Architectural Digest has been doing back-to-back-to-back celebrity-home covers, right? It’s crazy, all of the excess and bad design styles. The only recent celebrity home which actually seemed like a realistic (and gorgeous) space was Dakota Johnson’s beautiful home. Drake’s Toronto mansion is not realistic, nor does it seem particular “liveable,” in the sense of “can you imagine yourself curling up and reading a book in the living room, or heating up a can of soup in the kitchen?” I answered “no” to both of those questions. It’s too big, the spaces are too cavernous and it would feel like you were living in a mall. Not everyone has to live in a “liveable” home though – Drake has obviously built this space for entertaining large groups, for parties and for people to see what he’s collected and how crazy and expensive he’s made the place. You can see the full AD piece here. Some highlights from the interview:
Details about the home, called the Embassy: It’s a 50,000-foot Art Deco home with “a recording studio, an NBA regulation-size indoor basketball court, a 21-square-foot pyramidal skylight, an indoor swimming pool and a special room just for the rapper’s awards. The entrance hall contains two Kaws sculptures aligning the sides of the black and white Nero Marquina marble floor. It also features a custom bronze and marble Ferris Rafauli chandelier.”
He wanted a place built to last: “Because I was building it in my hometown, I wanted the structure to stand firm for 100 years. I wanted it to have a monumental scale and feel. “It will be one of the things I leave behind, so it had to be timeless and strong.”
His 3,200 square-foot bedroom, with 1,100 square feet of covered terraces. “The bedroom is where I come to decompress from the world at the end of the night and where I open my eyes to seize the day. The bed lets you float, the shower lets you escape and gather your thoughts, and the closet makes you want to talk to yourself while you’re getting dressed.”
This AD cover was timed for the release of his video for Toosie Slide – all of the interior shots in the video are in Drake’s home. It’s like he made his own AD video? While I’m not crazy about all of the marble in his kitchen, I bet his private chef loves it?
“Because I was building it in my hometown, I wanted the structure to stand firm for 100 years. It will be one of the things I leave behind, so it had to be timeless and strong.”
Take the full tour of @Drake’s luxurious Toronto home here: https://t.co/AOz3VmVlFS pic.twitter.com/Z0bPIJ14JW
— Architectural Digest (@ArchDigest) April 8, 2020
Photos courtesy of AD & WENN.
Ummm…. Thanks Drake?
– A Torontonian
The pharaohs also left behind enduring monuments but it’s not likely people will be coming to marvel at Drake’s house in 2120.
I don’t know. It worked for Elvis.
I like Drake and his music, and the fact that he built his home in his hometown makes me love him even more, he is a proud Canadian just like me.
Oh wow a yellow lounge… My eyes hurt
Wow, just wow at every picture… Just what I would imagine a rich person would splurge on
(how is it possible to clean this mirror though lol)
PS the comments under the AD tweets are really funny !
Maybe he has another home where he actually lives.
I wouldn’t be surprised if this is his ‘show’ home (where he has parties and films videos) and does have another, more liveable one for every day. I mean, he also has a young son…very little in this place seems kid-friendly to me, other than maybe the basketball court.
As for the design, bleh. More money than taste, I suppose.
His bedroom is twice the size of my apartment! Maybe he lives there, and the rest of the house is for parties, staff, and hangers on.
If I were building something that was really going to be around in 100 years, I’d go with a smaller main house and maybe some guest houses if I had that many visitors – something that could be parceled out to make other homes, or used for a school. Rich people often want to build something new, and there are only so many museums in need of a huge building.
Isn’t Toronto having a housing crisis? This just makes it worse. So many could fit in that space. Hopefully it’s sold soon and someone can break it up into apartments. That black and white entrance already looks like something you’d find in an upscale apartment building.
@ashley this is in the Bridle Path. Super fancy, exclusive houses. No one is breaking up anything there. It fits right in.
Off topic. My husband used work in construction there and he was always super generous to the workers while it was being built.
Ridiculous. And seriously, AD, running a sustainability article in the issue with THAT as the feature? The heating of that house alone…plus it looks like a hotel that’s trying too hard to be hip.
“It will be one of the things I leave behind, so it had to be timeless and strong.”
So here’s the thing. I work in home design, for mostly wealthy clients. You know what they don’t want? Someone else’s super customized stuff. The minute he leaves that house, the next owner is going to rip most of that out and redo it.
He’ll probably turn it into a “drake and his purses” museum
Does he think people are going to tour it like it’s Graceland?
