History Main / BigFancyHouse

* ''YOYO MAN'': Xiaoguang is shown to live in one. Funnily enough, his friends at first assume that the small wooden shed right across from the mansion is actually his house.

* What little we know about the Smash Mansion in the VideoGame/SuperSmashBros ''FanFic/NewLookSeries'' makes it look like this. Every Smasher in the house has their rooms specifically designed to suit their tastes prior to their arrival. For example, Young Link's room is a nearly identical copy of his treehouse from the Kokiri Forest.

* Subverted with the new Federal Chancellery building in Berlin: while it is the largest government headquarters in the world (being ''eight times'' the size of the White House) and contains a 200 square meters “Chancellor's Apartment”, only 28 of those square meters are reserved as private living space for the sitting Chancellor, the rest being occupied by rooms intended for public entertaining. Of the two [[UsefulNotes/TheChancellorsOfGermany Chancellors]] who have held office since the edifice was completed (Gerhard Schröder and Angela Merkel), only Schröder lived in it for any amount of time; Chancellor Merkel has preferred to live in her own private flat.

* The Lodge Estate from Franchise/ArchieComics, home of the super-rich Veronica Lodge and her family that's also the biggest house in Riverdale.

* TheWhiteHouse is pretty damn fancy, though its size comes more from the fact that it's also full of a lot of office space for the President's staff than the residential part. Still, the Executive Residence--the middle part with the staterooms and so on where the President lives--is big and fancy enough to qualify. However, it's substantially smaller than most other official residences of heads of state and government--most private mansions are larger than the Residence, and the parts that are actually exclusively the President's (the private apartments on the second floor) amount to little more than a moderately large three-bedroom penthouse over a building open to the public and otherwise given over to areas for public entertaining.[[note]]There is also a small private area in the basement, for a bowling alley and a small movie theater.[[/note]] On one hand, this is remarkable, considering that the United States is the world's richest, most powerful country; on the other hand, it's not terribly remarkable, given the egalitarian sensibilities of most Americans. As an example of Americans' schizophrenic attitude regarding things of this kind, UsefulNotes/ThomasJefferson thought that the White House was ''too big'' when he moved in in 1801, calling it "big enough for two emperors, one pope, and the grand lama in the bargain." And then he conducted the first expansion of the White House, building the colonnades that now connect the Residence to the East and West Wings. (They were originally designed to disguise the laundry and stables). That said, Jefferson ''did'' seriously reduce the size of the White House ''grounds'', allowing Pennsylvania Avenue to cut across them much closer to the house than planned, and repurposing the land north of Pennsylvania Avenue as a public park (today called Lafayette Square).

* What little we know about the Smash Mansion in the ''FanFic/NewLookSeries'' makes it look like this. Every Smasher in the house has their rooms specifically designed to suit their tastes prior to their arrival. For example, Young Link's room is a nearly identical copy of his treehouse from the Kokiri Forest.

* The Titular ''Two Story House'' in the George Jones/Tammy Wynette song about a couple that buys one and then finds their marriage falling apart.

* ''TabletopGame/Warhammer40000 '': The residence of The God-Emperor of Mankind. All anyone knows is that it was visible from space, and fans have jokingly concluded that many millennia ago [[WildMassGuessing it was called "France"]]. The third edition rulebook states that it covered about half of Terra.

* ''Webcomic/{{Annyseed}}'' "I still can't get over your uncles mansion back there!" -Winston says to Anny, page 99.

* Mutterwald in the Literature/WhateleyUniverse, the massive mansion on the huge estate where the Goodkinds live. It used to be Phase's home, right up until chapter 2 of "Ayla and the Late Trevor James Goodkind."
* Brown Manor in The Molly and Pippin Show is a large mansion which is basically a cross between Neuschwanstein, the Taj Mahal and The Biltmore Estate.

* WebVideo/TheVictorianWay: Mrs Crocombe works at the estate of Lord and Lady Braybrooke called Audley End House in England. It's massive, exquisite and positively gorgeous with vast gardens (with both ornamental plants and useful plants for the kitchen). Mrs Crocombe is proud that she has such a good and prestigious job.

