Urban Dictionary: McMansion McMansion A large and pretentious house, typically of shoddy construction, typical of "upscale" suburban developments in the late 20th and early 21st centuries. The Dodd-Frank Wall Street Reform and Consumer Protection Act is a series of federal regulations passed to prevent future financial crises. Much of Manhattan was developed on 20- 25-foot wide lots[1], many of which were joined together in successional development as the city grew. So, dont let your Main Streetor any streetturn in to a cartoon version of Main Street! The American Dream is a concept first used in 1930 to describe prosperity and wealth in the United States'. The construction of what seems to be too large a house on an existing lot will often draw the ire of neighbors and other local residents. Forum discussions with the word(s) "McMansion" in the title: In other languages: Spanish | French | Italian | Portuguese | Romanian | German | Dutch | Swedish | Russian | Polish | Czech | Greek | Turkish | Chinese | Japanese | Korean | Arabic. The slang term connects the McMansion style to upper-middle-class homeowners. Do we really need a McMansion and four cars for two people? [1] Please note that the content of this book primarily consists of articles available from Wikipedia or other free sources online. Buy it. "[11], Frequently, priority in McMansion construction is given to the interior layout. McMansion definition: A large new house, usually constructed as part of a suburban development and characterized by ostentation rather than quality of workmanship or architectural distinction. For example, "Things" contains a "clothes, clothing" sub-category. McMansion: A slang term that describes a large, opulent house that may be generic in style and represents a good value for a homebuyer in terms of its size. A subreddit about large, cheaply built, suburban homes with design flaws and a lack of architectural integrity also known as "McMansions.". 0 && stateHdr.searchDesk ? PRONUNCIATION OF MCMANSION McMansion [mkmnn] GRAMMATICAL CATEGORY OF MCMANSION noun "The Past & Future of the Australian Suburb. McMansion uk / mkmn.n/ How to pronounce McMansion noun in British English us / mkmn.n/ How to pronounce McMansion noun in American English (English pronunciations of McMansion from the Cambridge Advanced Learner's Dictionary & Thesaurus and from the Cambridge Academic Content Dictionary, both sources Cambridge University Press) Even the cozy New England town of Newbury, onnecticut, is not immune to the relentless spread of McMansions carpeting the countryside. [citation needed], Efforts to economize may have led to a decline in quality for many of these new houses, prompting the coinage of the disparaging term. Such houses are characterized by steep roofs of complex design, theatrical entrances, lack of stylistic integrity and backsides which are Starter homes and smaller ranches have been demolished and replaced by faux estates on relatively small quarter-acre lots as more affluent people move closer to the city but don't want to live in the smaller, older houses often found within city limits. It would be better to focus design and construction budgets on better quality detailing and less on the number of faade modules that can incorporated into one blockface. The McMansion, because it is easily built and attractive to consumers, was the perfect vehicle for subprime loans. 'pa pdd chac-sb tc-bd bw hbr-20 hbss lpt-25' : 'hdn'">, Test your vocabulary with our fun image quizzes, Clear explanations of natural written and spoken English. When you visit the site, Dotdash Meredith and its partners may store or retrieve information on your browser, mostly in the form of cookies. Other. Subprime mortgages often have higher interest rates than a conventional mortgage but require little to no down payment. McMain Street buildings pose other problems with cost and constructability. Marc Marotta's Mequon McMansion The Foley lawyer and Bradley Center chairman will be helping taxpayers see the wisdom of building a new NBA arena. Kristin Hohenadel has written on design for publications including the New York Times, Interior Design, Slate, Fast Company, and the international editions of Elle Decor. But the fine-grained complexity is still evident in many New York streets. In addition, the land that McMansions are built on is often zoned as agricultural or re-zoned to residential from agricultural, and often outside of the city proper limits, as both of these result in lower property taxes. [10][dead link]. [1], An example of a McWord, "McMansion" associates the generic quality of these luxury houses with that of mass-produced fast food by evoking McDonald's, an American restaurant chain.