A derogatory slang term for very large suburban homes, particularly "cookie cutter" structures that lack originality or resemble the surrounding houses. As the name suggests, the homes typically derided as "McMansions" tend to be mansion-like in size but fairly run-of-the-mill and mass-produced in their design.
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My boyfriend hates these. He thinks if we move into one we'll lose our personalities and turn into robots. Tiabia - I agree w/ you re: DC. Even though all the houses on our street are more or less built the same way (not much you can do with rowhouses), all the different colors and gardens make it so unique!
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yay DC! I totally agreewith you guys. We need more room than we have currently in our semi-detached home, but I love the detail and uniqueness of it. Everything in the suburbs is a new McMansion with either no yard or no driveway or garage- how does that make sense!
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ohhh, I always thought it was a term for tearing down older, cute, smaller homes and putting up random new big homes (in w/ the smaller historic homes)
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we get alot of these in the Northern NJ area.
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i go to college in DC ( go figure lol) and i live in a McMansion in southern california. yeah, the are pretty run of the mill, but i have to admit, it feels really nice to escape to your own huge bedroom w/ a bathroon and a lock, and get away from the psycho-witch stepmom. so Mcmansions are cool in my book!
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Ha, Lolalu, you made one of my points I was going to mention about McMansions. . .they are so massive, yet usually house only 3 or 4 people, so I always wonder, "Do these familie hate each other?" It seems like it's really counteractive to having a close family. As someone who lives in a 100 year old house, I can't imagine living in someplace so soulless and characterless! It just seems so excessive and depressing to me.
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I think a home is always what you make it!
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The thing that kills me about McMansions (apart from their generally unappealing exterior) is the amount of wasted square footage! In 1950, the average American home was under 1000 sq ft; now that number has bloated up to almost 2500 sq ft, and many are much, much larger. No wonder the energy consumption of this country is through the roof!
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We are starting to get a lot of these here in Austin. Destroying the beautiful views of the lakes and hills...
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they are a blight on suburban areas! we are expanding the suburbs so far to fit these huge developments in that we are destroying our natural ecosystems. Why can't we do with a little bit less? does a family of 4 really need a 3000 square foot home? how do they pay for to heat and light these monstrosities? its the WalMart-ing of America and it makes me sick.
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Ugh, we have 'em here in the Chicagoland area too.
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Not that I don't know what McMansions look like (I'm from New Jersey, after all), but maybe you could get a more illustrative photograph for readers who have never seen one? The Wikipedia entry on the subject is a pretty good source: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/McMansion
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hehe- thanks for that hboogie. So funny it has it's own entry.
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I live in Houston and the suburbs are filled with them. In the city, people do exactly what jgasia said, which is tear down perfectly good homes in neighborhoods and build these monstrous boxes that have backyards the size of a closet because the lots are too small. I hate it, I wish people would just invest a little time and money into redoing a house in a neighborhood than destroying it. Nothing is uglier than a cute neighborhood with a bunch of houses in a similar style with one huge ugly McMansion in the middle of the block sticking out like a sore thumb. Yuck!
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Thanks to Hboogie for your link I've never seen a McMansion and now that I have I see that they can serve a purpose..Large familys with a small budget. Unless what I've read is wrong the price range for these larger type homes seems to be afforable.
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Rowanvamp0, that depends on where the house is located. I live in DC, and up this way, these McMansions can run upwards of $800,000...they don't really serve much of a purpose but to be the new Mercedes-Benz of the pseudo-nouveau riche...purely for show and tell!!!
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And hate them I do!!! There are hundreds of McMansion style neighborhoods in the suburbs of DC...and as nice as they may seem, they are nothing like the old individual homes that make the city so beautiful!!!!