* The Chinese forbidden city was the center of Chinese Imperial power for approximately 500 years from 1420 to 1912. It had 980 rooms covering a ground of over 180 acres, rendering the Forbidden City the largest palace complex in the world. It should be noted however, the Forbidden City is only a fraction in size compared to many of its predecessors, such as the Daming Palace complex (roughly 768 acres) of the Tang Dynasty or the Weiyang Palace (roughly 1200 acres) of the Han Dynasty.

* ''Fanfic/AsFateWouldHaveIt'' has the Ruri Estate, the home of Yancy's parents located near Undella Town. She and her now-boyfriend Nate visit her parent's place in Chapter 17 in order to introduce him to them in person.

* Canadian Governors-General (and the Canadian monarch, whenever he/she visits) are lodged at [[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rideau_Hall Rideau Hall]], a superb manor in Ottawa where the GG holds receptions and diplomatic events, though the vast majority of it is working offices for various Crown functions. Another official residence is maintained at La Citadelle, in Quebec City. In some provinces, the Lieutenant Governors (who fulfill the Governor General's role at the provincial level) also have their own official residences. In contrast, the Prime Minister and provincial Premiers lived in smaller houses or condos.

If a house is awe-inspiring for reasons other than size, it ''might'' be a CoolHouse. Compare also to OldDiarkHouse and BigFancyCastle. Contrast FriendsRentControl, where the home (or apartment) doesn't have to be all that large or luxurious objectively, but it's enough so for the location that there's no logical reason why the character should be able to afford it. Also the indication of wealth is not always solid if the home has [[HauntedHouse a dark history]] or was offered cheaply [[TheAllegedHouse for obvious reasons]].

** And this is only one of the British Royal Family's ''twenty-plus'' official residences, one of which is the sprawling Houses of Parliament in the heart of Westminster (though only technically, since the monarch no longer lives there at any time and really couldn't--the only living space in the Palace is for the Speaker of the Commons and Lord Speaker of the Lords, who have formal state apartments in the building). The numbers are staggering - the Crown property portfolio is collectively worth something like ''£5.6bn'' (around $8.7bn US), includes over 50% of the UK shoreline, and covers in total well over ''1,000 square kilometres''.
*** However, about half of this--including the London palaces--is owned by the Crown rather than the Queen herself, and is thus managed by the government. On the other hand, a substantial portion of Crown land is actually part of the Crown Estate, which while managed by the government is in theory voluntarily surrendered to Parliament in exchange for a share of the (lucrative) proceeds and the right to succeed to the Throne, and it is quite possible that should the British monarchy ever end, the Royal Family would keep the Crown Estate. [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bhyYgnhhKFw C.G.P. Grey explains]]. Finally, certain major properties--including the ''very'' big and fancy Sandringham House and Balmoral Castle--are directly owned by the monarch personally.[[note]]This caused a bit of annoyance when [[UsefulNotes/TheHouseOfWindsor Edward VIII]] abdicated; George VI had buy the properties back from him.[[/note]]
* Speaking of Britain, Chequers, the [[UsefulNotes/TheMenOfDowningStreet Prime Minister's]] country estate. Furthermore, 10 Downing Street is [[BiggerOnTheInside deceptively large]].

** While not on the same scale, [[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/24_Sussex_Drive 24 Sussex Drive]], the official residence of the Prime Minster is still quite large and fancy. [[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Stornoway_%28residence%29 Stornoway]], the home of the Leader of the Opposition, is similar.
*** Unfortunately, 24 Sussex Drive is in a severe state of disrepair, so it's being renovated. In the meantime, the Prime Minister and his family are living in [[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rideau_Cottage Rideau Cottage]], a large house on the grounds of Rideau Hall.
*** Unlike official residences in some other countries, they don't contain any office space. The Prime Minister and his/her staff work out of the Langevin Block across the street from Parliament Hill, while the Opposition Leader works out of offices elsewhere in Ottawa.
** Provincial premiers aren't given official state residences, although a former Premier of Alberta attracted controversy when it was revealed she planned to build a set of suites on top of a government building near the provincial legislature (the plan was eventually abandoned).

