Why Did West Elm Just Redo de Blasio's Mayoral Mansion?

NYC mayor Bill de Blasio is moving into the city's historic Gracie Mansion—the "little White House" that became the official mayoral estate in 1942—but not before outfitting the circa-1799 estate in ... $65,000 worth of donated West Elm furnishings. It, of course, is a controversial move. First of all, NYC's former long-time mayor, Michael Bloomberg, has come out against a mayor moving into the mansion at all ("If a mayor lives there then what they're doing is they're costing this city a lot of money and depriving the rest of the city of one of the greatest facilities any city has"), nextly, it's West Elm, which is nice and all, but ultimately a purveyor of factory-manufactured, on-trend side tables and credenzas. "They have some nice products," local interior designer Erika Flugger weighs in, "but I wouldn't recommend using it for a landmark."

For its part, The New York Times mentions the fact that, before its West Elm makeover, decorators removed its 1690 Dutch-inspired cupboard and "century-old chandeliers." Still, the mansion's foray into inoffensive, affordable decor isn't looked on with distaste, but rather as a reflection of the de Blasios' "unpretentious style" and "populist image."

So what, exactly, is inside? Midcentury-style sofas and "striped accent beanbags" and other "pleasing, if generic" finds chosen straight from the retailer's Chelsea showroom. In all, the plain-jane aesthetic is one that's leaps and bounds from the $7M renovation Bloomberg commissioned in 2002 from superstar designer Jamie Drake—for one, there's nary a wink of the Federalist style Drake was mandated to stick to, nor any mention of the mansion's "circa-1830 Zuber Les Jardins de Paris wallpaper or great paw-footed, Lannuier sideboard," which Arch Digest once reported. Check out more photos, over at The New York Times.

· De Blasios Swap 300-Year-Old Antiques For West Elm at Gracie Mansion [Curbed NY]
· Décor at Gracie Mansion Now Fits de Blasio's Style [NY Times]
· How Gracie Mansion Became New York's 'Little White House' [Curbed NY]