…these are the people, besieged by fantasies of domination…
April 11, 2025 11:25 AM Subscribe
There hasn't been a McMansion post in overa year. Here you go: simulacra for bootlickers.
I'm just so excited about the idea that they put those armchairs looking into the kitchen so Statler and Waldorf could roast the poor hapless chef's knife skills as the meal is being prepared
posted by potrzebie at 11:56 AM on April 11 [12 favorites]
posted by potrzebie at 11:56 AM on April 11 [12 favorites]
Yeah, agree with howa2396. McMansion to me means gaudy exurban tract housing. This is just a shitty regular mansion.
posted by saturday_morning at 11:59 AM on April 11 [2 favorites]
posted by saturday_morning at 11:59 AM on April 11 [2 favorites]
I love Kate Wagner.
the immanent post-neoliberal chobani yogurt solarpunk utopia
Let it be so.
posted by adamrice at 12:05 PM on April 11 [10 favorites]
the immanent post-neoliberal chobani yogurt solarpunk utopia
Let it be so.
posted by adamrice at 12:05 PM on April 11 [10 favorites]
What would a modern "regular" mansion that wasn't shitty be like, though? Do such things exist?
posted by Western Infidels at 12:07 PM on April 11
posted by Western Infidels at 12:07 PM on April 11
Same author, on Mansion vs McMansion
posted by everythings_interrelated at 12:09 PM on April 11 [12 favorites]
posted by everythings_interrelated at 12:09 PM on April 11 [12 favorites]
Borrowing from her theory of McMansion, the linked house is indeed a McMansion because of "poor taste" as
3.) Architectural and Stylistic Integrity (how well historical design styles are integrated or reproduced, attention to detail and principles of design)
posted by everythings_interrelated at 12:12 PM on April 11 [4 favorites]
3.) Architectural and Stylistic Integrity (how well historical design styles are integrated or reproduced, attention to detail and principles of design)
posted by everythings_interrelated at 12:12 PM on April 11 [4 favorites]
This McMansion didn't have an "an art". Am disappoint.
(Maybe if you count the lions)
posted by Windopaene at 12:17 PM on April 11 [1 favorite]
(Maybe if you count the lions)
posted by Windopaene at 12:17 PM on April 11 [1 favorite]
That seems like a bargain. You'd actually have to pay more for a basic 2-bedroom condo. Though to be honest, you're paying maybe $500,000 for the condo and $4.6 million for the view of the Golden Gate bridge.
posted by Mr.Know-it-some at 12:23 PM on April 11 [1 favorite]
posted by Mr.Know-it-some at 12:23 PM on April 11 [1 favorite]
It's not just McMansions, but man I hate how houses are staged in bland shades of grey and white these days. I realize it's easier to mentally imprint your taste over neutral bland photos, but I see so many houses like this--a lot that are not McMansions or otherwise--with B-O-R-I-N-G taste.
posted by Kitteh at 12:35 PM on April 11 [2 favorites]
posted by Kitteh at 12:35 PM on April 11 [2 favorites]
There hasn't been a McMansion post in overa year.
(not including this one) I count six posts in the past year though? In case you missed them:
texas gothic revival May 2024
the motel room, or: on datedness June 2024
namesake mcmansion July 2024
2007-core nostalgia extravaganza August 2024
new jersey “19th century” “eclecticism” November 2024
on neuschwanstein castle (part 1) December 2024
posted by General Malaise at 12:49 PM on April 11 [2 favorites]
(not including this one) I count six posts in the past year though? In case you missed them:
texas gothic revival May 2024
the motel room, or: on datedness June 2024
namesake mcmansion July 2024
2007-core nostalgia extravaganza August 2024
new jersey “19th century” “eclecticism” November 2024
on neuschwanstein castle (part 1) December 2024
posted by General Malaise at 12:49 PM on April 11 [2 favorites]
That was an epic MMH post. Thanks for sharing.