* TheWhiteHouse is pretty damn fancy, though its size comes more from the fact that it's also full of a lot of office space for the President's staff than the residential part. Still, the Executive Residence--the middle part with the staterooms and so on where the President lives--is big and fancy enough to qualify. However, it's substantially smaller than most other official residences of heads of state and government--most private mansions are larger than the Residence, and the parts that are actually exclusively the President's (the private apartments on the second floor) amount to little more than a moderately large three-bedroom penthouse over a building open to the public and otherwise given over to areas for public entertaining.[[note]]There is also a small private area in the basement, for a bowling alley and a small movie theater.[[/note]] On one hand, this is remarkable, considering that the United States is the world's richest, most powerful country; on the other hand, it's not terribly remarkable, given the egalitarian sensibilities of most Americans.
** As an example of Americans' schizophrenic attitude regarding things of this kind, UsefulNotes/ThomasJefferson thought that the White House was ''too big'' when he moved in in 1801, calling it "big enough for two emperors, one pope, and the grand lama in the bargain." And then he conducted the first expansion of the White House, building the colonnades that now connect the Residence to the East and West Wings. (They were originally designed to disguise the laundry and stables). That said, Jefferson ''did'' seriously reduce the size of the White House ''grounds'', allowing Pennsylvania Avenue to cut across them much closer to the house than planned, and repurposing the land north of Pennsylvania Avenue as a public park (today called Lafayette Square).
** President Trump has had the ''opposite'' opinion, calling the place a dump compared to his frankly gaudy and tasteless residence in Trump Tower.
** Somewhat related to the Japanese Imperial Palace, the White House has gained a lot in the land-value department since about 2000. DC's real estate market has become rather tight, and land values are increasing quickly, so even a "moderately-large three-bedroom penthouse" is actually quite a lot in today's DC.[[note]]As of March 2018, the going rate for a 3-bed, 3-bath apartment in Downtown DC is, on the low end, about $1.7 million to buy and $5000/month to rent.[[/note]]

* ''Fanfic/InstituteSaga'' has the Xavier Institute, which gets the Fortress of Solitude as its basement.

[[folder:Comics]]

* Wayne Manor from ''Franchise/{{Batman}}'' is a mulit-level sprawling historical estate where there was never any concern about finding bedrooms for his many children (prior to Flashpoint his kids included [[ComicBook/{{Nightwing}} Dick]], [[Comicbook/RedHoodTheLostDays Jason]], [[ComicBook/RobinSeries Tim]], [[ComicBook/Batgirl2000 Cassandra]] and Damian), at least two kitchens, a ballroom, an extensive library, a conservatory and numerous outbuildings, such as the old carriage building which was converted into a guest house.

If a house is awe-inspiring for reasons other than size, it ''might'' be a CoolHouse. Compare also to OldDarkHouse and BigFancyCastle. Contrast FriendsRentControl, where the home (or apartment) doesn't have to be all that large or luxurious objectively, but it's enough so for the location that there's no logical reason why the character should be able to afford it. Also the indication of wealth is not always solid if the home has [[HauntedHouse a dark history]] or was offered cheaply [[TheAllegedHouse for obvious reasons]].

* Antilia, home of Indian bussinessman Mokesh Ambani in South Mumbai maybe the world's largest non-royal private residence. It is a tall skyscraper-like house with over 400,000 square feet of interior space on 25 floors.

* The webcomic ''Webcomic/TwoKinds'' provides the trope image, a shot of the main character Trace Legacy's extravagant manor... [[LaserGuidedAmnesia which he has completely forgotten.]]

* Antilia, home of Indian bussinessman Mokesh Ambani maybe the world's largest non-royal private residence. It is a tall skyscraper-like house with over 400,000 square feet of interior space on 25 floors.

