Gracie Mansion, the official residence of the mayor of New York City, has played host to everyone from John Quincy Adams to Charlie Chaplin, but rarely to Mayor Michael Bloomberg. Now with a new mayor coming into office the historic home is preparing to see its first full-time resident in nearly 12 years.

Whether Bill de Blasio or Joe Lhota becomes New York City’s next mayor, both plan to live in the Federal-style house overlooking the East River, according to the New York Times.

“Won’t it be wonderful?” Joan Davidson, the first chairwoman of the Gracie Mansion Conservancy, told the New York Times. “It’s exciting, at night, when you see this surge of black limos roaring over to Gracie Mansion. There’s a frisson in the air. Something big is going on over there, whereas if it’s just used as a meeting hall, like a hotel, it isn’t the same.”

The change would be stark for de Blasio, who currently resides in a non-renovated Park Slope row house. In contrast, Gracie Mansion boasts a new $1.25 million kitchen and 14 acres of parkland.

If Lhota were elected, he would move from his penthouse duplex in Brooklyn Heights. [NYT] –Christopher Cameron