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McMansion or not?

post #1 of 535
3/12/06 at 8:34pm
Thread Starter 
Since we talked about McMansions before: http://www.austinchronicle.com/mcmansions/
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post #2 of 535
3/12/06 at 8:53pm
That was fun, though I disagree with some of the popular opinion. For some of those, it was difficult to tell from one view. I wouldn't call an older large house a McMansion, nor would I call a very designed contemporary house a McMansion. To me McMansion means unnecessarily large, generally taking up too much of the lot and of a gaudy and boring cookie-cutter style.
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post #3 of 535
3/13/06 at 1:28am
Almost none of those are McMansions. McMansions have huge double-height entryways and are all in very similar styles, usually on small acreage and definitely with most of the trees cut down for maximum visibility. Usually also have very tall roofs and/or lots of extra roof lines when not needed.


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post #4 of 535
3/13/06 at 1:38am
^Those houses pictured above are definately McMansions. I don't think they look that bad, but consider 80 of them lined up on a barren former pasture and there lies the problem.
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post #5 of 535
3/13/06 at 1:47am
here's a game: go cruise around google-earth looking for mcmansion neighborhoods. why? i dunno.
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post #6 of 535
3/13/06 at 2:53am
Quote:
Originally Posted by faustian bargain
here's a game: go cruise around google-earth looking for mcmansion neighborhoods. why? i dunno.
http://local.google.com/local?ie=UTF...1,0.033753&t=k
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post #7 of 535
3/13/06 at 2:28pm
To me, one thing that characterizes a McMansion, and more specifically the plague that they can be, is that they don't fit in with their neighborhood. So an entire neighborhood of those pictured above, doesn't seem to out of place to me. We have any number of those developments in the DC/Balto area. To me, the problem is when a house in a neighborhood is renovated (or just razed) to be that big. All of the sudden you do have what seems to be a mansion in among smaller homes.

Even if I had the money and even if it's in a development full of 'em, I'm still not buying one, btw. I find any house that large to simply be too large. My gf and I watch a number of these house-hunting shows and we're amazed by what people think is "too small". I grew up in a 1300 sq ft house where my sisters shared a bedroom. These days that seems to be unbearable for the parents.

bob
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post #8 of 535
3/13/06 at 6:29pm
Bob, we had 7 kids in a 900-sf "ranch" with one bathroom.

I have a bit of a McMansion now (payback for growing up as I did) and I'm dying to downsize to a nice apartment in the city, maybe 1200-sf (if in Chicago) or something smaller in DC or NYC.

I just can't keep us with the bigger place and I don't need or want that much space.
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post #9 of 535
3/13/06 at 6:34pm
What are McMansions like in Poland? Do they look similar to those pictured?

Quote:
Originally Posted by Mr. Checks
Bob, we had 7 kids in a 900-sf "ranch" with one bathroom.

I have a bit of a McMansion now (payback for growing up as I did) and I'm dying to downsize to a nice apartment in the city, maybe 1200-sf (if in Chicago) or something smaller in DC or NYC.

I just can't keep us with the bigger place and I don't need or want that much space.
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post #10 of 535
3/13/06 at 6:41pm
Quote:
Originally Posted by GreyFlannelMan
What are McMansions like in Poland? Do they look similar to those pictured?


I live in the glorious Midwestern U.S. Poland is the land of my people.
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post #11 of 535
3/13/06 at 6:52pm
http://local.google.com/local?f=q&hl...4,0.005407&t=k
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post #12 of 535
3/13/06 at 6:58pm
Quote:
Originally Posted by Mr. Checks
I live in the glorious Midwestern U.S. Poland is the land of my people.

Interesting. I would have thought someone named Mr. Checks would have heritage that was, well, Czech.

Thank you, thank you. I'll be here all week.
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post #13 of 535
3/13/06 at 7:28pm
to me, square footage alone does not a mcmansion make. the term implies a mass-produced aesthetic, whether or not it is actually a tract home. true, it has to be large, but it has also to look large, and to have features and materials that suggest the people making the decisions couldn't be bothered with thinking about such frivolities as style with integrity, or landscape, or good taste, or what have you.

/andrew
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post #14 of 535
3/13/06 at 7:40pm
N.Y. Times is now writing about McCondos -
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post #15 of 535
3/13/06 at 8:31pm
I see that happening with all the so-called "lofts" going up in suburban and exurban areas. it's just wierd.
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