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Old 08-12-2016, 07:49 PM
 
Location: Massachusetts
6,301 posts, read 9,579,348 times
Reputation: 4797

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flat boxy inside and outside, few interesting artisanal details like great stonework or a nice wraparound porch, cheap vinyl or plastic shutters and fences, to name a few. A lot of them are oversized but overly utilitarian in layout. Overboard with open layout, nothing surprising or delightful.
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Old 08-12-2016, 08:49 PM
 
Location: Washington state
6,972 posts, read 4,807,330 times
Reputation: 21736
I really can't add anymore than what the article said. If I had to pick just one thing out though, it would be balance. Balance is essential in well designed house. Even if you can't tell why, you will instantly see if a house is balanced or not and you will probably like or dislike it for that one reason alone.

Besides McMansions being all out of balance, they have other problems, though. The first is that most of them are finished in stone, which makes any house look larger. In the case of McMansions, the stone not only makes the house look larger, it also makes them look awkward and cold. Very few houses built out of stone can give you a feeling of warmth. Small cottages can, but when you make larger houses out of stone, they start resembling castles and business buildings, neither of which which give anyone a soft, fuzzy feel.

Another thing with McMansions is their garages. It seems that the bigger the house, the bigger the garage. And the garage always seems to have a place front and center in front of the house. This isn't just a complaint about McMansions, though. Way, way too many homes today have absolutely no style because they're hidden behind a 2-, 3-, or 4-car garage. Garages can be attached to houses and made to look nice, but when they overpower a house, or it's the only thing you see when you look at the house, you may as well be looking at a mechanic's shop with a house behind it. And how comfortable does that make us feel? Remember, this is a house you go home to at night to relax in. It's supposed to feel homey and comforting.

Another thing I dislike about McMansions is how they don't fit the landscaping, the yard, or the neighborhood, or all three. Most McMansions seem to be stuck on a hill with practically no vegetation or other houses around them. Again, a well designed neighborhood makes you want to walk down the street. McMansions are huge by definition, so walking by them can make a person feel intimidated. Unless the vegetation, like trees and flowers, are really chosen carefully, most McMansions dwarf their surrounding plants and still stick out like a sore thumb. McMansions also seem to birth large iron fences with massive gates.

The last reason I dislike McMansions is because they all look alike. There seems to always be a huge, two storied arch over the front door. They all seem to be made out of stone. They all have huge garages in front. They all have a standard house plan inside (garage, entry, dining room in that order in the front). There are no little touches or quirks in the houses to give them personalities. There are no porches, so no rocking chairs or wicker out front. No potted plants. All the living in these houses is geared to the backyard for privacy. Why some of these people just don't build a giant stone wall across the front, I'll never know. They are doing everything possible to tell you to keep out and that you aren't welcome there.

And that's what I dislike about McMansions the most. They don't welcome you as a house. Even if it's not yours, doesn't everyone remember seeing that one special house you feel you could just walk into and feel at home in? Have you ever felt like that when driving by a McMansion? Probably not.



Just going to add here, I am seeing a lot of the same thing when it comes to dollhouses. The large, multi-roomed dollhouses with the fancy ceilings, the marble fireplace, and the huge dining room seem to get a lot of oohs and aahs. People used to build dollhouses either as huge mansions or made them toys for children to play with. In the last 10 years or so, that seems to have changed. What seems to be more important now isn't the amount of work, or the technical challenges, or the incredibly fancy decor in these houses. It's the "livability" factor. Small houses and rooms that draw you in and make you want to sit down and put your feet up are what seem to be appealing more to people today. Here are two examples of bedroom decor:

http://www.aegminiatures.com/ItalianateVictorian.html








This is from a small cottage:

http://www.balazscreative.com/minipat/Lilac.html






Granted, one is furnished and one isn't. But which one draws you in more and feels more comfortable? I see the trend in dollhouses changing from building large, ornate dollhouses to people building smaller dollhouses and making them more inviting and intimate. Since dollhouses and their decor tend to follow the desire of the miniature builders, and those builders base what they build on how they view the real world, I'm not surprised to see a lot of people are scaling down, both in their real life large houses and in miniature as well.