posted by I_Love_Bananas at 12:50 PM on April 11 [1 favorite]
posted by I_Love_Bananas at 12:50 PM on April 11 [1 favorite]
In either case, she explained in a post on a different site why she hasn't posted much lately.
posted by General Malaise at 12:50 PM on April 11 [17 favorites]
posted by General Malaise at 12:50 PM on April 11 [17 favorites]
yea, I was going to add the same link as General Malaise has, it's a fairly harrowing account of her struggles with a brain injury, really worth a read. Kate Wagner is such a great writer I'm so glad she's posting again.
posted by 5_13_23_42_69_666 at 12:56 PM on April 11 [8 favorites]
posted by 5_13_23_42_69_666 at 12:56 PM on April 11 [8 favorites]
I really don't understand why people want all that space. It's not even that they have, say, a very large reception room for actual events, or a bedroom that is also a study, it's that every single room is far too big for its purpose, leaving the furniture marooned in the middle. Except for the rooms that give the impression that they are the waiting area at fancy hotels.
You don't need an office large enough to host square dancing, or a a kitchen big enough to open a restaurant.
In a great house, a historic house, you might genuinely have and need "public" spaces - perhaps you're the local squire and you expect to hold large parties gathering the gentry from miles around, so you really need a very large drawing room and a very large formal dining room. But you wouldn't just have every single room made for a giant - you'd have a study, a morning room, a boudoir, an office sized for work, a small sitting room, etc. And indeed, being a guest who made it into the "private" rooms would be a kind of privilege, because it meant that you were intimate enough that you were allowed beyond the big spaces designed for crowds.
Also, I live in a large-ish house - large and terrible, we're hoping to sell it to some young enthusiast who'd like to buy cheap and fix it up. But two people in 1800 square feet rattle around like crazy. I can't imagine what it would be like to have even a relatively large family and relatively frequent guests (although you can't convince me that these government contractor types are really having large, Bertie Wooster-esque weekend parties on a regular basis) and a house that size. Would you just basically live in part of it and have de facto "paths" between your room and the few rooms you actually spent time in? Would you regularly spend ten minutes wandering the corridors to get from your room to the gym? Would it be annoying to find that you'd left your phone in another wing? If you heard a sound and you were basically alone in the wing and the servants were elsewhere and your family was out, would you get really nervous?
I just picture people wandering the vast corridors at night, traipsing from the movie room to the bedroom and because the house is too large ever to feel really intimate and their possessions are just generic mass-produced stuff chosen without taste, all is bleak bleak bleak.
(I did get a kick out of the gym, honestly. If that were my house, maybe I'd have my bedroom right there and a mini fridge and a little induction burner and that would just be my little corner. )
posted by Frowner at 1:15 PM on April 11 [12 favorites]
You don't need an office large enough to host square dancing, or a a kitchen big enough to open a restaurant.
In a great house, a historic house, you might genuinely have and need "public" spaces - perhaps you're the local squire and you expect to hold large parties gathering the gentry from miles around, so you really need a very large drawing room and a very large formal dining room. But you wouldn't just have every single room made for a giant - you'd have a study, a morning room, a boudoir, an office sized for work, a small sitting room, etc. And indeed, being a guest who made it into the "private" rooms would be a kind of privilege, because it meant that you were intimate enough that you were allowed beyond the big spaces designed for crowds.
Also, I live in a large-ish house - large and terrible, we're hoping to sell it to some young enthusiast who'd like to buy cheap and fix it up. But two people in 1800 square feet rattle around like crazy. I can't imagine what it would be like to have even a relatively large family and relatively frequent guests (although you can't convince me that these government contractor types are really having large, Bertie Wooster-esque weekend parties on a regular basis) and a house that size. Would you just basically live in part of it and have de facto "paths" between your room and the few rooms you actually spent time in? Would you regularly spend ten minutes wandering the corridors to get from your room to the gym? Would it be annoying to find that you'd left your phone in another wing? If you heard a sound and you were basically alone in the wing and the servants were elsewhere and your family was out, would you get really nervous?