It looks like a hotel that’s trying too hard to be hip. This.
Yes! It looks like one of the new york W hotels. Like, almost exactly. Pass
I think it looks like a mall trying to look hip.
That’s exactly what it looks like. Specifically, The Keating from Gordon Ramsay’s Hotel Hell. (Season 1 episode 4, in case you’re thinking of YouTubing it…)
I don’t think anybody wants that!
Whatever he does with his money is up to him, we like ir or not is his house…..l would like to have his room though…lol
Those zombie dolls in the entry way make it unliveable
I’m not gonna lie… as tacky and over the top as it is, I kind of love it.
Same. I unapologetically love all of the over the top light fixtures.
I am so with you on this. So overdone. So tacky. So amazing.
I would love it as a fabulously over the top boutique hotel I visit with my girlfriends on fun weekend trip. It could never be a home.
@Niki—oh yeah, for sure could never feel comfortable enough in it to live. But would work as a hotel!
This “house” is flat out dumb. It’s stupid and wasteful for 1 person to live in a space so large. And it’s unsustainable. No matter what any artist thinks of themselves, almost none of them are timeless or will have a lifelong, millions of dollars per year career to pay for these types of excesses. When Drake inevitably doesn’t want this house anymore what do you do with it?! Who can buy it?
And side note, I loved Dakota Johnson’s house so much! It was cozy and just felt so welcoming and it felt well loved. THAT’S the type of house that is an inspiration to me, not some masturbatory castle to oneself like Drake.
Spot on! I loved Dakota’s house too. It’s now an inspo for my place. Drake’s though…. all I got is tacky. But don’t worry there’s plenty people out there with that kind of money that have the exact same taste and might wanna buy it just like that.
I loved Dakota’s as well. Human scaled, unlike Drake and his stupid 40′ ceilings or whatever. My previous house had a 14′ ceiling in one section, and let me tell you, that sucker was loud and a pain to heat in the winter.
It looks like he lives in an ugly hotel. It’s devoid of warmth or personality. It’s basically a monument to his ego.
Agreed a monument to his ego. And I agree with others that it unsustainable. And right now, with so many people losing jobs and not knowing where and how they will feed their families, it seems vulgar.
I was just thinking the exact same thing. You can’t buy taste. And that looks like an over-designed hotel.
… what does he think “timeless” means? Did he forget how to say “tacky af”? Because that’s all I really see… tacky ostentatiousness. I guess as a monument to bad taste… yeah, this will be a timeless monument to that old adage, Money Can’t Buy Taste.
someone said he has the taste of a middle aged wife of a mobb boss and I agree.
LOL!
That “someone” was spot on! The house is ugly, and he is a massive twat. Embarrassing.
Drake is basic and he knows it—I think this house is an example. (He tries too hard.)
Tone deaf celebrities continue to be tone deaf.
I suppose that people need to find some way to get publicity while quarantined, but this ain’t it. I think smart celebrities should take a look at what worked well in the 30s and early 40s, because displays of wealth aren’t as fun as they used to be.
To be fair, this issue of AD would have been planned, and this article written/photographed, long before coronavirus/social distancing, so it’s not like Drake was planning to use it for publicity specifically during quarantine.
His bedroom is 3200 sq ft??? The excess…
AGAIN, enough with the display of obscene wealth.
Oh gosh! It’s tacky and ugly and it seems like such a waste of space and energy (how do you heat this monster?!). There’s a huge housing crisis in Toronto, it’s hard to find an affordable 2 bedrooms in the city and Drake built this?!
The beauty of architecture and home design is to create liveable spaces: Drake’s place is the opposite
I live in a 980 square ft. farmhouse. The bedroom terrace alone is bigger than my house. The bedroom itself is three times the size and some serious change. He’ll spend more than 3x the amount I do heating my home on his bedroom alone. And the bedroom isn’t even 10% of the house!
Ridiculous. Wheelchair Jimmy needs a reality check.
I’ll give him this: big windows and marble/any kind of natural stone ARE timeless elements. However, the rest of the house looks…to borrow from one commenter “like the acrylic nail of a stripper” 😀
Terrible taste.
If it was properly sized, Drake’s house is fantastic. It’s OTT and I love it, it’s just WAY to big. But I’m a maximalists 🤷🏻♀️
I also hated Dakota’s place though, so clearly it’s a stylistic difference 😂
Dakota’s house is beautiful!!! This house (if you want to call it that), looks like a hotel that no one wants to stay. His bedroom is bigger than a lot of houses. The old adage is apropos here–you can not buy taste!!!!