Last edited by rodentraiser; 08-12-2016 at 09:28 PM..
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Old 08-12-2016, 09:04 PM
 
2,813 posts, read 2,097,774 times
Reputation: 6129
Quote:
Originally Posted by emm74 View Post
This is just one person's opinion, of course, but I found it quite interesting with the photographic examples.



McMansions 101: What Makes a McMansion Bad Architecture?
Based on the photographic examples, seems like he could have just said, "if you need a suburban style attached garage, you'll probably end up with a McMansion."
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Old 08-12-2016, 09:05 PM
 
Location: colorado springs, CO
9,512 posts, read 6,011,384 times
Reputation: 28830
Wow; that was a great link OP!

I totally get it now & before I just "thought" I might know what the term "McMansion" meant.
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Old 08-12-2016, 09:29 PM
 
10,599 posts, read 17,786,208 times
Reputation: 17349
Yeah, OK everything old is new again.

As far as people's outrage goes.

Why Are Victorian Houses So Creepy?

Victorian architecture wasn't considered particularly sinister until around the 1930s, when popular magazines began to present this style of building as something to be hated. "There was a most intense fear and loathing of the Victorian style during that period," Burns, a professor emeritus at Indiana University Bloomington, tells Co.Design. "Writers and artists and designers all just spurned it. And they talked about it in the most exaggerated terms—they thought it was filthy and creepy and perverse and horrible and monstrous.

The Victorian style of residential architecture had once been all the rage in America. "It was fashionable especially among nouveau riche of 1860s," Burns explains. "In the 1860s, 1870s, 1880s, that was the McMansion, and it came to be identified with vulgar, excessive, conspicuous consumption."
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Old 08-12-2016, 09:52 PM
 
10,599 posts, read 17,786,208 times
Reputation: 17349
Quote:
Originally Posted by rodentraiser View Post
I really can't add anymore than what the article said. If I had to pick just one thing out though, it would be balance. Balance is essential in well designed house. Even if you can't tell why, you will instantly see if a house is balanced or not and you will probably like or dislike it for that one reason alone.

Besides McMansions being all out of balance, they have other problems, though. The first is that most of them are finished in stone, which makes any house look larger. In the case of McMansions, the stone not only makes the house look larger, it also makes them look awkward and cold. Very few houses built out of stone can give you a feeling of warmth. Small cottages can, but when you make larger houses out of stone, they start resembling castles and business buildings, neither of which which give anyone a soft, fuzzy feel.

Another thing with McMansions is their garages. It seems that the bigger the house, the bigger the garage. And the garage always seems to have a place front and center in front of the house. This isn't just a complaint about McMansions, though. Way, way too many homes today have absolutely no style because they're hidden behind a 2-, 3-, or 4-car garage. Garages can be attached to houses and made to look nice, but when they overpower a house, or it's the only thing you see when you look at the house, you may as well be looking at a mechanic's shop with a house behind it. And how comfortable does that make us feel? Remember, this is a house you go home to at night to relax in. It's supposed to feel homey and comforting.

Another thing I dislike about McMansions is how they don't fit the landscaping, the yard, or the neighborhood, or all three. Most McMansions seem to be stuck on a hill with practically no vegetation or other houses around them. Again, a well designed neighborhood makes you want to walk down the street. McMansions are huge by definition, so walking by them can make a person feel intimidated. Unless the vegetation, like trees and flowers, are really chosen carefully, most McMansions dwarf their surrounding plants and still stick out like a sore thumb. McMansions also seem to birth large iron fences with massive gates.

The last reason I dislike McMansions is because they all look alike. There seems to always be a huge, two storied arch over the front door. They all seem to be made out of stone. They all have huge garages in front. They all have a standard house plan inside (garage, entry, dining room in that order in the front). There are no little touches or quirks in the houses to give them personalities. There are no porches, so no rocking chairs or wicker out front. No potted plants. All the living in these houses is geared to the backyard for privacy. Why some of these people just don't build a giant stone wall across the front, I'll never know. They are doing everything possible to tell you to keep out and that you aren't welcome there.

