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Topic: McMansion

	McMansion - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
		Although the term "McMansion" is recent, criticism of American architecture based on the perception that it was oversized and artistically bankrupt reaches at least back to the beginning of the twentieth century.
		McMansions are most commonly framed with generic materials to facilitate construction, using the same wood-framed studwall construction as smaller houses, typically with 2x4 (38×89 mm) studs, while also incorporating more expensive surfacing materials such as hardwood, stone, tile, ironwork, and upscale appliances.
		McMansion Invasion Photographs of McMansions in one neighbourhood.
	en.wikipedia.org /wiki/McMansion (3500 words)

	What is a McMansion?
		A McMansion is generally described as an oversized home containing at least 3000 to 5000 square feet (279 to 465 square meters) of living space.
		The owner of a McMansion may consider additional utility expenses to be the negligible cost of owning a status symbol.
		Critics of the McMansion mindset, however, consider the homes to be more ostentatious than practical, with functional rooms rearranged for maximum aesthetic value instead of convenience or practicality.
	www.wisegeek.com /what-is-a-mcmansion.htm (523 words)

	Political Dogs: The McMansion Myth
		"McMansion" is a term having many and varied layers of meaning which generally say far more about its purveyors than they do about those who would purchase such a home.
		The schools in the new "McMansion" neighborhoods are not generally as good as their counterparts in the "better" neighborhoods or those adjacent thereto.
		The cultured residents of the "better" neighborhoods think of these artists as their very own but are noticing the owners of not very distant "McMansions" are patronizing the same institutions with greater frequency and shoving the well to do out of the way in the process.
	www.politicaldogs.org /2005/08/mcmansion-myth.htm (1594 words)

	LarchmontGazette.com: Neighbors on Steroids "McMansion" Fever Spreads Throughout Westchester
		McMansion owners expect a lot: a home entertainment center or media room wired to access future digital and fiber optic capacity, "his and her" dressing rooms, and computer ready home offices.
		Lucille Held, a 44-year resident of Harrison, feels that "the sudden surge of McMansions overpowers smaller homes" and spoils the natural look of attractive landscaped houses nestled in the wooded area where she resides.
		According to Held, "in the recent past, new owners just built on to a smaller house or builders bought property and built a McMansion, based on existing zoning ordinances." Recognizing that the zoning code needs tightening, she is adamant about spreading the word.
	www.larchmontgazette.com /2002/features/20021205mcmansions.html (2008 words)

	Urban Dictionary: mcmansion
		A "starter castle" that has the potential to be very nice if built on acres of land with a long, winding driveway to get to it but looses it all when it's at an arm's length of the neighbors house.
		What was canopied country roads, split rail fences, primeval groves of trees, storied woods, charming old houses, and truck farms when I was a kid have been replaced by edge cities and all that come with them.
		But, as the epithet McMansion suggests, they’re just too big—for their lots, for their neighborhoods and for the number of people who actually live in them.
	www.urbandictionary.com /define.php?term=mcmansion&r=f (700 words)

	Crowded land of giants - www.smh.com.au
		Pause in a quiet cul-de-sac of McMansions in Kellyville, Baulkham Hills or Castle Hill to Sydney's north-west, or Camden, Narellan or Macquarie Fields in the south-west, and it feels like a studio lot for an American sitcom: you almost expect happy families to bound out the front door, theme music and credits rolling.
		McMansion owners now live in a two-storey house more than twice the size of the modest single-storey house most grew up in with their parents.
		Well aware of criticism of McMansions, Newbury is trying to find better design solutions for fitting a sizeable house and garage on a small block in an aesthetically pleasing manner, and which also take into account solar access, overshadowing, privacy and noise.
	www.smh.com.au /articles/2003/08/26/1061663776473.html (4292 words)

	McMansion
		"McMansion is a pejorative term for a particular style of housing of that, as its name suggests, is both large like a mansion and relatively cheap and ubiquitous like McDonald's fast food restaurants.
		What we now call McMansion came about in the 80’s when builders struck on a winning formula — give the buyer, at an affordable price, the biggest possible house reminiscent of old-world mansion archetypes (English manor, French chateau, Italian villa).
		What's economical today is building larger since building materials are less expensive thanks to mass production/global trade, and to use mostly ready-made products with little if any custom fabrication (that's why custom homes these days often look mass produced and their architectural components don't go exactly well together).
	www.moretrees.com /McMansion.htm (988 words)

	washingtonpost.com: Arlington Downsizing McMansion Aspirations (Site not responding. Last check: 2007-10-17)
		Arlington hopes to reduce the amount of ground that can be covered with driveways and outbuildings and put a cap on the square footage of a home's architectural footprint.
		"From a McMansion standpoint, this [proposal] is the crown jewel," said Ted Weihe, a member of the Arlington County Planning Commission.
		Previous attempts to limit "McMansions" in Arlington and Fairfax have fizzled -- though Arlington was able to limit heights to 35 feet.
	www.washingtonpost.com /ac2/wp-dyn/A46482-2004Feb16?language=printer (1113 words)