[2]. McMansions were initially built as statement pieces rather than practical places to live. Getting the Urban Word of the Day in your inbox. Mug. [19] The houses themselves feature architectural preferences in general accordance with the neighborhood. But the 40-year rise of the McMansion reached its peak during the subprime mortgagefueled housing bubble and subsequent global financial crisis that resulted in the Great Recession starting in 2008. Mobile users: please report any problems. a very large, newly built house that looks similar to many other houses: Builders tore down a perfectly good home and threw up an ugly McMansion that towers over our yard. He is owner of Urban Arts Inc and principal at Civic Plan Studio. The large home size is meant to signify the owner's high social and economic standing. Lauren Cahn is a New York-based writer whose work has appeared regularly on Reader's Digest and in a variety of other publications since 2008. But their prevalence seemed inevitably to raise the bar on what was acceptable and desirable housing for a middle-class family and to raise the stakes on what it meant to keep up with the Joneses. But, as the. No, wait, it doesn't deserve to be called a house. Any opinions expressed in the examples do not represent those of Merriam-Webster or its editors. We can call this building/development type, the McMain Street.Like the McMansion that attempts to mimic the complex roof massing of an entire French village in a single building,the McMain Street attempts to mimic the fine-grained, vertically proportioned facades of the traditional American Main Streetall in a single building. The term may either refer to houses that are oversized, cheaply-built, and developed at once in a subdivision, or houses that replace smaller homes which seem far too large for their lots (such a house may even lack side windows due to the proximity to the boundariesanother related clich. No doubt that we urban planners (who write design codes) have brought some of this on ourselves with our well-intentioned goal of maintaining the fine-grained character of the traditional street, but in most cases, architects are not up to the task or are pushed too far. And, more often than not, like the McMansion, the end result appears contrived and inauthentic. Collins Concise English Dictionary HarperCollins Publishers:: a large modern house considered to look mass-produced, lacking in distinguishing characteristics, and at variance with established local architecture, One or more forum threads is an exact match of your searched term. McMansions guzzle precious materials and waste land. Notorious for their size and suburban locales, the cost of maintaining such a home is significant. Not including the basement. In some cases, where it may not be feasible to plat small lots, buildings can be successfully designed as single compositions. Julia Kagan is a financial/consumer journalist and former senior editor, personal finance, of Investopedia. Used as a working definition by the, Davison, Graeme. [16], Throughout the 2010s, the McMansion style started to fall out of favor, during which the McModern, a newer style of single-family home, began to permeate urban neighborhoods of North America. By clicking Accept All Cookies, you agree to the storing of cookies on your device to enhance site navigation, analyze site usage, and assist in our marketing efforts. You can find out more about our use, change your default settings, and withdraw your consent at any time with effect for the future by visiting Cookies Settings, which can also be found in the footer of the site. Wall Street is in lower Manhattan and is home to the New York Stock Exchange (NYSE). They so were built with cheap materials or poor construction with the primary purpose of checking off must-have items like a pool or bonus room. The phenomenon of the McMain Street is not limited to traditional architecture alone. More examples The museum is gone now, and a McMansion will be erected in its place. To critics, these new homes look out of place compared to the rest of the neighborhood and clash with the existing architectural. A pretentious home built out of context with the socioeconomic milieu of its area. No, wait, it doesn't deserve to be called a house. Many of the negative connotations associated with McMansions resulted from the Great Recession. By Michael Horne - Apr 28th, 2014 04:51 pm A collateralized debt obligation (CDO) is a complex financial product backed by a pool of loans and other assets and sold to institutional investors. [13], Beginning in California in the 1980s,[11] the larger home concept was intended to fill a gap between the more modest suburban tract housing and the upscale, often custom, houses found in gated, waterfront, or golf course communities. : a very large house built in usually a suburban neighborhood or development especially : one regarded critically as oversized and ostentatious Example Sentences Recent Examples on the Web For example, when the size of the average American house grew in the 1990s, Barbie got a (sparkly pink) McMansion. Etymologyis the study of the origin of words and their changes in structure and significance. Like the McMansion, the McMain Street attempts to mimic the complex roof massing of many buildings in a single building. The urban thesaurus is organized into 4 main categories: