See inside Elon Musk's $50,000 house, thanks to this rare photo posted by his biographer

Publish date: 2024-05-19

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Walter Isaacson gave people a glimpse into Elon Musk's $50,000 home on Sunday.

"In 2020, Musk decided to sell his five grand houses and to have as his primary residence this spartan two-bedroom house in Boca Chica, TX, where we would meet and he would sit at this wood table and make phone calls," Isaacson, who shadowed Musk for the better part of three years, wrote on X, the platform formerly known as Twitter.

The biographer said he will explain why Musk decided to sell his other houses in his book on the billionaire, which will come out on September 12. The billionaire has said in the past that he wants to sell his belongings in order to help fund his plans to one day build a colony on Mars.

—Walter Isaacson (@WalterIsaacson) August 6, 2023

The photo appears to show Musk's kitchen and a portion of his living room at his house near SpaceX's launch site in Boca Chica, Texas. 

In the picture from Isaacson, Musk appears to have a katana sword on his coffee table, as well as some sort of rocket-shaped object or sculpture, and what appear to be a handful of games. A Tesla "Plaid Mode" jacket, which Musk has been photographed wearing before, hangs on a chair.

The billionaire, who is a sci-fi enthusiast, also has a poster for a science fiction pulp magazine called "Amazing Stories" displayed prominently over his kitchen table.

Walter Isaacson shared a photo inside of Elon Musk's house. Courtesy of Walter Isaacson

Here's a better look at the poster on his wall, a print of which is currently listed on Posterazzi.com for $32.83. The cover art depicts Henry Gade's sci-fi story, "Liners of Space," with artwork showing mass transportation spaceships — reminiscent of Elon Musk's grand plans for SpaceX's Starship rocket, which he has said he wants to eventually use to ferry people to and from Mars.

A screenshot of Posterazzi's listing for an "Amazing Stories" poster, featuring the sci-fi story "Liners of Space." Posterazzi.com

It's not the first time we've caught a sneak peek of Musk's private life. Last year, the Tesla CEO shared a photo of what appeared to be his bedside table on X — the photo included several cans of caffeine-free Diet Coke and what appeared to be two replica guns.

—Elon Musk (@elonmusk) November 28, 2022

In 2020, Musk announced that he was "selling almost all physical possessions. Will own no house." Weeks later, five of his homes were listed for sale on Zillow. Musk sold his last house for $30 million in 2021 after he said he'd begun renting a house in Texas from SpaceX that cost $50,000.

Insider previously reported that a Boxabl pre-fabricated house called a "Casita" had been delivered to SpaceX. At the time, Musk denied living in the modular house, saying that he lives in a different small house in Texas. But in July 2022, he said on a podcast that he owns a Boxabl and uses it as a guest house. 

Musk's current accommodations appear to be less ostentatious than some of his previous houses, where the billionaire had been known to host lavish parties, including a Gatsby-themed event. In 2020, Kanye West, one of Musk's longtime acquaintances, shared a photo from inside one of Musk's houses. The photo showed the two men in what appeared to be a large room in front of a glass wall that encased a life-sized replica of a robot.

The billionaire is also believed to be in the process of building another house for himself in Texas, according to reports from The Wall Street Journal. Last month, the publication reported that a Tesla project that led to an internal review at the company could be a glass house for Musk. Earlier this year, the Journal reported that Musk was building a company town called "Snailbrook" in Texas and had plans to create a private compound for himself on the premises.

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