	Word Spy - McMansion
		What character their history and ecology might offer is being strip-mined to make way for anonymous residential projects, monolithic office towers, climate-controlled retail complexes of questionable design and awkward transportation systems — all in the abused name of progress.
		The word McMansion has only been a part of the lexicon for a little over ten years, but it has already undergone a fairly significant change in meaning.
		As the earliest citation shows, McMansion used to mean something similar to cookie-cutter house (that is, a house that has a bland style that's identical to all the nearby houses).
	www.wordspy.com /words/McMansion.asp (299 words)

	Point Reyes Light
		The architectural plan for a new house to be built in the San Geronimo Valley.
		McMansion is a pejorative term for the elephantine, characterless type of house that is becoming as culturally ubiquitous as McDonalds.
		Adjusted for inflation, a house built today costs about the same to build as a house in 1970, according to an article on the McMansion boom in Newsweek.
	www.ptreyeslight.com /cgi/news.pl?record=151 (569 words)

	McMansion: See what people are saying right now on Technorati (Site not responding. Last check: 2007-10-17)
		I've argued before that the McMansion ordinance is anti-family.
		As I've argued elsewhere, the McMansion ordinance can only hurt the market value of a small home on a small lot.
		Although I've spent the last ten days bashing it, I concede that an outright repeal of the McMansion ordinance is unlikely.
	technorati.com /tag/McMansion (386 words)

	AustinContrarian: More evidence the McMansion ordinance is anti-family
		The outer neighborhoods, the ones heavily populated by married couples with children, showed little interest in the McMansion ordinance and are not covered by the McMansion ban.
		This distribution of families was not caused by the McMansion ordinance; this map is based on 2000 Census figures.
		The activists pulled this off by defining the McMansion "danger" zone to be the central Austin neighborhoods dominated by singles and DINKs.
	austinzoning.typepad.com /austincontrarian/2006/11/more_evidence_t.html (1169 words)

	McMansion Mania (Features) Linda Baker
		Whether they're McMansions or architect-designed estates, megahouses are ostentatious symbols of America's class divide.
		Their proliferation and the decline of affordable housing in the United States are simultaneous trends that underscore the polarization of the American class structure in the year of the 10,000-plus Dow.
		At the far end of the megahouse spectrum are the mansions that rival the temples to commerce built for '20s-era business barons: Bill Gates' $50 million, 40,000-square-foot palace, for example, or Amway distributor Terry McEwen's 25,000-square-foot estate.
	www.utne.com /pub/1999_95/features/561-1.html (534 words)

	Prentiss Riddle: Austin: McMansion or not, mostly not
		What constitutes a McMansion in my mind is the 2-car garage thrusting out in front of the house and the fact that the house is built almost to the lot-lines.
		I can't stand McMansions (or North-Texas Specials, as I've heard them called), but have always wanted to find a nice 2200 sqft house that started as 1500 and was added onto by the owners.
		The McMansion approach is to expand each room and leave you stuck with a 3/2 whose master bedroom tops 800 sqft.
	aprendizdetodo.com /austin/?item=20060315 (940 words)

	[No title] (Site not responding. Last check: 2007-10-17)
		Last Modified: 2/9/2006 7:52:50 PM The Atlanta city council may have struck down a moratorium on building big houses in the city, but they're not walking away from the issue.
		Morningside resident Greg Williamson said that his 1926 bungalow was what he called his “forever house.” But not anymore, thanks to his new neighbor.
		Council member Mary Norwood proposed the moratorium and while she says it's too late for her home, which has been overshadowed by a neighboring McMansion, it’s not for the rest of the city.
	www.11alive.com /news/news_article.aspx?storyid=75884 (364 words)

	[No title]
		The size of McMansions are at the heart of the housing debate.
		Last Modified: 5/23/2006 7:43:29 PM The Meadowcliff subdivision off Briarcliff Road is undergoing big changes, as is the Diamond Head neighborhood nearby.
		Logan says despite the debate neighborhoods are coexisting just fine whether they live in a McMansion or a McRanch.
	www.11alive.com /news/news_article.aspx?storyid=80213 (239 words)

	Poynter Online - Tuesday Edition: The Decline of the McMansion
		The golden age of McMansions may be coming to an end.
		There is no formal definition of what constitutes a McMansion.
		With the rise in home heating and cooling costs, McMansions are increasingly expensive to maintain.
	www.poynter.org /column.asp?id=2&aid=103694 (1941 words)

	Please, Take Some Of My McMansion Space - New York Times
		In ''Are McMansions Going Out of Style?'' (Oct. 2) Fred A. Bernstein points out that supersize may no longer be a desirable amenity in a house.
		That is too bad, because I may be wanting to sell my McMansion in a few years.
		This house feels empty when it is full of kids from the neighborhood, which is only good when you're mad at everyone.
	query.nytimes.com /gst/fullpage.html?res=9501E6D91F30F93AA35753C1A9639C8B63 (142 words)

