Fans Don’t Love Beyoncé’s Jay-Z’s New $200M Malibu Home

Celebrity real estate

as if Zachary Kussin

May 26, 2023 | 2:21 p.m

The news that Beyoncé and Jay-Z paid $200 million to buy a luxury home in Malibu last week caused jaws to drop — breaking a California home sale record in the process.

But that doesn’t mean social media users were impressed with the look of the property, designed by 81-year-old Tadao Ando – a Pritzker Prize-winning architect and one of the discipline’s most respected names.

“The Beauty of an Empty Costco Distribution Center.” one critic said on Twitter. The Amazing Concrete Structure – Concrete is a signature material in Ando’s rare designs.

“They could buy a prison because it looks the same.” Another comment was made. “And the money is saved!”

The family’s newest SoCal spread sits on 8 acres in the popular affluent beach area. At 42,000 square feet, they bought it from Bill Bell, the world’s largest art collector.

On Thursday, the Wall Street Journal reported that houses designed by Ando — based in Osaka, Japan — have a cult following. A new favorite among the A-list set, with clients including Kim Kardashian and ex-husband Kanye West, there are fewer than 20 Ando-designed residences in the United States.

What’s more, the Journal notes, West had planned to buy this lavish Malibu home for a hefty sum last year — until his eccentric behavior and anti-Semitic comments siphoned off the proceeds.

(West still owns another Ando home nearby, which he acquired in 2021 for $57.25 million. Kardashian recently visited Ando’s office in Japan, where he completed the design before breaking ground on her home in Palm Desert, California.)

The Journal adds that because of Ando’s reinforced architectural concrete touch, construction is more expensive than a regular home — and customers have to put in more effort to see the final product through to completion. Bell and his wife Maria spent 12 years building their former home.

But one man’s art is another man’s eye, at least on Twitter.

“They spent $200 million on prison walls.” A user kvetchedIn other words,It looks like a graveHe said.

“WW2 bunker?” said the other.