I just picture people wandering the vast corridors at night, traipsing from the movie room to the bedroom and because the house is too large ever to feel really intimate and their possessions are just generic mass-produced stuff chosen without taste, all is bleak bleak bleak.
(I did get a kick out of the gym, honestly. If that were my house, maybe I'd have my bedroom right there and a mini fridge and a little induction burner and that would just be my little corner. )
posted by Frowner at 1:15 PM on April 11 [12 favorites]
I do some work for local gentry types and yeah, all that space is ostensibly for entertaining, and some of them do entertain a lot, but otherwise it’s just a bunch of doors that never get opened except once a week when the staff are in there cleaning or whatever. The big spaces are big bc local gentries are ppl whose social circle is other local gentries and so they have these big, everybody standing up milling around type of shindigs. And so yeah, the architectural and decor type screams “I-75 conference center”
posted by toodleydoodley at 1:41 PM on April 11 [6 favorites]
posted by toodleydoodley at 1:41 PM on April 11 [6 favorites]
General Malaise: "There hasn't been a McMansion post in overa year.
(not including this one) I count six posts in the past year though? "
I meant on Metafilter.
posted by signal at 2:01 PM on April 11 [1 favorite]
(not including this one) I count six posts in the past year though? "
I meant on Metafilter.
posted by signal at 2:01 PM on April 11 [1 favorite]
signal: "I meant on Metafilter."
Oh sorry, my misunderstanding. Carry on.
posted by General Malaise at 2:17 PM on April 11 [3 favorites]
Oh sorry, my misunderstanding. Carry on.
posted by General Malaise at 2:17 PM on April 11 [3 favorites]
I really don't understand why people want all that space.
It kind of feels like space = wealth on some atavistic level. Like I can visualize somebody saying "Wow, your cave is huge, you must be wealthy with shiny rocks and sheep."
I remember looking at houses when we were looking to buy and the realtor kept commenting on how "nice and roomy" the places were, then thinking why should I pay more for extra unusable space? I consider myself fortunate that my partner at the time agreed and we settled on a nice condo. I should have never sold that condo.
posted by Sphinx at 2:19 PM on April 11 [2 favorites]
It kind of feels like space = wealth on some atavistic level. Like I can visualize somebody saying "Wow, your cave is huge, you must be wealthy with shiny rocks and sheep."
I remember looking at houses when we were looking to buy and the realtor kept commenting on how "nice and roomy" the places were, then thinking why should I pay more for extra unusable space? I consider myself fortunate that my partner at the time agreed and we settled on a nice condo. I should have never sold that condo.
posted by Sphinx at 2:19 PM on April 11 [2 favorites]
To toodleydoodley's point, I think there's a natural size range for a room given its function and the number of people in it, and if a room is too big—as we often see with these McMansions—it immediately makes us uncomfortable. I think this phenomenon was used intentionally and effectively on Severance, where the DMR office has a small island of desks marooned in the middle of a too-big room. If I were in an office like that, something about the walls being too far away would just be off-putting.
It's not just that these McMansions are gaudy and all the rest, they must be making their occupants uncomfortable.
posted by adamrice at 2:20 PM on April 11 [1 favorite]
It's not just that these McMansions are gaudy and all the rest, they must be making their occupants uncomfortable.
posted by adamrice at 2:20 PM on April 11 [1 favorite]
I really don't understand why people want all that space.
I felt kind of the opposite; I don't really know anything about architecture, but when I see rooms that big it takes my breath away, thinking of all the stuff I could do with that much room. It's a mistake, right, it's like a cognitive error, because if people with that much money can't do anything good with the space, probably I couldn't either, with my milk crates and shelves made out of planks. But I understand the dream of it. It'd be nice to live somewhere I can't touch the ceiling. It'd be nice to have enough windows that you could see without turning all the lights on.
This is where I admit I'm kind of a rube, I guess. I don't see what's so bad about the appearance of the McMansions. The materials, yeah, when you see that veneer stuff start to peel off, you get the sense of a place that really isn't meant to last. And the expense of it all is a slap in the face. But how they look? How do I know how many gables a house is supposed to have? How's a window supposed to be shaped? Why can't somebody have big dumb lions on their wall if they like lions?
