Member-only story
The Myth of the McMansion
It Has Broken a Generation of Homebuyers
Ahhh…the McMansion. The pseudo-opulent home of the 80’s, 90’s, and early 200’s, before the housing bubble burst in 2008. The symbol of rising middle class stability and growing wealth, and total lack of knowledge about architecture, style, design, and well…finance.
So many couples, looking to house their families in safe suburbs with stately homes and desirable addresses like “Gooseberry Lane” and “Pilgrim Drive” bought these mass-produced monstrosities with what they believed were ‘custom’ features, when really those custom add-ons were merely plug-and-play items from a prefabricated list of choices offered by the mass builders. Le sigh. These resulted in weirdly unappealing homes with no architectural appeal.
If you’re curious about just what makes a McMansion, check out McMansion Hell, specifically the 101 course. The site is both education and parody, and is clarified as such by its own creator.
But the depth and need for continued discussion about the Myth of McMansions goes deeper — into why on earth a full twenty years of consumers believed that they wanted to dwell in mass-produced semi-luxury in the first place. Now we are seeing these homes in deep need of repair, since lightweight drywall was used, carpets and roofing is twenty years old, and housing prices have…