* After the Great Fire of [[AncientRome Rome]] in 64, the emperor Nero ordered the construction of a gigantic new palace, the ''[[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Domus_Aurea Domus Aurea]]'' ("Golden House").[[note]]The name "house" was not an attempt at modesty; "''domus''" was specifically the Latin word for a rich family's townhouse, at least as applied to structures in Rome; a ''domus'' could be quite large even if it wasn't the Emperor's residence.[[/note]] If Suetonius is to be believed, the entrance hall alone was a mile long and had a 120-foot statue of Nero; there was a huge artificial lake, gardens and woods rife with plants and animals, petal- and perfume-sprinklers and a banqueting hall with a constantly revolving roof, and gold, jewelled and ivory decorations throughout. When it was finished, Nero is supposed to have said, "Good - now at last I can begin to live like a human being." No wonder people accused him of starting the fire (though it's now generally agreed that he didn't). As Nero was less than popular with the Roman establishment by the time he died and the palace was a gigantic reminder of him, most of it was later demolished.

* After the Great Fire of [[AncientRome Rome]] in 64, the emperor Nero ordered the construction of a gigantic new palace, the [[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Domus_Aurea Domus Aurea]]'' ("Golden House").[[note]]The name "house" was not an attempt at modesty; "''domus''" was specifically the Latin word for a rich family's townhouse, at least as applied to structures in Rome; a ''domus'' could be quite large even if it wasn't the Emperor's residence.[[/note]] If Suetonius is to be believed, the entrance hall alone was a mile long and had a 120-foot statue of Nero; there was a huge artificial lake, gardens and woods rife with plants and animals, petal- and perfume-sprinklers and a banqueting hall with a constantly revolving roof, and gold, jewelled and ivory decorations throughout. When it was finished, Nero is supposed to have said, "Good - now at last I can begin to live like a human being." No wonder people accused him of starting the fire (though it's now generally agreed that he didn't). As Nero was less than popular with the Roman establishment by the time he died and the palace was a gigantic reminder of him, most of it was later demolished.

* After the Great Fire of [[AncientRome Rome]] in 64, the emperor Nero had a gigantic new palace built. If Suetonius is to be believed, the entrance hall alone was a mile long and had a 120-foot statue of Nero; there was a huge artificial lake, gardens and woods rife with plants and animals, petal- and perfume-sprinklers and a banqueting hall with a constantly revolving roof, and gold, jewelled and ivory decorations throughout. When it was finished, Nero is supposed to have said, "Good - now at last I can begin to live like a human being." No wonder people accused him of starting the fire (though it's now generally agreed that he didn't). As Nero was less than popular with the Roman establishment by the time he died and the palace was a gigantic reminder of him, most of it was later demolished.
** Of course, Nero's [[ZeroPercentApprovalRating profound unpopularity]] means that this description should be taken with a large grain of salt.
*** Some elements are definately true. Nero's giant statue, for example, survived the destruction of the palace, and later on the Flavian Amphitheatre was nicknamed Colosseum because it stood next to the place and dwarfed it. The banquet hall with revolving floor has actually been found in an archeological dig, since it was simply buried instead of being wrecked, and it's considered a marvel of engineering.

** In a sense, all of Terra itself could be considered the Emperor's house. Terra is entirely covered by a single city. The planet (and indeed the whole Solar System) is one enormous fortress and shrine whose primary purpose is to protect the Emperor and power the Astronomicon (the beacon that allows Warp travel).

* Istana Nurul Iman, the palace of the Sultan of Brunei, is considered the world's largest private residence, at over [[BiggerIsBetter2 million square feet]]. It even contains hundreds of Rolls-Royces, has air conditioned stables, and houses a Mosque with a dome made of pure gold.

If a house is awe-inspiring for reasons other than size, it ''might'' be a CoolHouse. Compare also to OldDarkHouse and BigFancyCastle. Contrast FriendsRentControl, where the home (or apartment) doesn't have to be all that large or luxurious objectively, but it's enough so for the location that there's no logical reason why the character should be able to afford it. Also the indication of wealth is not always solid if the home was vacated or offered cheaply [[HauntedHouse for obvious reasons]].

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** Somewhat related to the Japanese Imperial Palace, the White House has gained a lot in the land-value department since about 2000. DC's real estate market has become rather tight, and land values are increasing quickly, so even a "moderately-large three-bedroom penthouse" is actually quite a lot in today's DC.