I get that maybe the appearance is a kind of metonymy for all the other things wrong with it, but then I guess you have to be able to speak the language to really feel the criticism?
posted by mittens at 2:34 PM on April 11 [6 favorites]
I felt kind of the opposite; I don't really know anything about architecture, but when I see rooms that big it takes my breath away, thinking of all the stuff I could do with that much room. It's a mistake, right, it's like a cognitive error, because if people with that much money can't do anything good with the space, probably I couldn't either, with my milk crates and shelves made out of planks. But I understand the dream of it. It'd be nice to live somewhere I can't touch the ceiling. It'd be nice to have enough windows that you could see without turning all the lights on.
This is where I admit I'm kind of a rube, I guess. I don't see what's so bad about the appearance of the McMansions. The materials, yeah, when you see that veneer stuff start to peel off, you get the sense of a place that really isn't meant to last. And the expense of it all is a slap in the face. But how they look? How do I know how many gables a house is supposed to have? How's a window supposed to be shaped? Why can't somebody have big dumb lions on their wall if they like lions?
I get that maybe the appearance is a kind of metonymy for all the other things wrong with it, but then I guess you have to be able to speak the language to really feel the criticism?
posted by mittens at 2:34 PM on April 11 [6 favorites]
It kind of feels like space = wealth on some atavistic level.
The cost of each additional marginal room is pretty low, and people are spending more time separated from society and more time at home.
The materials, yeah, when you see that veneer stuff start to peel off, you get the sense of a place that really isn't meant to last.
People always say stuff like this, but this house is about to be 30 years old and looks to be in perfectly fine shape. Houses don't last because of their build quality (because modern construction techniques are far superior to older ones) they last because some one lives in them and cares for them.
Her complaints make way more sense if you look at her actual 'mansion' examples - all extremely New England - extremely symmetrical.
posted by The_Vegetables at 2:42 PM on April 11 [1 favorite]
The cost of each additional marginal room is pretty low, and people are spending more time separated from society and more time at home.
The materials, yeah, when you see that veneer stuff start to peel off, you get the sense of a place that really isn't meant to last.
People always say stuff like this, but this house is about to be 30 years old and looks to be in perfectly fine shape. Houses don't last because of their build quality (because modern construction techniques are far superior to older ones) they last because some one lives in them and cares for them.
Her complaints make way more sense if you look at her actual 'mansion' examples - all extremely New England - extremely symmetrical.
posted by The_Vegetables at 2:42 PM on April 11 [1 favorite]
You don't need an office large enough to host square dancing, or a a kitchen big enough to open a restaurant.
Space has always been the privilege of the rich: think of first class vs. coach airplane seating, the Biltmore Estate vs. Bowery flophouses, etc.
Would you just basically live in part of it and have de facto "paths" between your room and the few rooms you actually spent time in?
Yep.
I just picture people wandering the vast corridors at night, traipsing from the movie room to the bedroom and because the house is too large ever to feel really intimate and their possessions are just generic mass-produced stuff chosen without taste, all is bleak bleak bleak.
You're imagining yourself in there. People with no or bad taste don't know they have no or bad taste. If their stuff is generic and mass-produced, hey, who cares? It's EXPENSIVE.
posted by scratch at 2:44 PM on April 11 [1 favorite]
Space has always been the privilege of the rich: think of first class vs. coach airplane seating, the Biltmore Estate vs. Bowery flophouses, etc.
Would you just basically live in part of it and have de facto "paths" between your room and the few rooms you actually spent time in?
Yep.
I just picture people wandering the vast corridors at night, traipsing from the movie room to the bedroom and because the house is too large ever to feel really intimate and their possessions are just generic mass-produced stuff chosen without taste, all is bleak bleak bleak.