Things. . Michael Huston is a licensed architect and urban designer based in St. Petersburg, Florida. Making them regret how they treated you by absolutely bettering yourself and working out. The projecting and receding planes, and multiple changes in materials needlessly add to the construction cost. Those who can afford luxury have always been attracted to it and, if history offers any indication of the future, beautiful homes in ideal locations are always going to attract buyers. The Great Recession refers to the sharp decline in economic activity during the late 2000s, generally considered the largest downturn since the Great Depression. Expensive brick or stucco on the front of the house with vinyl siding on the sides and back are signature design features, putting an elegant face toward the street and less costly coverings elsewhere. For When 'Lowdown Crook' Isn't Specific Enough, You can't shut them up, but you can label them, A simple way to keep them apart. Free Screenshots iPad iPhone OFFICIAL Urban Dictionary app! [6] Other terms used to describe "McMansions" include "Persian palace",[7] "Garage Mahal", "starter castle", and "Hummer house". The facades lack the variety in design and detail that occurs naturally over time when multiple architects and builders develop a streetscape, one building at a time. Book Review: Search for Environmental View of Design, Review of 'Out of Place: Restoring Identity to the Regional Landscape', by Michael Hough Yale University Press. In 2006, for example, a recently built house in Kirkland, Washington an affluent suburb on Seattle's Eastside stood so close to an adjoining property that, in the words of the chair of the city's Neighborhood Association, "you can read the lettering on the canned vegetables in the house next door. Do we really need a McMansion and four cars for two people? A subprime mortgage is onegranted to borrowers with low credit ratings or those at a larger-than-average risk of defaulting on the loan. Drive through any middle-class suburban neighborhood built in the last 25 years and you will encounter the McMansion,the aspirational mega-house with its overly complex roof form, dumbed-down architectural details and grandiose double-height foyer. Consider these tips: Postsript: A search for the term McMain Street turned up a similar definition in the Urban Dictionary as follows: A new centrally planned shopping mall designed to look like a small town center but filled with big corporate chains.In this article, the term is applied to any building that attempts to mimic multiple buildings within the structure of a single building. The term "McMansion" describes any spread out, land eating, mass produced house (AKA single family "home"), most likely made of brick and having a multi-layered roofline/ frontage that faces the far away street. They're usually built by ", If you want a good example of a mcmansion, then if you're ever in, A giant, ugly immitation-mansion house. Urban Dictionary is made by a community of millions, including you. For example, according to Indeed, housecleaners earn on average $16.29 an hour, and higher in some states and cities. McMansions are considered generic and a cliched reflection of new wealth and superficial lifestyle. Choosing Urban Dictionary's Word of the Day. McMansions are the architectural equivalent of fast foodgeneric, mass-produced, dubiously constructed, and inexplicably popular. Urban Dictionary: McMansions McMansion A large and pretentious house, typically of shoddy construction, typical of "upscale" suburban developments in the late 20th and early 21st centuries. The subprime crisis is just the tip of the iceberg. The term "McMansion" generally denotes a multi-story house that either has no clear architectural style,[9] or prizes superficial appearance and sheer size over quality, often both. 2023. Report vulnerabilities on Urban Dictionary. It is of the sort most common for the last two decades in the U.S. Because of the 2007 housing crisis, the McMansion lifestyleequated to living beyond ones means and the proliferation of subprime mortgages, considered an underlying cause of the recession. A McMansion is a pejorative term for a certain type of ubiquitous supersized suburban American home that people love to hate. Predatory lending imposes unfair, deceptive, or abusive loan terms on a borrower. becomes a . Such houses are characterized by steep roofs of complex design, theatrical entrances, lack of stylistic integrity and backsides which are $32.95. Sweatshirt. A financial crisis is a situation where the value of assets drop rapidly and is often triggered by a panic or a run on banks. Some buyers are moving toward smaller homes ortiny homes, but they are in the minority. Dolores ipsam aliquid recusandae quod quaerat repellendus numquam obcaecati labore iste praesentium. a very large, newly built house that looks similar to many other houses: Builders tore down a perfectly good home and threw up an ugly McMansion that towers over our garden. Further, they compromise the integrity