Lifestyle

These wealthy people’s homes are almost grotesque

Lauren Greenfield is captivated by āœØwealth. šŸ¦©For 25 years, the California photographer focused on those living or chasing the extreme American dream ā€” not only in America but in China, Dubai, Milan and Moscow.

Phaidon Press

Along the way, sheā€™s met people like Jackie and David Siegel, whose bankrupting efforts to live like royals ā€” in a Florida palace replete with a bowling alley, sushiź¦‘ bar and baseball field ā€” were depicted in Greenfieldā€™s 2012 documentary, ā€œThe Queen of Versailles.ā€

Youā€™ll find the Siegels among other rich and often ā–Øridiculous folk in ā€œ,ā€ Greenfieldā€™s new book (Phaidon, out now) and exhibit, opening Sept. 20 at the Inteš†rnational Center of Photography (ICP).

Growing up in 1980s California, Greenfield šŸ…·told The Post, opened her Ü«eyes to living large. While her college-professor parents gave her a comfortable, upper-middle-class life, her prep-school peers were getting Porsches.

ā€œBy normal standards, I was privileged, but it always felt [that] I had less,ā€ the 51-year-old told The Post. And things have gotten worse. ā€œWhere we used to compare ourselves with the neighbors, in the last 25 years, weā€™ve spent more time with people weā€™ve met on TV aā™Œnd their wealth. ā€˜Keeping up with the Jonesesā€™ has literally become ā€˜Keeping Up wšŸŒœith the Kardashians.ā€™ ā€

In fact, Greenfield photographed two members of that family ā€” a pre-teen Kim and Kourtney ā€” at a middle-school dancź¦¦e in Bel Air, Calif., in 1992. A decade later, theyā€™d become the It girls in what Greenfield calls ā€œa post-moral worldā€: materially rich yet never satisfied.

Here aš’ŠŽre the photographerā€™s behind-the-scenešŸ·s takes on a privileged few.

He owns a white house ā€” and a backyard Mount Rushmore

The view from Huang’s office at his White House in HangzhouLauren Greenfield/INSTITUTE

Greenfield photographed real estate magnate Huang QiaolingšŸŒø in 2002 while shooting a story abšŸ¦©out Chinaā€™s emerging rich. From the windows of his 55,000-square-foot White House in Hangzhou, the mogul, now 58, could see the 20-foot-tall heads of Washington, Jefferson, Roosevelt and Lincoln rising from his mini-Mount Rushmore.

ā€œI donā€™t know where he got this love of America,ā€ Greenfield said of the tycoon, whose staff reportš“€edly calls him ā€œPresident Huang.ā€

ā€œHe was quite formal as he showed us around the grounds, but it was absolutely amazing. There was a šŸ„‚full replica of the Oval Office, with a portrait of George Bush.ā€ She adds that thingsšŸ€… might be different today, however.

When the photographer was in China in 2014, ā€œpeople [do] not feel as comfortable bź©µeing on camera, showing off oneā€™s wealth and love of AmešŸ’Žrica. What I saw in 2002, I donā€™t think youā€™d see now.ā€

The man who had a 100-foot limo

“Limo Bob” in his office in ChicagoLauren Greenfield/INSTITUTE

Robert Strauser, a k a ā€œLimo Bob,ā€ owns the Guinness World Record-setting longest limousine: 100 feet long, with a pool šŸ‰and helicopter pad. Greenfield shot the car-service owner in 2008 at his Chicago office in all his gilded, more-is-more glory: fur coat, stuffed animals and all.

ā€œHeā€™s not a rich person, but he loves bling ā€” itā€™s part of his brand, and his work is about helping people show off. He wears over 30 pounds of gold and has a fur coat [pictured] that Mike Tyson supposedly gave him. Heā€™s been the driver for rich people, drug dealers, rap stars and a lot of people ā€” he doesnā€™t even know what they do ā€” but if you have the money to be in the limo, there you are,ā€ GreenfišŸ’«eld said.

ā€œWhen I shot him, it was after the [housing market] crash, and people werenā€™t sure they wanted to be in limos . . . but that was relatively short-lived. His son, Bobby, was in the ‘My Super Sweet 16’ show for MTV and had, like, a 15-foot-high ice sculpture of himself.ā€

Obsessed with ā€˜Chitty Chitty Bang Bangā€™

Suzanne Rogers in her Toronto homeLauren Greenfield/INSTITUTE

The photographer shot socialite Suzanne Rogers, nowšŸ”“ 50, in her Toronto home in 2010 after meeting her at a fashion show in Paris. Rogers says her outlandish outfits and decor are inspired by the candy-factory heiress Truly Scrumptious, from the film ā€œChitty Chitty Bang Bang.ā€

ā€œSheā€™s married to Ed Rogers, a major media mogul in Canada. She says her style for her clothes and her house is essentially one and the same: ā€˜Chitty Chitty Bang Bangā€™-inspired,ā€ Greenfield said. ā€œHere sheā€™s wearing an Oscar de la ļ·½Renta dress for a charitš’ƒy benefit.

ā€œHer house is incredible ā€” even her bookcase is art directš“ƒ²ed: They donā€™t appear to be real books because theyā€™re all the same. ā™’She had four closets and used the wine cellar as her overflow shoe closet ā€” she had 200 pairs of shoes, not including boots. She loves HermĆØs Birkin bags, which start at about $12,000, and said she had them in almost every color.ā€

Today, Rogersā€™ Instagram account is a candy-coated tribute to her ostentatious life: photos of her travels to London fashion week and a spa in Capri; and the socialite rubbing shoulders with Diane von Furstenberg, Bono and her neighboršŸ¼, Sean Connery. Oh, and her Barbie-pink golf cart, complete with a ā€œSuzanneā€ vanity plate.