You're imagining yourself in there. People with no or bad taste don't know they have no or bad taste. If their stuff is generic and mass-produced, hey, who cares? It's EXPENSIVE.
posted by scratch at 2:44 PM on April 11 [1 favorite]
For reasons, I often stay in someone’s obscenely large McMansion and I can confirm that the amount of time it takes to walk from the bedroom to the kitchen to get a glass of water is actually really fucking annoying. I also have to wear very cushy socks when I’m there because no shoes in the house, but also the stone floor is murder on your feet all day. It’s honestly so stupid, they are two people in a 4000 foot house with a 6000 foot garage with (literally) room to park a semi-sized motor home, an ATV, two motorcycles, and four cars. WHY
posted by BuddhaInABucket at 2:58 PM on April 11 [3 favorites]
posted by BuddhaInABucket at 2:58 PM on April 11 [3 favorites]
Weirdly when I started working in this place my coworker would always go around in her socks and I would put on a pair of shue-bees from the huge box by the elevator, but then I noticed literally everybody else just…wearing their shoes, other vendors included, so I just started grooming my shoes that I only wear to this job to make sure I’m not tracking in any crap and called it a day. I hate shue-bees bc they feel slippery and I don’t like that.
posted by toodleydoodley at 3:09 PM on April 11
posted by toodleydoodley at 3:09 PM on April 11
It's not just McMansions, but man I hate how houses are staged in bland shades of grey and white these days.
Beiges being all the rage right now is a real trial for me, a person who loves to wear bright colors and have them in my home. It's not the first time I've had to wait out a color trend that was a bad fit for me, but I'm not thrilled by it. When I'm shopping for something, traditionally "boho" has been a good search term, but they're doing beige "boho" now! I was astonished.
I'm grateful for Etsy and for small businesses like Maya Kern, Princess Awesome, and Holy Clothing, where you can always find color and fun patterns in a truly size-inclusive range.
posted by Well I never at 3:33 PM on April 11 [4 favorites]
Beiges being all the rage right now is a real trial for me, a person who loves to wear bright colors and have them in my home. It's not the first time I've had to wait out a color trend that was a bad fit for me, but I'm not thrilled by it. When I'm shopping for something, traditionally "boho" has been a good search term, but they're doing beige "boho" now! I was astonished.
I'm grateful for Etsy and for small businesses like Maya Kern, Princess Awesome, and Holy Clothing, where you can always find color and fun patterns in a truly size-inclusive range.
posted by Well I never at 3:33 PM on April 11 [4 favorites]
The lawyer foyer makes it a McMansion for me. When I was house hunting, the realtor kept taking me to places with lawyer foyers and (because I hadn't discovered "McMansion Hell" yet) I could not fathom why you would want a house that would leak heat that way.
posted by acrasis at 4:02 PM on April 11
posted by acrasis at 4:02 PM on April 11
Would you just basically live in part of it and have de facto "paths" between your room and the few rooms you actually spent time in?
Just before the 2008 bubble burst, there was an article about a couple who bought a McMansion and had all the best furnishings in the dining room... but hadn't used it, even once, in the two years that they'd owned the house.
The thing that stood out to me was the exercise room. There's so much crap in it that at first it wasn't clear that there were even mirrors in it, and really there should be as much wall space that's mirrored as possible if you want to make sure that your form is good. That is, if it's actually used for exercise.
posted by Halloween Jack at 4:14 PM on April 11
Just before the 2008 bubble burst, there was an article about a couple who bought a McMansion and had all the best furnishings in the dining room... but hadn't used it, even once, in the two years that they'd owned the house.
The thing that stood out to me was the exercise room. There's so much crap in it that at first it wasn't clear that there were even mirrors in it, and really there should be as much wall space that's mirrored as possible if you want to make sure that your form is good. That is, if it's actually used for exercise.
posted by Halloween Jack at 4:14 PM on April 11
I felt kind of the opposite; I don't really know anything about architecture, but when I see rooms that big it takes my breath away, thinking of all the stuff I could do with that much room.
