McMansion
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
 |
This article has multiple issues. Please help improve the article or discuss these issues on the talk page.
|
McMansion is an originally pejorative term used to describe a large house, particularly in the United States, that is constructed using modern labor-saving techniques and materials. Use of the word typically indicates a socio-political viewpoint that is critical, though in recent years owners of "McMansions" will routinely use the word without any negative connotation[citation needed].
The "stunt word" McMansion first appeared in the San Diego Union-Tribune in 1990;[citation needed] it later appeared in the Los Angeles Times[1] and New York Times in 1998.[2] Other terms applied to this type of dwelling include "garage Mahal," "starter castle," and "Hummer house"[3].
Contents |
[edit] Architecture
The term is generally used to denote a home with a larger footprint than an older median home and which is often located in a newer, larger subdivision. It is also used to refer to the replacement of an existing, smaller structure in an older neighborhood with a larger and more elaborate home.[citation needed]
Architecturally, the term refers to a house with a floor area commonly over 3,000 square feet (280 m2) in size, often on a small lot (the house itself often covering a larger portion of the land than the yard than in previous construction) and typically built in homogeneous communities that are often produced by a developer.[citation needed]
[edit] Origins
Starting in the 1980s[citation needed], the larger home concept was intended to fill a gap between the more modest suburban tract home and the upscale custom homes found in gated, waterfront, or golf course communities. Subdivisions were developed around such communities, as well as in pre-existing neighborhoods, either in empty lots or as replacements for torn-down structures. The larger homes proved popular and demand increased dramatically, particularly in light of new land-management laws that were enacted over the next 20 years.
[edit] Criticism
The general criticisms apparently stem from disagreement over the overall look and feel of the homes as not being "appropriate" for a given neighborhood, being wasteful in terms of space (too much room for too few people), perceived pretentiousness (and lack of taste/refinement) of the owners, differing architectural preferences, and a suspicion of social climbing "new money".[citation needed]
[edit] Design
The "McMansion" label is often applied to buildings which mix multiple architectural styles and elements, often by combining elements such as quoins, steeply sloped roofs, multiple roof lines, unnecessarily complicated massing and pronounced dormers. The mass production of inexpensive architectural details--usually of synthetic materials--allows a home builder or buyer to include an amount of detail which might have been economically prohibitive in older construction.
Another criticism is that they are often designed from the inside out, rather than from the outside in. This is a result of designing a house room by room, to the benefit of people living in the home rather than those viewing it from the outside.
Attached garages are also criticized, with the garage typically placed flush with the front of the house or projecting forward. This practice minimizes the amount of paved driveway space and allows lots to be narrower. In previous eras, garages and horse carriages were placed behind the home, a practice which generally ended by the 1960's.
[edit] Size
The construction of what seems to be too large a house on an existing lot will often draw the ire of neighbors and other local residents. In 2006, for example, a recently built house in Kirkland, WA (an affluent suburb on Seattle's Eastside) stood four feet (1.2 m) away from the neighboring home.[4]
[edit] See also
[edit] References
- ^ INTERIORS; Getting Smart About Art of Living Small. Los Angeles Times, September 19, 1998. The size of the average new single-family home has gone from 1,520 square feet (141 m2) in 1971 to 2,120 square feet (197 m2) in 1996, according to "1998 Housing Facts, Figures and Trends," published by the National Assn. of Home Builders. "But not everyone is living in a McMansion or aspires to it," said Gale Steves, editor of Home Magazine. "Every time we do a small house in the magazine, there is lots of mail."
- ^ Cheever, Benjamin - CLOSE TO HOME; Life in a Crater Will Do, For Now. New York Times, August 27, 1998. Twenty mansions were planned for the development, each designed to look like the biggest house in town. The McMansion we thought of as ours had an enormous kitchen, more than two stories high.
- ^ Filter, Alicia (2006-04-20). "McMansions: Super-sized homes cause a super-sized backlash". Illinois Business Law Journal. http://www.law.uiuc.edu/bljournal/post/2006/04/20/McMansions-Super-Sized-Homes-Cause-a-Super-Sized-Backlash.aspx. Retrieved 2009-05-28.
- ^ Chiu, Lisa (2006-06-08). "Big homes on small lots crowd Kirkland neighbors". The Seattle Times. http://seattletimes.nwsource.com/html/localnews/2003046945_lotsize08e.html. Retrieved 2008-02-11.
[edit] Further reading
- Bernstein, Fred A. "Are McMansions Going out of Style?" The New York Times, October 2, 2005.
- Fletcher, June. "The McMansion Glut". The Wall Street Journal, June 16, 2006.
- Leinberger, Christopher B. "The Next Slum?" The Atlantic Monthly, March 2008.
- Rybczynski, Witold. "How McMansions Go Wrong" Slate.com, January 4, 2006
[edit] External links
- Photographs of a McMansion's interior, including the tall hallway with chandelier, Boston.com.
