Kanye West Buys $57.3 Million Malibu House

Just about everybody knows that Kanye West has enough money to buy virtually anything he wants to buy. Anyone who ever doubted that fact can be reminded of it, as he just recently purchased a mansion for $57.3 million. The Malibu home was built in 2013 and now, it has a new tenant.

About The Home

When it comes to mansions, this house isn’t as big as you might think. As a matter of fact, it’s only 5,672 square feet. When you consider the fact that a decent sized trailer house is about 1,200 square feet, it quickly becomes apparent that less than six thousand square feet isn’t really all that big, especially when the house is being considered a mansion. That is because most houses that end up with this moniker are much bigger, some of them sprawling out over several acres of space, complete with several stories to boot. This particular house only has four bedrooms and 4 1/2 baths. Compare that to your average mansion, if there is such a thing, and the typical 10 + bedrooms and it quickly becomes apparent that this house is roughly half the size of most mansions, even the ones that end up being on the small side. It’s also worth noting that most houses of this type also have more bathrooms than your average commercial building. That makes the aforementioned 4 ½ baths seem almost laughable. You might even go as far as saying that it’s only about one-third the size of the overwhelming majority of luxury homes. However, it was designed by renowned architect Tadao Ando, with a little help from Marmol Radziner. That goes a long way toward explaining its $57.3 million price tag. The other thing that explains the price is the home’s location. Almost every home in the Malibu area is far more expensive than most people would ever imagine, even in their wildest dreams.

Getting Down To The Details

There are a couple of things that make this house special, despite its relatively small size. For one thing, there are only a few homes in the United States designed by the aforementioned architect Tadao Ando. This is one of them. The other thing that makes it special is the fact that it’s not just a house, but more like a piece of art that can also be lived in. If you think $57.3 million is a lot to pay, you’re not wrong. However, the house was actually on the market earlier in the year before it was suddenly taken off. While it was available on the market, the asking price was a whopping $75 million. That asking price probably explains why it was taken off the market in the first place, as that is a lot of money, even for a mansion in Malibu. It also makes the $57.3 million that West paid sound like a real bargain. There isn’t a lot of information available about the transaction itself. In fact, one of the only things known is that it was conducted as a private deal. Apparently, West paid for the entirety of the property as opposed to choosing to carry a mortgage on it.

Not Your Typical Mansion

It’s true that this is anything but your typical mansion. When you look at pictures of it, it looks much more like a fallout shelter than a house. It’s completely made of concrete, it sits right next to the road and it has no yard. There isn’t even much in the way of landscaping to offset the stark appearance of the concrete structure. It definitely doesn’t have the cozy looks a lot of homeowners are searching for, yet it still commanded a hefty price tag. That price tag probably has a great deal to do with the home’s initial construction. In fact, they poured 1,200 pounds of concrete when constructing the house that took seven years to build. If that shocks you, the surprises don’t end there. They also used 200 tons of steel to reinforce the concrete. By the time they were finished, the home was so heavy that it was in real danger of collapsing into the ground. The solution was to take 12 pylons and drive them in strategic locations, 60 feet into the ground in order to keep the house afloat.

Three Levels With A Purpose

The house has three levels, although it is almost impossible to tell that from the street. Even when looking at it from the beach, it looks more like the lower level is nothing more than a place for waves to crash through than anything else. Despite that fact, there are reportedly three guest bedrooms on the lower level, although photos of the interior are extremely scarce. It is known that the middle level of the home includes the kitchen and a large family room as well as a bathroom with a separate vanity room. Apparently, the upstairs is reserved exclusively for West and is off-limits to anyone else. It is said to house a massive bedroom suite with access to a terrace that is connected to the side of the house. People who have been in the home say that it features a minimalist design inside. That would certainly go with the concrete bunker design that you can see from the outside. This is certainly not the first time that West has bought a house. In fact, he has several houses and many more that he has owned in the past. Apparently, he fell in love with this house the first time that he saw it and ever since that time, he has set out to own it for himself, which he now does. It’s also worth noting that the side of the house that faces the beach is entirely encased in glass, except for that lower-level that looks more like a place for the waves to crash against than anything else. As previously mentioned, the side that faces the street, as well as the other two sides of the home, are constructed of solid concrete.