It's not really the idea of having one big room that I find baffling - it's the idea of having all the big rooms. Like, I would be happy enough in an eighties-esque loft with a big space and high ceilings and lots of windows, but something like that is going to top out at 1200 feet or so, and it will have at least some divisions for bathroom and kitchen. You'd set it up nicely with furniture groupings and it could work pretty well.
Or, for instance, if I somehow lived in a grand antique house, one of those aristocratic ones with just ridiculously huge bedrooms and big old antique furniture - if I had a really big bedroom, where you'd have, like, a bed plus a study/desk furniture grouping plus a reception grouping with a sofa and some delicate chairs plus a clothes press and a dressing table and maybe an antique screen, like, that would be fine, because that type of room is arranged so that the space makes sense. It's this business of having a bedroom that's just for sleeping and only has, say, a king sized platform bed and a dresser and a TV but the room is massive and the furniture is just lost around the edges. (No need for a wardrobe to take up any space because you have a walk in-closet as big as my living room, etc.)
A couple of big rooms are great if you have a vision or a use for them. Every room made for a crowd and 4000 square feet of space for two adults and a couple of kids is just alienating. Every time I see one of these huge houses I picture myself living in a tiny corner of it after some terrible dystopian disaster.
posted by Frowner at 4:48 PM on April 11 [4 favorites]
It's not really the idea of having one big room that I find baffling - it's the idea of having all the big rooms. Like, I would be happy enough in an eighties-esque loft with a big space and high ceilings and lots of windows, but something like that is going to top out at 1200 feet or so, and it will have at least some divisions for bathroom and kitchen. You'd set it up nicely with furniture groupings and it could work pretty well.
Or, for instance, if I somehow lived in a grand antique house, one of those aristocratic ones with just ridiculously huge bedrooms and big old antique furniture - if I had a really big bedroom, where you'd have, like, a bed plus a study/desk furniture grouping plus a reception grouping with a sofa and some delicate chairs plus a clothes press and a dressing table and maybe an antique screen, like, that would be fine, because that type of room is arranged so that the space makes sense. It's this business of having a bedroom that's just for sleeping and only has, say, a king sized platform bed and a dresser and a TV but the room is massive and the furniture is just lost around the edges. (No need for a wardrobe to take up any space because you have a walk in-closet as big as my living room, etc.)
A couple of big rooms are great if you have a vision or a use for them. Every room made for a crowd and 4000 square feet of space for two adults and a couple of kids is just alienating. Every time I see one of these huge houses I picture myself living in a tiny corner of it after some terrible dystopian disaster.
posted by Frowner at 4:48 PM on April 11 [4 favorites]
Even early modern princes and kings who lived in enormous palaces, with ballrooms, and grand reception spaces, and huge bedrooms where their courtiers could watch them wake up and take a morning dump, also had a "closet" or a "cabinet." That is, a small private space where they could relax, do some actual work, pursue their various hobbies, or just keep all of their cool stuff.
Occasionally, very favored guests might be invited into a wunderkammer to view the cool stuff, which is one of the two main lineages in the genealogy of the modern museum (the other being the carnival sideshow).
posted by TheWhiteSkull at 5:46 PM on April 11 [2 favorites]
Occasionally, very favored guests might be invited into a wunderkammer to view the cool stuff, which is one of the two main lineages in the genealogy of the modern museum (the other being the carnival sideshow).
posted by TheWhiteSkull at 5:46 PM on April 11 [2 favorites]
Every time I see one of these huge houses I picture myself living in a tiny corner of it after some terrible dystopian disaster.
I often think about this, too. A lot of them have numerous bathrooms, so it wouldn't be that hard to subdivide them into a makeshift rooming house kind of situation, either. Plenty of people already do this with urban loft spaces with fewer bathrooms per bedroom, of course. And then you have the big yards to fill in with additional structures.
