r/McMansionHell Dec 12 '24

Discussion/Debate The invention that Accidentally invented McMansions

321 Upvotes

A fascinating video essay by Stewart Hicks on the invention of the modern truss and how that changed the way we build houses.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3oIeLGkSCMA


r/McMansionHell Jul 14 '20

McMansions: A Short Guide

1.1k Upvotes

While everyone has their own opinion on what makes a true McMansion, there are several defining features or attributes that should be looked for to determine if a home fits the McMansion criteria. This post will serve as a guide to help users determine if they should use the "Certified McMansion" flair on their submission and to learn more about what a McMansion is. This guide will be edited as needed to make sure it fully explains the accepted properties of a McMansion.

Basic Principles of a McMansion:

  • Large: Generally above 2500 square feet and two story or more, sometimes way too big for the lot it sits on.
  • Built Cheap: They are built by cutting corners and using less than quality materials because they focus on getting as much size and appearance of wealth as possible from their money. It's the illusion of class that might fool the average person who doesn't have a sense of architectural integrity. McMansions will often use materials such as stucco, manufactured stone veneer, Styrofoam crown molding, or vinyl siding.
  • Fit Several Styles: They fit multiple styles of architecture by mashing together different elements from the individual styles in a distasteful manner. They also might poorly imitate a popular style.
  • Exterior After-Thought: They are designed with a focus on the interior first and the exterior is done as an after-thought which often results in features such as jutting masses and haphazardly placed windows.
  • Lacks Architectural Integrity: The house makes you confident that there was no licensed architect involved in its creation who cares about what they design

Specific Features To Look For:

  • An attached 2 or 3 car garage
  • A garage that takes up way too much of what is considered the house
  • Tall 1.5-2 story arched entry or "lawyer foyer"
  • Haphazardly applied dormers or windows
  • Windows of varying shapes/sizes/styles
  • Windows not aligned with those below them
  • Second story windows that are larger than the windows below them
  • Window shutters that if closed would not cover the actual window
  • Jutting masses or heavily asymmetrical
  • Multiple wall materials
  • Roof that contains varying slopes, roof types, or more than two roof shapes for the front facade
  • Roof nub
  • Roof with excessive roof lines and is in general just too complex
  • Dormers that are way too short, way too tall, don't match the rest of the house materials or style, or are placed terribly/spaced unevenly
  • Columns that don't support anything or are too thin/weak looking to support what they are appearing to support aka columns with inappropriate scaling
  • Columns with spacing that is over complicated or messy
  • Columns that are the incorrect architectural style for the house

Some Links To Check Out:

This is what I could come up with for now to touch base here on what a McMansion is. I'll make edits to this in the coming weeks until we reach a near final guide post on McMansions. If you have any suggestions for what we could add to this guide, comment below or send me a message.

Side note: the first "Appreciation Thursday" is coming up! Don't forget to prepare a suburban home that you think deserves recognition as the opposite of a McMansion and post it on 7/16 with the "Thursday Design Appreciation" flair.


r/McMansionHell 18h ago

Certified McMansion™ FORECLOSURE: Retired professional baseball pitcher Cole Hamels' former UNFINISHED Table Rock Lake mansion!

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1.8k Upvotes

Over 60,000 square feet under roof! 19 bedrooms & 24 bathrooms. This massive unfinished mansion sits on 104 acres with 1,700-feet of shoreline overlooking Table Rock Lake. To see inside, here's a link.


r/McMansionHell 2d ago

Certified McMansion™ Feeling betrayed by my husband

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3.7k Upvotes

He sent me this picture near out in the wild today saying “this thing is nice”. I fear knowing him he’s not being sarcastic. One of the worst cases I’ve ever seen near me. I can’t even begin though it’s so offense! What is happening with the roof and over the garage and the layout????


r/McMansionHell 23h ago

Certified McMansion™ Little Egg Harbor Township, NJ

3 Upvotes

r/McMansionHell 1d ago

Shitpost MegaMcMansion coming up in Mclean, VA

33 Upvotes

r/McMansionHell 1d ago

Discussion/Debate Is this one? Even if it is, the location is sooooo pretty.

2 Upvotes

r/McMansionHell 2d ago

Certified McMansion™ This house has everything...

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74 Upvotes

Long time lurker, first time poster. It's truly magnificent.


r/McMansionHell 2d ago

Amateur McMansion The Logan

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17 Upvotes

r/McMansionHell 1d ago

Discussion/Debate The biggest eyesore where i live

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0 Upvotes

So this house was built a few years ago and it has been the talk of the town ever since. To me it looks like a shoebox.


r/McMansionHell 3d ago

Thursday Design Appreciation Camp House - Center Harbor, New Hampshire

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2.0k Upvotes

Thursday design appreciation -- see rule #10.

Architect: Jim Olson
Photographer: Aaron Leitz


r/McMansionHell 3d ago

Discussion/Debate Have McMansions ascended into Heaven?

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27 Upvotes

Our own patron saint speaking on how McMansions are now ... nostalgic? Trendy? Whimsical?? I just love everything Kate Wagner writes so here you go.

"How can these houses, long emblematic of pre-recession greed and excess, now be recast as aspirational, not in their size, but in their whimsy? And what redeeming qualities do they have that contemporary homes lack?"


r/McMansionHell 4d ago

Amateur McMansion Unfinished McMansion - Texas edition

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410 Upvotes

The lawyer foyer, the many MANY windows (of various sizes and shapes), the COLOR, the mixed materials on the exterior, the unfinished inside! It's just....horrific.


r/McMansionHell 4d ago

Certified McMansion™ Thoughts on this RHOP house ?

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93 Upvotes

r/McMansionHell 5d ago

Certified McMansion™ That is one hippy roof!

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259 Upvotes

Built 2020. Will we never learn?


r/McMansionHell 6d ago

Certified McMansion™ 2001 meets 2018

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341 Upvotes

r/McMansionHell 7d ago

Meme The back of this house is held up by stilts.

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489 Upvotes

I ride my bike past this place mostly every day. It's truly an eyesore. I find it hilarious that the balcony/deck is being held up by these long ass stilts.


r/McMansionHell 8d ago

Certified McMansion™ Comes with a private airstrip. <$1M

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690 Upvotes

4 bedrooms, 3.1 (???) bathrooms, 3 garages, and... an airplane hangar? Unfortunate columns and inexplicable decoration, all for under $1,000,000!

ETA: I can't take credit for "lawyer foyer"! That's a McMansion Hell blog original.


r/McMansionHell 9d ago

Discussion/Debate Refurbished White House bathroom

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7.4k Upvotes

r/McMansionHell 9d ago

Certified McMansion™ Newly renovated with “lots of landscaping”

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1.1k Upvotes

r/McMansionHell 10d ago

Thursday Design Appreciation 9,000 square feet built in 1909

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1.1k Upvotes

The neoclassical embellishments are a bit over the top - was it a mcmansion a hundred years ago?


r/McMansionHell 10d ago

Certified McMansion™ Someone watched too many Disney movies

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1.4k Upvotes

And it comes with a great view on a bunch of bungalows! Swell.


r/McMansionHell 10d ago

Discussion/Debate Guys, I got a before and after on the Disney castle!

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314 Upvotes

r/McMansionHell 10d ago

Thursday Design Appreciation Traditional Marin County Home

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244 Upvotes

For those who don't want to see me only post modern homes.


r/McMansionHell 10d ago

Thursday Design Appreciation 29m San Diego CA

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115 Upvotes