Last week The New York Times published an article about the homes of presumed and confirmed drug lords in Mexico. The article, titled Inside the Homes of Mexico's Rich and Infamous included images of several properties the government had seized. The buildings range from average upper middle class homes to an extremely lavishly decorated building reminiscent of an Italian palazzo. The latter bears an uncanny resemblance to another great home in narco-architecture history, the house where Scarface was filmed!
So was Scarface the inspiration for this home or is it simply another reinterpretation of a classical palace? Many examples exist of similar structures created by those who made a lot of money fast.
You might remember the "Candy Colored Mansions" in Herat, Afghanistan, several mansions in Cali, Colombia, or even the abandoned home of Mike Tyson.
What these buildings seem to have in common is a sense of urgency, of building fast in a style they deem to be luxurious, the need to create a home that signifies wealth and power. Some choose to be more traditional, including an indoor pool with classical columns surrounding it, and some are more modern, such as the home with a basement lounge with zebra print upholstery and red velvet curtains.
I guess in a way we all create homes that represent us, who we are, the things we aspire to, how we want to be perceived. What kind of home would you create if you came into a lot of money quickly?
Read More: The New York Times
(Images: 1,3,4 &5: Tony Cenicola/The New York Times, 2: www.move.com)
Small Cool Lessons: Discovering Small Space Design Ideas That Really Work
Marisa and Peter's Playfully Eclectic Home
Good Food to Share 
The Big Book of Small, Cool Spaces 
Apartment Therapy Presents 
The Eight-Step Home Cure 
Sheex Bedding
Eileen's Beachside Oasis Kitchen
How to Make Fresh Pasta Dough in the Food Processor
Tacky McMansions say what?
If I came into a lot of money quickly, I would first wait to pay taxes! No sense in making the same mistake so many others who have gone before me have made! If I had a substantial amount left, I would purchase a farm house with some land around it (maybe 20 acres?) and build or convert existing outbuildings for different functions (community kitchen, office & meeting space). Something for my sister, friends, kids & grandkids to feel comfortable but not smooshed when they visit...dreamy sigh...
hee hee, no tacky McMansions here ;-)
Completely tangential, but the NYT did this beautiful feature of a really sweet revamped townhome yesterday: http://www.nytimes.com/2012/01/26/greathomesanddestinations/the-brooklyn-design-firm-nightwood-remakes-a-town-house.html?src=rechp
Definitely doesn't have the grandeur of the velvet curtains(!), but a different way to use a chunk of money.
There's so much more beautiful architecture in Mexico than these ostentatious houses.
a/t staffers must really be scrambling to repair the recent site redesign. why else would you post this article that ran a week ago in the ny times?
malcolm needs to postpone his "meet and greets" and get back to the office and fix this hot mess! i am still not liking the changes at all!
Sorry, I find this article pretty tasteless. Drug lords in Mexico are participating in ferocious violence and the murders of thousands of people, and we're talking about how they decorate their mansions? Really?
I guess in a way we all create homes that represent us...
As such these houses speak volumes about the scum who inhabit them.