NYC Mayor-elect Zohran Mamdani announced that he will be officially moving into Gracie Mansion next month after he is sworn in, and we’re sharing the history behind the tradition
Zohran Mamdani is set to move into Gracie Mansion as NYC mayor (Image: Getty Images )
Since New York City Mayor-elect Zohran Mamdani was voted in, there has been speculation about whether he would be moving into the historic 226-year-old Manhattan mansion that his predecessors have called home.
Even last week, Mamdani was telling reporters that he hadn’t yet decided on his future residence. However, on Monday, Dec. 8, Mamdani announced that he will be leaving behind his rent-stabilized Astoria apartment and moving into Gracie Mansion after he is sworn in next month on Jan. 1, 2026.
“This decision came down to our family’s safety and the importance of dedicating all of my focus on enacting the affordability agenda New Yorkers voted for,” Mamdani said in a statement on Monday.
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He and his wife, Rama Duwaji, will be swapping their one-bedroom apartment for 11,000 square feet of living space at Gracie Mansion, located on the Upper East Side along the East River in Yorkville. The residence is popularly known as the “People’s House,” as it serves all New Yorkers. The scenic property is a Federal-style mansion painted a butter yellow paint, with green shutters and white railings.
“We will miss much about our home in Astoria,” Mamdani said, offering a farewell to Astoria. “Cooking dinner side by side in our kitchen, sharing a sleepy elevator ride with our neighbors in the evening, hearing music and laughter vibrate through the walls of the apartment.”
“My priority, always, is serving the people who call this city home,” he added. “… While I may no longer live in Astoria, Astoria will always live inside me and the work I do.”
Gracie Mansion is one of the oldest surviving wood structures in Manhattan (Image: Getty Images)Why do NYC mayors live at Gracie Mansion?
The tradition of New York City mayors calling Gracie Mansion their official residence dates back to about 1942. But the property is also one of the oldest surviving wood structures in Manhattan, dating back to 1799, when the prosperous merchant Archibald Gracie built the home.
The War of 1812 forced Gracie to sell his home in 1823, and it changed hands several times until the City of New York appropriated the estate in 1896. The property was even used as a concession stand and public restrooms for a time before Gracie Mansion was restored.
Parks Commissioner Robert Moses later designated Gracie Mansion as the official residence of the mayor. Fiorello H. La Guardia and his family were the first to move into the residence in 1942 due to safety concerns associated with World War II. He called it the “Little White House.”
NYC mayors are able to live in Gracie Mansion, rent-free, and there are five bedrooms and five bathrooms. It is located on East End Avenue and 88th Street, overlooking the East River.
Gracie Mansion is full of New York City history(Image: Getty Images)Only one mayor chose not to live in Gracie Mansion
Michael Bloomberg, who served three terms as NYC mayor from 2002 to 2014, chose to live in a townhouse on the Upper East Side rather than living in Gracie Mansion.
“It’s a great house for everybody, not for one family,” Bloomberg said, as reported by CBS News.
“It should be used as we use it now,” Bloomberg said. “There are events every day at Gracie Mansion throughout the whole house. If a mayor’s family is living there, then most of that house — a good half of it — is just not available. If a mayor lives there, then what they’re doing is costing this city a lot more money and depriving the rest of the city of one of the great facilities any city has.”
There have also been rumors that Gracie Mansion has supernatural energy. “I don’t care what anyone says,” Mayor Eric Adams declared in 2022. “There are ghosts in there, man.”
The mansion is full of New York City history: Alexander Hamilton had meetings at the mansion; there have been numerous famous visitors throughout the years; and there are also historic figurines and pieces of furniture. The public can take group tours of Gracie Mansion for $10 on Mondays to learn more about the history, according to the Gracie Mansion Conservancy.