The graphic in this article has been corrected.
One of the great things about having Mitt Romney back in the news is that we get to relive some of the more fun parts of the 2012 campaign, up to and including discussion of his houses. If I say to you, "car elevator," what comes to mind? If you were awake that year, you remember the kerfuffle over Romney's Southern California beachfront property that was reported to have included this unusual amenity.
The Boston Globe explored Romney's post-2012 real estate boom earlier this week, including a look at that house, all 11,206 square feet of it in La Jolla, Calif. It's a beautiful property, in a beautiful location, that we would not begrudge anyone for owning -- although if that owner then started railing against income inequality, we might then raise one eyebrow, just a bit.
We realized, though, that we don't really know how big 11,000 square feet actually is. In order to get approval to build the home (it was an upgrade from a smaller version), Romney's architect had to submit plans to the state, in part because it abuts the coast. Thanks to those plans, we can see exactly what the joint looks like -- and, more excitingly, just how big it is.
Don't believe us? Here. Enter the size of your residence in the tool below, and it will show you just how your home stacks up to Romney's. That's the actual floor plan of his place, by the way. Is your house bigger than his kitchen? Mine is not!
We will note (in response to some harrumphing) that we are happy to make similar comparisons to the homes of other elected officials, if floor plans are publicly available. Plans for the Clinton homes don't seem to be.
And a final note: This is one of the Romneys' homes. Perhaps your residence is bigger than one of his other ones? Who knows? (It is not.)
Correction: An engineer wrote in to note that the scale seemed off. He was right! We've corrected the tool to accurately represent the entire square footage incorporated by the house.