Not my taste but not my money so whatever.
I’ve always hated all these massive, incredibly over-the-top celebrity mansions. Ever since MTV Cribs, I think. Just thinking about trying to live in a place that looks like this makes me anxious. On the other hand, I did like Dakota’s place a lot.
Conspicuous consumption at its finest. I’m so over these extravagant displays of wealth when so so many people don’t even have enough food to eat. It doesn’t make you look cool, it makes you look like a tone-deaf jackass
This house is over the top, tacky and i love it. Is it somewhere I’d want to live? Nope! But i sure would love to entertain and party there!! It’s like being in vegas where everything is bigger and better. He’s loaded so why not?
It’s ugly and wasteful. Yeah, it is his money to do with as he pleases, but that doesn’t make the place any less ugly or wasteful
Money can’t buy good taste – Drake’s obnoxious manse Exhibit “A”.
who is his interior designer…?
just making sure I never ever accidentally hire them.
Can we start shaming celebrities who waste so much money and resources on these ridiculous homes? How much electricity and other utilities does this cost to run each month? How much gas are you using to heat this in the winter? I get wanting a nice house but this is so excessive and tone deaf to me while the earth is running out of resources and millions of people in North America are homeless. Just get a nice place that’s a reasonable 10,000 sq feet. You’ll somehow survive! Let’s stop showing this excess greed off and start calling these celeb out.
AD had had some really beautiful celebrity homes featured online and in the magazine. Drake’s is not one of them.
I loved Aaron Paul’s home in Idaho. That is my dream home. And I’ll confess to loving Kris Jenner’s new home too.
Seeing all the celeb #stayhome videos and Instagram photos has been pretty revealing about who had no taste or decorators. Demi Moore’s home looks messy, outdated and is furnished with some pretty shabby looking furniture.
Awe that’s not fair to Demi. She doesn’t work like she used to. She can’t afford to dress her home like Drake’s.
It’s ridiculous excess, but honestly….I’ve seen way uglier. At least some clear design intent went into these rooms, even if they aren’t to my taste. The black marble room is admittedly legitimately beautiful.
I’m baffled at the timing of these issues, though. You’re in a pandemic with a major class backlash going on, who thinks this is what people want to see?? Granted, celebrities make most of their money off advertisements, which is better than guys like Bezos building their empire off the backs of the working class. But still.
You forgot the best part, his bed costs more than $300 000 and for that price the mattress company sends a regular mattress fluffer to turn it for him lolololol
Tacky AF. Looks like a hotel in Las Vegas
“Every room looks like a strippers acrylic nail.”
Can’t stop laughing.
God I wish I was rich..
What do you do with all of that space when people leave? Are you just chilling in that massive yellow room by yourself? It looks so lonely. The more space the more alone you must fill. I like the entrance, the marble and the chandelier are beautiful but it just looks lonely. Why even bother having all of that unless you plan on having 20 people over all the time. It’s depressing.
I imagine in 20 years Drake will be like all of those autobiographical movies about actors who aren’t what they once were and their world comes crashing down when they’re left by themselves. When the groupies and the hanger ons can no longer get anything. And it’s just you in that big empty space.
This is his Gatsby home. People will live it up at his massive parties while he cries alone in his 3,000 ft bedroom.
It would be a fairly shite house if it didn’t stand up for 100 years?! And it’s more Buck Rogers than Art Deco. Tacky, vast and soulless. But money, eh
I’ve been to actual billionaire homes who homes were a lot more homier than this.
Looks like Tom Haverford and Jean-Ralphio’s dream house, ridiculous, OTT, and tacky AF
Narcississt
I really love it and I appreciate that it is not just throwaway “luxury” but materials and design intended to outlast him.
Too much money not much taste😂
So much money, such awful taste.
I…
…love it?
I mean, as a hotel, not as a home, but it is beautiful.
Definition of timeless, according to Drake: of no time, has never been of a time, never will be a style of any time. Timeless.
These comments are right on.
More $$ than taste. Huge, ugly, cold. It is big enough to break it into several good sized apartments, at least then a few folks would be sheltered. In an ugly space with bad decorating but, ya know, at min sheltered with heat, roof, running water.
I bet the pros who were paid to build this ugly place reminded themselves..As long as his check clears, he gets what he pays for.
All that $$ and it is so ugly. Too bad.
That’s not a house, that’s a hotel! And Drake sucks. – Signed, an Ontarian.
If Drake were any more full of himself he wouldn’t be able to stand up