Whether they'd be shabby chic tiny apartments or grim firetrap tenements just depends on the level of dystopia. But it's hard to believe some of us won't see some McMansion developments turn unexpectedly population-dense in our lifetimes, after they're abandoned by the wealthy.
posted by smelendez at 6:09 PM on April 11 [1 favorite]
I often think about this, too. A lot of them have numerous bathrooms, so it wouldn't be that hard to subdivide them into a makeshift rooming house kind of situation, either. Plenty of people already do this with urban loft spaces with fewer bathrooms per bedroom, of course. And then you have the big yards to fill in with additional structures.
Whether they'd be shabby chic tiny apartments or grim firetrap tenements just depends on the level of dystopia. But it's hard to believe some of us won't see some McMansion developments turn unexpectedly population-dense in our lifetimes, after they're abandoned by the wealthy.
posted by smelendez at 6:09 PM on April 11 [1 favorite]
McMansion Heil?
posted by gottabefunky at 6:13 PM on April 11 [1 favorite]
posted by gottabefunky at 6:13 PM on April 11 [1 favorite]
Are they usually on sewer or septic? (Planning ahead to moderate our dystopias!)
how many gables a house is supposed to have? How's a window supposed to be shaped? Why can't somebody have big dumb lions on their wall if they like lions?
I think this has been a very popular weakness of McMansion Hell all along. Wagner mixes up criticism of things that have long term externalities (complicated roofs need much more maintenance; huge windows and circulating spaces can be very hard to heat/cool; land use effects, etc) with aesthetics that don’t. I’m always annoyed when she makes fun of a kitchen just because it’s unfashionable. A., making fun of people who don’t redecorate is anti ecological; B., every historical mansion went through generations of being comically unfashionable; C., how mean to everyone with floral wallpaper borders because they can’t afford to replace them; D., mayyyybe Schiaparelli could criticize mass taste for its datedness without falling into cringe herself, but no one else can.
(None of which applies to the current post I think — having three houses one of which has an Oval Office is semiotics’ to talk about.)
posted by clew at 8:33 PM on April 11 [1 favorite]
how many gables a house is supposed to have? How's a window supposed to be shaped? Why can't somebody have big dumb lions on their wall if they like lions?
I think this has been a very popular weakness of McMansion Hell all along. Wagner mixes up criticism of things that have long term externalities (complicated roofs need much more maintenance; huge windows and circulating spaces can be very hard to heat/cool; land use effects, etc) with aesthetics that don’t. I’m always annoyed when she makes fun of a kitchen just because it’s unfashionable. A., making fun of people who don’t redecorate is anti ecological; B., every historical mansion went through generations of being comically unfashionable; C., how mean to everyone with floral wallpaper borders because they can’t afford to replace them; D., mayyyybe Schiaparelli could criticize mass taste for its datedness without falling into cringe herself, but no one else can.
(None of which applies to the current post I think — having three houses one of which has an Oval Office is semiotics’ to talk about.)
posted by clew at 8:33 PM on April 11 [1 favorite]
I'm not sure I'm convinced by her distinction between mansions and McMansions (to me it's just size)... but it doesn't matter, because I spent like an hour and a half browsing the blog and just admiring the pure snark. Also the takedown of Neuschwanstein as a McMansion is hilarious.
posted by zompist at 10:18 PM on April 11 [3 favorites]
posted by zompist at 10:18 PM on April 11 [3 favorites]
admiring the pure snark
Yeah. These are always hilarious but "mosquito pit" got an actual, out loud guffaw.
Well, maybe more of a chortle? But either way... it was audible.
posted by howbigisthistextfield at 2:34 AM on April 12
Yeah. These are always hilarious but "mosquito pit" got an actual, out loud guffaw.