	McMansion Glut...smaller may be getting better
		I opined in the past that part of the housing glut in Loudoun County is due to builder speculation on the demand for McMansions.
		The total McMansion inventory of 818 homes is about 18% of the total inventory (~4,650) currently on the market (considering the caution on new construction data, it is more likely in the 20-25% range).
		You can find many great Loudoun County and Leesburg real estate agents and loan officers on ActiveRain.com Merv is a proud member of the ActiveRain Real Estate Network, a free online community to help real estate professionals grow their business.
	askmerv.choice3realty.com /000625.html (400 words)

	Solar Decathlon: A Cure for the McMansion? - IREC Interstate Renewable Energy Council
		Called McMansions, these mega domiciles are replacing smaller, more appropriately-sized homes in neighborhoods around Austin.
		Solar D houses are exactly what the McMansions are not: elegant examples of homes designed to combine solar energy and energy efficiency.
		The Solar Decathlon, a competition in which teams of college and university students compete to design, build, and operate the most attractive, effective, and energy-efficient solar-powered house, is also an event to which the public is invited to observe the powerful combination of solar energy, energy efficiency, and the best in home design.
	www.irecusa.org /articles/static/1/1142451824_987099548.html (429 words)

	Encompass Realty Daily News » The swelling McMansion backlash
		Austin typifies the McMansion craze – and the backlash that’s followed.
		Earlier this year, the county bolstered its regulations to add an array of design considerations; planners can now consider the median home size of the surrounding neighborhood when deciding whether to approve a home, he said.
		After two years of study, Georgia’s DeKalb County, which has seen McMansions appearing in older neighborhoods, put a new strategy on the books earlier this year: A neighborhood that doesn’t want the megahouses can gather the signatures of 60% of its residents, then petition the county’s board of commission for a zoning overlay.
	www.encompassrealty.com /news/index.php?p=202 (1701 words)

	Curbed LA: McMansion Envy #17: The Real Deal (Site not responding. Last check: 2007-10-17)
		This one might be slightly more south than we tend to cover, but we can't help posting about the delicious irony of a McDonald's heir selling off her McMansion.
		According to Forbes, Ray Kroc's widow Joan B. Kroc, is looking to unload her estate for a cool $28 million.
		From the south bay to the valley, from the westside to the eastside—Angelenos' sense of place, and the neighborhoods they call home, are more important than ever.
	la.curbed.com /archives/2006/04/mcmansion_envy_14.php (209 words)

	Gothamist: Queens Tries To Stop The McMansion
		Newsday says that the Bloomberg administration is looking into legislation that would limit the size of the houses.
		But what is interesting is how builders can put homes over 4,000 square feet onto a 4,000 square foot lot, thanks to many floors and putting garages on the ground floor, which somehow makes any other living spaces on the ground floor exempt from zoning laws.
		MSNBC said that McMansions needed a makeover last year, but they still look crappy whenever Gothamist visits the 'burbs.
	www.gothamist.com /archives/2004/11/18/queens_tries_to_stop_the_mcmansion.php (384 words)

	CEOS for Cities - Conversations - CEO Blog - The McMansion Glut
		The Wall Street Journal reports that shrinking families, rising energy and mortgage costs and a growing number of retirement-age boomers are turning oversized houses, known as "McMansions," into dinosaurs.
		Based on interviews with dozens of real estate agents, sellers, developers and housing economists and analysis of zip codes with higher than average four-bedroom houses shows McMansions are moving much slower than smaller homes.
		If this is, indeed, a trend, it could suggest another threat to the surburban market.
	www.ceosforcities.org /conversations/blog/2006/06/the_mcmansion_glut.php (109 words)

	M1EK's Bake-Sale of Bile: Letter to Planning Commission - McMansion Ordinance
		Just sent the following to the Planning Commission, which is the most likely place for a rebuke to the ridiculous McMansion people.
		Neither of us would seek to build a McMansion, but we (especially they) need more space to be comfortable - even my grandparents' family of 12 had more square feet per person than my neighbors will without building up.
		The beauty of this is that I already live next to a duplex - built "straight up from the 5 foot setback line" on the other side of my home.
	mdahmus.monkeysystems.com /blog/archives/000300.html (794 words)

	The swelling McMansion backlash - Buying a House - MSN Real Estate (Site not responding. Last check: 2007-10-17)
		In DeKalb County, Georgia, which includes part of Atlanta, "When it really hit the fan was in one particular community, when a developer built a replica of the White House," recalled Vernon Jones, the county's chief executive.
		Austin typifies the McMansion craze -- and the backlash that's followed.
		Several of the city's neighborhoods like Tarrytown and Travis Heights have seen an influx of large homes, said Kathie Tovo, president of the Bouldin Creek Neighborhood Association, who lives in a "funky, fun" area just south of downtown that also has seen some change.
	realestate.msn.com /buying/Articlenewhome.aspx?cp-documentid=418653 (1609 words)

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