A McMansion is anything that gets built when they knock down the houses in my neighborhood…
The fact that Houston has no zoning ordinance does not help the situation.
This is a huge problem in Tucson. Dozens of developments have gone in recently–huge poorly built, overpriced identical homes all out of proportion to their tiny lots, crammed right up against 100 other neighbors with no thought given to community, humanity, or ecology. All the same ugly beige stucco with no yard; the emphasis is all on square footage. The houses are not designed to be lived in, they’re designed to be shown off. They’re nightmares, as far as I’m concerned.
The developers seem to be trying for the “wannabe upscale” market, as that’s all they’re building. There isn’t really any new construction for starter home types, nor for people who want to live modestly. The situation infuriates me and I hope the short-sighted developers all lose their shirts. (Can you tell I’m a frustrated renter?)
my personal definition of a McMansion isn’t based on external looks. It’s based on my gut-level feeling when I walk into one:
"gee whiz, this place is big----but why would anybody want to live in all this cold empty space?
Cathedral ceilings are nice—in cathedrals.
HUGE honking rooms that can hold 50 people are nice–in public places, where you actually expect to see 50 people using one room.
But after a hard day at work, I want to come home to something small and comfy.
If you toss a fluffy toy at the cat from one end of the room, but you miss because she’s too far away, then the house is too damn big.
My wife thinks that developers name their developments after whatever wildlife they are displacing or natural feature they are bulldozing. Meadowlark Ridge, Deer Run, Prairie Acres… you get the idea.
I was replying to Beware of Doug, who said:
Quite a bit of Houston’s Old Money (old for Houston, that is) came from oil. Lots of those folks–the first generation, at least–were restless & grabby.
But they managed to build some beautiful homes. Real mansions, that is.
It’s just some slapped together oversized, overpriced house of inferior quality designed to:
Impress your frat-boy buddies. You’re 24 and you’ve “made it” already. Woo hoo.
Impress your new bride (actually, “impress” is the wrong word. You’re buying the place because she told you to. She has her own circle of people to impress.)
Impress your parents that you are a big success. (Up to your ass in debt, but a success)
Impress the in-laws that you married along with your new bride.
I think McMansions have specific traits already mentioned earlier. I also think a great deal of the McMansion is also life-style. I usually define a McMansion as a large “new build” house in a “planned community” where a couple has selected 1 of 5 possible styles/floor plans with the required 2-3 car garage facing the street. They’ve selected from 5 different options for tile, counter-tops, and cabinet finishes in order to differentiate themselves from the identical neighbor’s home located 8 feet to their right and left. The McMansion dwellers leave for work, pulling out of their garage in reverse. Once on the street, they drive to their jobs. When they come home, they pull into their garage, close the garage door behind them and enter the house through the “mud room”. That, with the exception of spying on whose lawn has violated the “community standards”, is the extent of their involvement with their “planned community”.
I live in a old neighborhood full of victorian homes build mostly between 1870 and 1920. My place in particular is more of an italianette style, built in 1910. It (my neighborhood) is in the process of gentrification with all the pros/cons that go along with it. We’re a very diverse neighborhood, from urban poor to gay, straight, single, and married professionals. We have a nice represtation of aging hippie-artists types (I love them!) living next to real-estate developers or architects, living next to crack-houses. Never a dull moment here!
Most of my friends and associates live in the suburbs, the large degree of them in McMansions. They look at my house and although admire how beautiful it is, think I’m crazy for living here with “all the problems” (translation - those poor people and crime). I, on the other hand, look at their homes and lifestyle within those homes and have decided I would rather slit my wrists than melt into that suburban McMansion zombie-like existence.
MeanJoe
Edited to fix typos and clarify my rambling points…
To me it’s too big a house on too small a lot in too planned a neighborhood. The interior trappings include whatever the decorator powers that be have declared to be “hot” which means in 5 years or so, it’ll look hopelessly dated. By definition, it comes with an intrusive Home Owners Association whose board feels compelled to show you exactly how you should be living.
Or does that sound cynical??
I don’t really care about the McMansions out in the 'burbs.
But you’ve mentioned that your neighborhood is undergoing gentrification. Some of the gentrifiers will view your housing stock as “teardowns.” And some of the replacements will be McMansions.
Houses around my area are typically ramblers with an attic that run about $180k. We have our fair share of crime and it’s not a good idea to go out at night but it’s quiet. Since we are about 15 minutes from downtown, McMansions have been popping up in the last couple years around here. Houses that literally cover the entire lot, hit 3 stories, and cost 4 times as much as the house next to it. The douchebag couple blocks down built one and surrounded it with a giant wall. Nice for the neighbor who now has a stone wall to look at. We are a lower income neighborhood so the increase in property taxes can hurt.