Well, maybe more of a chortle? But either way... it was audible.
posted by howbigisthistextfield at 2:34 AM on April 12
I’m reminded of a time when I went to Las Vegas and “lucked” into an absurdly large hotel room. But lying in bed, with huge amounts of space all around me? I couldn’t sleep!
posted by BlahLaLa at 7:38 AM on April 12
posted by BlahLaLa at 7:38 AM on April 12
I also love that McMansion Hell exists, and I find the author a delightful writer, but I agree that she conflates several aspects of “bad design” in a way that gets very classist/snobby very quickly. As someone who also has architecture training, I think she takes-without-saying some foundational theory around what a “style” is and why we have them. “Styles” are packets of pre-conceptualized best practices developed for a particular context (climate, local building materials and supply chains, programmatic requirements, maintainability, physiology, cultural norms, and yes, fashion). If you’re building in that context and you’re sensitive to those aspects, styles can help you accomplish your goals without having to overthink every aspect of your design. Applied as a pure aesthetic (e.g. a building that “looks like” stone but without the specific thermal/acoustic/structural properties of stone construction), “styles” are essentially utility-neutral. However, the very fact that you’re choosing one (instead of it flowing “naturally” [which is a debateable concept but that’s semester seminar topic, there] from the other constraints) means that the choice is loaded. Given how resource-intensive it is to build anything, much less to add “ornament” (that is, anything that serves a purely aesthetic function), the hallmark of the US McMansion that these choices are evidently being made more or less purely on the basis of “I want them to see how rich I am.” The subordination of pretty much any other aspect of architectural decision-making — is this maintainable? does it serve a purpose? is it a pleasant space to inhabit? — to that primary goal is what McMansion Hell is pushing back against.
So the “sins” of a McMansion are less “I can’t believe they didn’t know that that’s not a truly Victorian window shape, smdh” (although it’s funny to say it that way) and more “someone who has made this choice has not thought at all about the reasons these things have previously been designed the way they were, and, insultingly, they don’t care.” She points out the inconsistencies relative to existing, developed “styles” because one can understand a “real” style as something was developed by experts balancing complex and constraints, and this is, in contrast, Not That. But it does irk me sometimes when she makes fun of things like color not for usability reasons but essentially for fashion ones. “Datedness” is not, itself, a harm.
posted by #11eaea at 10:11 AM on April 12 [6 favorites]
So the “sins” of a McMansion are less “I can’t believe they didn’t know that that’s not a truly Victorian window shape, smdh” (although it’s funny to say it that way) and more “someone who has made this choice has not thought at all about the reasons these things have previously been designed the way they were, and, insultingly, they don’t care.” She points out the inconsistencies relative to existing, developed “styles” because one can understand a “real” style as something was developed by experts balancing complex and constraints, and this is, in contrast, Not That. But it does irk me sometimes when she makes fun of things like color not for usability reasons but essentially for fashion ones. “Datedness” is not, itself, a harm.
posted by #11eaea at 10:11 AM on April 12 [6 favorites]
IMO, the central thrust of this is the ratio between taste and money, so it's perfectly fine to make fun of the bad taste, the dated styles, etc.
posted by signal at 1:07 PM on April 12 [1 favorite]
posted by signal at 1:07 PM on April 12 [1 favorite]
The critique of the Indiana McMansion in the post is spot on.
I don't know why anyone here would need to be weird about that.
posted by ambrosen at 2:22 PM on April 12 [1 favorite]
I don't know why anyone here would need to be weird about that.
posted by ambrosen at 2:22 PM on April 12 [1 favorite]
Why... why would anyone put a zillion photographs in frames on the kitchen countertop? Presumably there's a second kitchen somewhere where the food is actually prepared, or maybe they just order takeout every night.
posted by Daily Alice at 4:27 PM on April 12
posted by Daily Alice at 4:27 PM on April 12
One of the things the Styrofoam quoins and Home Depot windows tell us is that these people wanted to *look* rich as cheaply as possible (or got cheated by contractors). And wow, do humans love attacking that; you think you’re so —
But that leaves the easy rich unscathed, even admired. Should we? At least apply the “does this inequality improve the lot of the worst-off?” test.
posted by clew at 7:12 PM on April 12
But that leaves the easy rich unscathed, even admired. Should we? At least apply the “does this inequality improve the lot of the worst-off?” test.
posted by clew at 7:12 PM on April 12
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posted by howa2396 at 11:35 AM on April 11 [3 favorites]