Anonymous wrote:To me, a McMansion is a house that is very low quality and poor taste, usually a number of them are built next to one another (hence the reference back to McDonald's). Basically, just drive down River Road into Bethesda and look left and right. When you see pink flamingos and italianette water fountains in semi-rural Maryland, you have yourself a McMansion. Thumbs up if you know the f*ugly house I am referring to!

That house is truly hideous -I'm fascinated by it - but it's not a McMansion - it's an actual mansion. It's on a big piece of property surrounded by lots of other manses. McMansions are big homes on small plots of land with a cookie-cutter quality.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I don't think 11:07 is a "mcmansion" either. It's just a fairly unattractive mansion.

How small is your home if you think that's a mansion? That's just a larger then average home.

The average home is about 2400 sq ft according to the NAHB (for 2011). A house that is roughly 6000 sq ft can easily be called a mansion. It's not just a "larger than average" home. That would be like 3000-4000 sq ft.

Just like the "rich" isn't exclusively the top 1%, mansions are also not just the top 1%. There just aren't that many 10K sf or larger homes.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I don't think 11:07 is a "mcmansion" either. It's just a fairly unattractive mansion.

How small is your home if you think that's a mansion? That's just a larger then average home.

My house is 3k square feet, my parents' house is 4k, and that house looks like it has about double the footprint of either. What in the world do you think an average house is?

Anonymous wrote:I don't think 11:07 is a "mcmansion" either. It's just a fairly unattractive mansion.

How small is your home if you think that's a mansion? That's just a larger then average home.

Anonymous wrote:To me, a McMansion is a house that is very low quality and poor taste, usually a number of them are built next to one another (hence the reference back to McDonald's). Basically, just drive down River Road into Bethesda and look left and right. When you see pink flamingos and italianette water fountains in semi-rural Maryland, you have yourself a McMansion. Thumbs up if you know the f*ugly house I am referring to!

The one with the fake plastic palm trees???

Anonymous wrote:OK, this is being narrowed down for me. I know what y'all mean - the domes, etc. Or lots of mixed architecture. One thing I'll never understand about VA is that no one considers courtyard homes on small lots like this. In Cali, one might have a larger home on a small lot, but the house is surrounded by a courtyard wall, making the front yard SO much useful and private!

Interesting you mention Cali. Many areas of the LA area like Santa Monica, the part of Beverly Hills by the grove (and even some parts of bel air) and West Hollywood have largish homes on small lots. The real estate value for lot size in those areas is insane. However, those homes are usually all unique, almost always older with renovations a opposed to tear downs, and have a California charm element to them.

Don't get me wrong, LA has mansions and McMansions, but, unlike here, it's ok to have large homes on small lots. Maybe because they aren't new construction usually and if they are they usually don't stand out more than any other house on the block?

I don't think 11:07 is a "mcmansion" either. It's just a fairly unattractive mansion.

OK, this is being narrowed down for me. I know what y'all mean - the domes, etc. Or lots of mixed architecture. One thing I'll never understand about VA is that no one considers courtyard homes on small lots like this. In Cali, one might have a larger home on a small lot, but the house is surrounded by a courtyard wall, making the front yard SO much useful and private!

Anonymous wrote:To me, a McMansion is a house that is very low quality and poor taste, usually a number of them are built next to one another (hence the reference back to McDonald's). Basically, just drive down River Road into Bethesda and look left and right. When you see pink flamingos and italianette water fountains in semi-rural Maryland, you have yourself a McMansion. Thumbs up if you know the f*ugly house I am referring to!

Yes! Thumbs up! I know exactly what you are referring to.

The large colonial on the large lot in the above posts does not say "McMansion" to me. Just a large home. It's when you add ornate features like fountains, iron gates, turrets, circular driveway etc, and it's on less than an acre, you've got a McMansion.

Sorry, I think that particular f*ugly house is across the border in Potomac, not Bethesda, my bad...

To me, a McMansion is a house that is very low quality and poor taste, usually a number of them are built next to one another (hence the reference back to McDonald's). Basically, just drive down River Road into Bethesda and look left and right. When you see pink flamingos and italianette water fountains in semi-rural Maryland, you have yourself a McMansion. Thumbs up if you know the f*ugly house I am referring to!