And that's what I dislike about McMansions the most. They don't welcome you as a house. Even if it's not yours, doesn't everyone remember seeing that one special house you feel you could just walk into and feel at home in? Have you ever felt like that when driving by a McMansion? Probably not.



Just going to add here, I am seeing a lot of the same thing when it comes to dollhouses. The large, multi-roomed dollhouses with the fancy ceilings, the marble fireplace, and the huge dining room seem to get a lot of oohs and aahs. People used to build dollhouses either as huge mansions or made them toys for children to play with. In the last 10 years or so, that seems to have changed. What seems to be more important now isn't the amount of work, or the technical challenges, or the incredibly fancy decor in these houses. It's the "livability" factor. Small houses and rooms that draw you in and make you want to sit down and put your feet up are what seem to be appealing more to people today. Here are two examples of bedroom decor:

Italianate Victorian Doll House


This is from a small cottage:

Pat's miniatures - Lilac Cottage


Granted, one is furnished and one isn't. But which one draws you in more and feels more comfortable? I see the trend in dollhouses changing from building large, ornate dollhouses to people building smaller dollhouses and making them more inviting and intimate. Since dollhouses and their decor tend to follow the desire of the miniature builders, and those builders base what they build on how they view the real world, I'm not surprised to see a lot of people are scaling down, both in their real life large houses and in miniature as well.
You're seriously showing a doll house to conflate? And now you're "disliking" iconic historic architecture that isn't even anything close to today's Mcmansions?

Italianate Victorian was from the 19th Century, started in England and spread all over the world. They were large because they had alot of people living in them. Often more than one family.

Victorian Home Restoration, Painting in Morristown NJ

Has nothing to do with the topic of "comfortable" or inviting or intimate - which is again just a personal choice. I don't even like old fussy houses but this one is adorable.

But TONS of people disagree anyway. Cape May NJ is a very popular tourist spot of Victorian homes. And people are crazy about them. Like CULT level. Same with San Fran.


Cape May NJ homes

San Fransisco Victorian Homes

And no, that cottage makes my nose itch just looking at it.


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Old 08-12-2016, 10:03 PM
 
12,577 posts, read 8,809,297 times
Reputation: 34380
Quote:
Originally Posted by runswithscissors View Post
Yeah, OK everything old is new again.

As far as people's outrage goes.

Why Are Victorian Houses So Creepy?

Victorian architecture wasn't considered particularly sinister until around the 1930s, when popular magazines began to present this style of building as something to be hated. "There was a most intense fear and loathing of the Victorian style during that period," Burns, a professor emeritus at Indiana University Bloomington, tells Co.Design. "Writers and artists and designers all just spurned it. And they talked about it in the most exaggerated terms—they thought it was filthy and creepy and perverse and horrible and monstrous.
."

Or more likely because most classic spook flicks had some sort of Victorian full of sheet covered furniture, lots of cobwebs, bad guys, ghosts, and vampires.
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Old 08-12-2016, 10:11 PM
 
Location: Foothills of Maryland Blue Ridge mountains
993 posts, read 760,133 times
Reputation: 3163
Quote:
Originally Posted by emm74 View Post
This is just one person's opinion, of course, but I found it quite interesting with the photographic examples.



McMansions 101: What Makes a McMansion Bad Architecture?
Thank you for posting this! Interesting reading. I always wondered why some houses looked off to me, but I couldn't pinpoint any obvious reason. Now I understand a bit more.
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Old 08-12-2016, 10:18 PM
 
3,670 posts, read 7,133,800 times
Reputation: 4269
I think it's more the stereotype of the term itself rather than any specific physical qualities
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Old 08-12-2016, 11:25 PM
 
1,701 posts, read 1,860,340 times
Reputation: 2593
#1 and #6 are not McMansions IMO. The Cape Cod style (with a basement) of #1 is one of my favorites actually and I love the big porch of #6.
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