OMG, I Want This House: Ancram, NY
The Daily Beast presents a look at one of the most insane houses in the world.
In certain circles, collecting art is a measure of taste, of status…of one’s disposable income. But why spend part of your undoubtedly very large fortune on another canvas to hang on your wall when you can buy a work of art that you can actually move into. The famous Chinese artist Ai Weiwei has designed only one private home in the U.S., and for the price of a small masterpiece (a cool $5.25 million), you can call the Tsai Residence in Ancram, New York home.
With three bedrooms and several living spaces, the main house is quite large. Add in soaring ceilings and generous windows that let in that dappled upstate light and this living work of art becomes a grand masterpiece.
Your personal chef is going to look so good in this kitchen. Even though you may not be firing up these burners and showing off your julienning skills, you can still admire the gorgeous amenities that—sigh of relief—will be enjoyed by someone else.
In 2006, the art collector and businessman Christopher Tsai commissioned Ai Weiwei to design this home as his family’s vacation property. It may be fun to boast that you got one of the most famous international artists to design a house you only use for holidays, but wouldn’t you rather sit down at this picturesque table every evening?
Welcome to your new office, a space that we expect you to become intimately familiar with over the next few years as you furiously work to pay off what is clearly a raging art habit.
The art world can at times feel cold and judgey, but you can banish that chill from your master bedroom, where the roaring fire creates a warm and romantic ambiance.
We love it when the architectural layout doesn’t make us choose between leaf peeping or taking a long, hot soak on a gorgeous fall day. Settle into the suds and get ready to gaze out at the arboreal rainbow.
With acre after acre of upstate New York at your fingertips, get ready for a rural retreat that will be the envy of all of your friends and foes. But if you want a little taste of the city living, Hudson is only 15 minutes away.
You didn’t think the three-bedroom main house was the only dwelling on your luxuriously rustic property, did you? Welcome to your chic guest house where the oxidized steel exterior gives the Y-shaped structure a lovely burgundy hue.
Accommodations for the property’s guests were added in 2009, and it wasn’t just visitors of the walking, talking variety that were taken into account. The new digs also include an art gallery for all your best treasures…or at least the ones you want to rub in your guests’ faces.
With two bedrooms and two bathrooms, you can extend your hospitality to plenty of visitors…and then sequester them in their own accommodations.
Not to brag, but this dapper addition earned the Tsai Residence the American Architecture Award in 2013.
In 2015, Ai Weiwei’s famous 12 gold zodiac heads sold for $4.4 million at auction. We don’t mean to thumb our noses at the lucky bidder, but for less than one mil more, you can acquire an entire 37-acre property with a piece of art you can live in.
The main house was constructed out of four corrugated iron-clad boxes that are linked to one another via passageways, giving it that ol’ modern industrial feel.
Once this real estate deal closes, you can swim off into the sunset. As the listing agent Graham Klemm told Robb Report, “This is livable art. But it’s still very livable and practical and everything a luxury homeowner would want.”
Once ownership is secured, you may want to invest in a helicopter so you can take in your new masterpiece from a bird’s eye view anytime you feel the urge. Look at that gorgeous swath of green that is all yours!
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