, too.

[Ch.G, Ch.G]

Originally Posted by emathias

Hey Mr. History, you know a Frenchman created the plan of Washington, right? You know Detroit is a French name because it was founded by the French. That the first non-native credited with kicking off what became Chicago was a Frenchman, and for decades after 1776, French was spoken more than English in the Great Lakes region which was all part of Quebec for a while. That the entire Great Lakes region was included in New France, a colony for nearly 250 years before the Revolution. Even today, in addition to Louisiana, there are counties in New England where French is commonly spoken.

Not to mention the relationship between American architects and the École des Beaux-Arts...

[M II A II R II K]

And then there's this statue...

[vid]

Originally Posted by TarHeelJ

Okay, that's a completely different statement than simply saying it's douchey to name your mansion.

Right, it isn't douchey. It is pretentious. There is a bit of a difference.

They also got the grammar wrong so it makes them look silly to those of us who studied French until grade 9.

[599GTO]

"Affluent" Washington DC is just now experiencing one of these apocalyptic here-comes-the-monolith-estate type moments? Haven't such things happened in NYC/CA/S.FL areas for decades now? A bit late to the party, no?

*yawn*

25k sq ft?

*yawn*

[novawolverine]

Originally Posted by 599GTO

"Affluent" Washington DC is just now experiencing one of these apocalyptic here-comes-the-monolith-estate type moments? Haven't such things happened in NYC/CA/S.FL areas for decades now? A bit late to the party, no?

*yawn*

25k sq ft?

*yawn*

I know it's only $15-20 million, anyway.

[Private Dick]

Originally Posted by 599GTO

"Affluent" Washington DC is just now experiencing one of these apocalyptic here-comes-the-monolith-estate type moments? Haven't such things happened in NYC/CA/S.FL areas for decades now? A bit late to the party, no?

*yawn*

25k sq ft?

*yawn*

And Dallas and Houston rather recently and all of the monstrous estates outside of Philadelphia and Detroit and Cleveland and Pittsburgh and Chicago and etc. back in the day

[599GTO]

Originally Posted by novawolverine

I know it's only $15-20 million, anyway.

$15-20M isn't that impressive.

[novawolverine]

Originally Posted by 599GTO

$15-20M isn't that impressive.

Who said it was?

[MonkeyRonin]

599GTO doing is his best Mitt Romney impression right here.

[MonkeyRonin]

..........

[Jonboy1983]

Originally Posted by Private Dick

And Dallas and Houston rather recently and all of the monstrous estates outside of Philadelphia and Detroit and Cleveland and Pittsburgh and Chicago and etc. back in the day

Speaking of Pittsburgh, isn't somebody building a massive mansion up in the North Hills somewhere that's going to be well into the tens of millions?

[Private Dick]

Originally Posted by Jonboy1983

Speaking of Pittsburgh, isn't somebody building a massive mansion up in the North Hills somewhere that's going to be well into the tens of millions?

There's a 40K sq ft one built near Sewickley that's pretty ridiculous and caused some controversy:





From an earlier forum thread:

http://forum.skyscraperpage.com/show...=177858&page=3

[Nantais]

Originally Posted by vid

They also got the grammar wrong so it makes them look silly to those of us who studied French until grade 9.

Apart from the missing accents, it's quite right.
But yes, it should be "Le Château de Lumière".
Or maybe "Le Château Lumineux". It's quite cool too.

[Austinlee]

25,000 sq ft homes are built on a regular basis in wealthy areas. I think the rendering looks pretty tasteful for a residential version of the famous building.

[Private Dick]

Originally Posted by Austinlee

25,000 sq ft homes are built on a regular basis in wealthy areas. I think the rendering looks pretty tasteful for a residential version of the famous building.

Yeah, the neighbors are probably just mad because its bigger than theirs