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    McMansions Near You

    I'll kick things off (or post in isolation) with this plot filler, competed at the start of the year and typical of contemporary monstrosity, in both senses of the word.
    Last edited by Sits; 05-12-2020, 02:57.

    #2

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      #3
      For context, I managed to find the photo I took of the original mid-century single storey which occupied the plot. Taken when it was derelict, I posted it here at the time because I remember someone commented that the frangipani to the right gave the appearance of some sort of moose looking into the garden.

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        #4
        I will have to play a bit loose with "near me" (based on an overbearing historic district right near by) but I have a steady supply of these. That is a little more boring than spectacularly awful, but - what is with the multiple small-tall window look? Also some nice low-level deliberately fucking with symmetry going on there.

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          #5
          That seems to be standard practice and must have to do with fitting as much of as many things into the space available. A favourite is the combination of arched with flat-top windows, along with putting the shittiest aluminium windows into a faux-grand facade.

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            #6
            Interesting - the symmetry part is the worst. It hurts to look at. Have you ever read McMansion Hell (I think on Tumblr - easy to find on google). The more vintage stuff on there was brilliant.

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              #7
              As for as relative a horror I have seen near me, there is this place. It is basically a 2005 brick attempt at a Prairie house, within half a mile of the FLW studio. It is ugly as hell. The interior vaulted roof is rather pleasant though.

              https://www.zillow.com/homedetails/1...5539497_zpid/?

              I think it is more the Bovis home approach of a bunch of no marks to build a FLW style house that irks me.

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                #8
                Wow, that is an ugly house.

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                  #9
                  Lots of them in Darras Hall and other newer estates between Morpeth and Newcastle: 'footballers' houses '

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                    #10
                    I had never heard the word "McMansions" before yesterday.

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                      #11
                      The chap who bought my parents house is turning it into a McMansion. I get updates via my brother and can't help but look. It's like picking a scab.

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                        #12
                        That's a really, really nasty house. Inside and out.

                        I'm not sure if I've heard McMansion before or not. Is it a riff on McDonald's?

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                          #13
                          In suburban communities, McMansion is a pejorative term for a large "mass-produced" dwelling. Virginia Savage McAlester, who also gave a first description of the common features which define this building style, coined the more neutral term Millennium Mansion.

                          An example of a McWord, "McMansion" associates the generic quality of these luxury houses with that of mass-produced fast food by evoking the McDonald's restaurant chain.

                          The neologism "McMansion" seems to have been coined sometime in the early 1980s. It appeared in the Los Angeles Times in 1990 and the New York Times in 1998. Related terms include "Persian palace", "garage Mahal", "starter castle", and "Hummer house". Marketing parlance often uses the term "tract mansions" or executive homes.

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                            #14
                            This piece of faux faux Tudor crap in Balbriggan blights the row of early Victorian Big Houses it's plonked alongside, blights the cliff top and cornfield vista it overlooks: The high walls and cctv give a vibe that previous owners may have come to the attention of the Criminal Assets Bureau. The detailing makes it seem like it's a refugee from Essex.

                            I hate hate hate this building, it's a downer on a really nice coastal walk. it is now a respite centre for young adults with autism though, so I'll forgive its aesthetic crimes.
                            Last edited by Lang Spoon; 05-12-2020, 19:09.

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                              #15
                              How the hell did I put the picture in the middle of text? The wonders of a dying iPhone. This is the headland it's spoiling.

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                                #16
                                This pic maybe better shows just how obtrusive it is.

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                                  #17
                                  There's a long road in north London dedicated to houses like that.

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                                    #18
                                    The Bishops Avenue, presumably.

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                                      #19
                                      So presumably there are people who think these things look nice.

                                      Which is a bit scary.

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                                        #20
                                        I went to look up the house that has been built on the plot of land where my grandparent's bungalow used to be. In comparison to these monstrosities it doesn't actually look the bad. But what is distressing is that it's now valued at over ?1 million whereas my dad sold it for ?300,000 in 2006 to help pay for my grandfather's care in a very nice old people's home (he lived independently until age 92, then went into a home for a few weeks to recover from a fall and decided he'd like to stay put). There's no way that wages can keep up with that sort of property price inflation.

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                                          #21
                                          Originally posted by TonTon View Post
                                          So presumably there are people who think these things look nice.

                                          Which is a bit scary.
                                          Mostly developers and builders

                                          One needs to leave Manhattan for local examples.

                                          Certain coastal Brooklyn neighbourhoods are very well known for this.

                                          Mill Basin in particular



                                          Last edited by ursus arctos; 05-12-2020, 14:47.

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                                            #22
                                            High bar set already there with UA's brace of jaw-droppingly ugly monstrosities.

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                                              #23
                                              I dunno, guys, I'm currently living on the Essex/London border. I could get in very serious trouble for speaking out of turn about this. The mock Tudor scene in Wanstead is real. Look, just don't tell anyone I posted about this.

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                                                #24
                                                Not a lot of choice around my way, but this one in Kingswood is pretty ugly. It looks like a multiple-residence but it's single, apparently:


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                                                  #25
                                                  It looks like the back of a carvery.

                                                  The first of my entries was the locus for a gothic tale of political corruption.

                                                  https://nymag.com/news/features/carl-kruger-2012-1/

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