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For the last seven years, Zohran Mamdani has lived in a one-bedroom, rent-stablized apartment in Astoria, Queens.
His living arrangements were the target of frequent attacks by his opponents throughout the campaign, who suggested Mamdani was too rich to receive the benefit that allowed him to pay $2,300 a month.
But he will soon be getting a substantial upgrade thanks to his stunning victory in the New York City mayoral election, moving across the river to Gracie Mansion, the official residence of the city’s mayor.
This change of scenery, located on the farthest end of the Upper East Side of Manhattan, is more than just a borough jump and zipcode switch for Mamdani and his wife, Rama Duwaji, an animator and illustrator.
A concession stand and a restroom
Gracie Mansion was built in 1799 as a summer home for a Scottish merchant, Archibald Gracie. The mansion has lived many lives before becoming the official residence of New York City’s mayors in 1942. As one of the oldest surviving wood structures in Manhattan, it is a member of New York’s Historic House Trust and is listed on the National Register of Historic Places.
Over the years, the ownership of the mansion has changed hands, transforming the space within its wooden walls from the home of a Scottish immigrant to that of Joseph Foulke and his family in 1823, and then to Noah Wheaton in 1857.
Read More: ‘A Politics of No Translation.’ Zohran Mamdani on His Unlikely Rise
In 1896, non-payment of taxes led the City of New York to appropriate the estate, along with the surrounding 11 acres, into East River Park. For about 15 years, the mansion served as a concession stand and restroom for the Park until it became the first home of the Museum of the City of New York in 1925. However, the museum was later moved to its Colonial Revival building on Fifth Avenue.
Gracie Mansion served…
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