To me a defining characteristic of McMansion is a lack of anything distinctive by way of design or craftsmanship. They’re big and expensive when built, but you don’t find hand-carved mantels or elaborate tilework or anything like that.
My aunt’s former house in Montgomery was built in a sorta kinda predecessor upper middle class neighborhood to the McMansions of today. At the time it was built (mid 1960s) almost every upper middle class house had the same basic floorplan: foyer, formal LR and formal DR, eat-in kitchen, den, and a hallway with 3 or four bedrooms. Some would tack on a Florida room. There were three exceptions to this in her neighborhood:
One was a house built by a retired AF officer with a (much younger) Japanese wife and it’s a Japanese style home with a Shinto style gate, surrounding porches, shoji [sp?] screen style windows (actually white glass), garden and fountains. Another is a New England saltbox with a covered pool in back, and the third is a rambling Spanish Colonial with beautiful imported evergreens surrounding its garden. These were disliked by many of the other residents of the neighborhood because it was believed they clashed.
Today it’s hard to sell the 4 BR/LR/DR/K/FR/Den style homes as that floorplan is majorly out of vogue and property values (adjusted for inflation) have fallen significantly. Since the neighborhood had large lots, some of the 1960s/1970s houses- which were still perfectly livable and spacious- have been torn down to build rows of townhouses or duplexes. The three I mentioned above, however, are still selling for top dollar because they’re distinctive and attractive.
McMansions are expensive houses that you just can’t imagine yuppies 50 years from now buying and refurbishing. They’re impermanent- they’re more likely to either be torn down with something new and more solid built on their lot, or to just become working class homes somehow instead of upper middle class (perhaps remodeled into apartments if they’re large enough).
I know anyone can look up the ol’ Wiki entry, but, this one was really pretty well-done, so I’ll provide the immediate link.
Particularly enjoyable was the list of Alternate Terms, including:
In reading the “Gable-opolis” decription, I misread “rooflines” as roofiness, which I am kinda liking, going with the whole Truthiness thang. “Those McMansions, blehh, too much Roofiness for me.”
There are two kinds of McMansions that I see.
The first kind are the ones who seem to define overconsumption. They sit on big, treeless lots, usually in a development with similar homes. From a distance they seem nice, but closer up you see the cheapness in the building materials and the overuse of certain design elements. The garage is very visible. When it’s lit up, you can see into every room–particularly the great room with its skyward ceiling. These kind of McMansions are common in fast-growing suburbs. My parents live in one in south Fulton County, GA.
The second kind are the ones I tend to see in intown communities. Usually they are expanded “normal-sized” homes, or they are the result of tear-downs of pre-existing homes. Styles vary and can be eclectic–sometimes for nice effect, sometimes not. Their lots are usually undersized given the size of the home, resulting in a thing that often sits very close to the street. That and the fact that they tend to be voluminous (usually vertically and depth-wise, versus width wise) screams HUGE.
Just curious…have you ever seen that documentary Flag Wars? It takes place in Columbus, OH (IIRC) and follows the whole gentification thing. It’s a good film.
Yep, that’s pretty much it - lots of identical homes on what look like small lots. Except the lots aren’t really tiny - in my town you need two acres to build a home - but the house still takes up about half the yard. Another thing is that not only are they huge, they must have a lot of what I’d consider wasted space. I browsed the more-or-less local listings and found a perfect example: 3800 sq feet, 4 bedrooms. What are you doing with the space if there are only 4 bedrooms and 4 bathrooms? It costs $900,000 supposedly price reduced too after trying to sell it for close to a year and a half (it was built in 2005).
I understand where you are coming from. We’ve got a mixed bag of classifications in this area: Historic, Conservation, and none at all. We’ve also got several assocations that become heavily involved in preserving the historic nature of this neighborhood. Although it is possible, it is not probable. I hope. :eek:
Yes, I’ve seen it. That is my neighborhood (Old Town East), although the documentary was filmed years before I bought/moved here.
It is not very popular here with many people.
To me, anyway, there isn’t one set of characteristics that define a McMansion. I view them like porn…I know one when I see one.
For a visual, Tony Soprano’s house qualifies as a McMansion in my line of thinking.
Not surprised by that. The original inhabitants did get a more favorable portrayl, although their homophobia wasn’t exactly glossed over.