kleinbl00:

...except that's not what makes a McMansion. What makes a McMansion a McMansion is that it is one of many large tract homes built all at once as part of a development by Lennar, KB Home, Toll Brothers or the like.

The way they got the sobriquet is apt and hinted at by the author, but not explicitly stated: Lennar, for example, has a box of legos they build out of: they've got a number of floor plan prototypes, they've got a set list of vendors and prices for fixtures, they've got market research on what sells well in what markets (double kitchens in the northeast, pool/spa combos in the southwest) and they design and build the entire housing development all at once. There are permutations in order to offer variety and, occasionally, to fit within the confines of the plot (and local regulations) but they are "McMansions" not because they're different from standard architecture but because they're the same.

Here's a house I'm following on Redfin:

Complex high pitched roof? Check.

Tall entry? Well, it's gabled but the porch is only one story so no.

"Afterthought" dormers? Well, what's up with that bay window? Soft check.

Multiple wall cladding materials? Hell yes check.

Windows of differing styles and shapes? Totally check.

"Structure is commonly asymmetrical with tall vertical appearance? Absolutely check.

So by this definition, this is a McMansion. Let's add the McMansionHell criteria:

Attached 2 or 3 car garage? Nope.

Side elevations are clad in cheaper materials? Well, the whole thing is half-wrapped in fakebrick.

Architectural ornamentation is applied with little consideration for historical precedence (e.g. craftsman columns on a house that is mostly French Eclectic) and are often constructed from foam injected plastic or EIFS.

Well, that's the fakebrick. So yeah. According to McMansionHell, this is a McMansion.

Except it's a farmhouse built in 1926. Yeah, it's been clubbed with the PerGraniTeel stick pretty hard, but it's still a 1926 farmhouse. But then you just need to look at shit like this and the criteria gets a lot easier - does everything on this page look like a random iteration of a selection of architectural characteristics all wrapped in a footprint of 3000-6000sqft?

Something something Ockham's Razor.


posted 2790 days ago