These American governors live lavishly in the largest estates, with Kansas at the top of the list
Nearly all 50 US states have an official residence for their state governor – and of course the size of the estates on which their homes are built varies greatly.
And some offer huge properties that seem fit for a king.
Kansas Governor Laura Kelly lives on the largest estate by far, about 210 acres, but ironically, her house itself is one of the smallest mansions.
Kelly’s Cedar Crest estate is nearly 12 times larger than the Governor’s with the second largest estate – Brian Kemp of Georgia.
A study of MoverDB used public sources and Google Maps estimates to rank the size of the estates of 31 U.S. governors. All findings were based on the size of the entire estates and not the houses on them.
Kansas Governor Laura Kelly lives in the smallest house on the largest estate. Cedar Crest in Topeka covers more than 200 acres
Kelly’s Cedar Crest is nearly 12 times larger than the Governor’s of with the second largest estate
The 24,000-square-foot home on Georgia Gov.’s 16-acre estate. Brian Kemp has 30 Doric columns along a porch, which wraps around the entire square building
Kelly’s Franco-Norman style home in Kansas was built in 1928, bequeathed to the state in 1955, and became the governor’s official residence in 1962. It is located in Topeka, west of Kansas City, and overlooks the River Kansas from the South.
Though built on a larger estate, it may not be as grand as the Georgia governor’s mansion in northeastern Atlanta.
Although it is the second largest official residence of all the governor’s residences, it is considerably smaller than the Cedar Crest estate, occupying a relatively small 16 acres of land.
Built in a Greek-Revival style in 1967, the 24,000-square-foot house featured 30 Doric columns along a porch, which wraps around the entire square building.
Washington State Governor Jay Inslee lives on the third-largest estate, next to the state capitol building.
The house is a 19-room Georgian-style building set on 12 acres of land, donated to the state in 1855 by Edmund Sylvester, one of the founding fathers of Olympia, the state capital.
The first floor has a ballroom with a musicians’ gallery, a state dining room, a living room, and the governor’s study. The second floor has eight rooms and three bathrooms, according to the Washington State Online Encyclopedia, HistoryLink.
The exterior is finished in red brick trimmed with white Alaska marble and sandstone coping.
Jay Inslee, the governor of Washington state, lives on the third largest estate, next to the state capitol building
The New Mexico Governor’s Mansion sits on the fourth largest lot – 12 acres in Santa Fe.
It became the official residence of the governor in 1954 with the retirement of the previous governor’s mansion in downtown Santa Fe that resembled the White House but was painted yellow.
The current governor’s residence is a modest one-story building, in stark contrast to its predecessor, which, like many other official governor’s residences in other states, was a Greek Revival.
However, the new residence is based on the styles of New Mexico’s era as a territory and has a red brick trim around the roof, according to the Sante Fe New Mexican.
The 8,000-square-foot house includes a dining room with a stenciled ceiling inspired by the Spanish palace near Madrid in Spain, where King Philip III signed the papers authorizing the settlement of Santa Fe, according to a state website.
Missouri has one of the oldest governor’s mansions in the US – it has been the official residence since 1872
The governor with the smallest estate of those measured is Mike Dunleavy of Alaska, though the house is 12,900 square feet
The fifth-largest governor’s residence marks a return to the norm, with a Neo-Renaissance house on a 10-acre lot in Missouri.
Occupied by current Missouri Governor Mike Parson, it is one of the oldest governor’s houses in the US and has been the official residence since 1872.
Located in Jefferson City, it is characterized by four pink granite columns at the entrance that come from Brown’s quarry in Iron County.
The governor with the smallest estate of those measured is Mike Dunleavy of Alaska.
His house sits on a lot less than an acre in size. The residence, in Juneau, Alaska, was first occupied in 1912 and still features tall stately columns. The 12,900-square-foot, three-story house is large with 26 rooms.
Arizona, Idaho, Massachusetts, Rhode Island, and Vermont have no active state governorships at all for various reasons.