of the building envelope by both increasing the number of joints between facade materials and by overly complicating the roof flashing details which are prone to leaks. The primary obstacle to creating smaller urban lots is the accommodation of parking. McMansion. Merriam-Webster.com Dictionary, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/McMansion. Definition of 'McMansion' McMansion in British English (mkmnn ) noun informal, derogatory a large modern house considered to look mass-produced, lacking in distinguishing characteristics, and at variance with established local architecture Collins English Dictionary. Also, due to their overbuilt, energy-inefficient, overblown, comfort-centered building styles, they promote excessive energy use and exacerbate the climate emergency. ", Learn how and when to remove these template messages, Learn how and when to remove this template message, "Interiors; Getting Smart About Art of Living Small", "Close to Home; Life in a Crater Will Do, For Now", "McMansions: Super-sized homes cause a super-sized backlash", Environmental Design Research Association, "Americans could be killing the McMansion for good", "Homes Keep Getting Bigger, Even as Families Get Smaller", "Millennials are ditching the cookie-cutter McMansion for the 'McModern', "Big homes on small lots crowd Kirkland neighbors", "Why do cookie-cutter neighborhoods exist? One of the internets leading explainers of what makes McMansions so uniquely terrible is architecture critic Kate Wagner of the morbidly entertaining McMansionHell blog, who argues at length and in vivid detail that McMansions are brutal on the environment, a bad long-term investment, a showcase for bad craftsmanship, and are hard on the spirit. Perform unlimited searches for. When older and modest houses are often bought as teardowns and McMansions constructed on the vacant land, one observer notes that many instances have occurred where "a poor house stands side by side with a good house. Accessed 16 Jul. These areas may be in demand by buyers who desire a bigger house than the tract house, but are unwilling to pay for (or lack the means to afford) houses in the city's traditional upscale neighborhoods. Christina Francesca DeRiso, University of North Carolina at Charlotte. In 2014, 32% of the new houses being built had 3,000sqft (280m2) or more of floor space, and the average size of new construction had increased to over 2,600sqft (240m2). Despite the critics and the rising cost of energy, the big house trend remains popular in the United States. Life alone in a big house can make you feel really empty. Delivered to your inbox! info Install About this app arrow_forward OFFICIAL Urban Dictionary app! With the McMain Street, we are left with a cartoon version of the traditional Main Street. Architectural critics and many observers find that despite their popularity, McMansions are an eyesore on the American landscape, a bloated aberration of what a house ought to be, and a case study in what ails the United States. That category contains a "shoes" sub-category. The McMansion adds a fourth zone for entertaining, reflective of the increasing social alienation and distance from urban centers caused by decades of sprawl. [citation needed]). The McMansion is the antithesis of the sustainable and regenerative architecture that is a growing movement around the world. Suzanne is a content marketer, writer, and fact-checker. [18], In a city, traditional upscale custom houses are mostly found in the most affluent residential neighbourhoods (commonly regarded as "Millionaires' Mile"), which are typically gated, waterfront, ravine, or golf course communities, all of which have some of the highest residential property taxes in the city. Like the McMansion, the McMain Street attempts to mimic the complex roof massing of many buildings in a single building. McMansion: A Closer Look at the Big House Trend, Financial Considerations of Buying a Tiny House, Swimming Pools: Costs vs. Many people thought that McMansions were hideous, tacky, wasteful, and depressing. The word in the example sentence does not match the entry word. This type of home is built to provide . [20], In Australia, the main reason McMansions have received a very cold reception is because the archetypal Australian house is generally a single story, red brick house or a bungalow, and because many McMansions use cement render materials perceived as giving an extremely exaggerated appearance. Tighty-whities or loosey-goosey? (Most of the time.). Many modern buildings, especially multi-family buildings, go out of their way to add artificial complexity to the faade by pushing and pulling planes (in all directions), and arbitrarily changing materials. Here are ideas on better ways to preserve or create Main Street character. Each category contains sub-categories. Write for a large audience. It's beautiful, to be sure. This is yet another reason that the parking supply should be de-coupled from the building/lot use and treated as part of the shared infrastructure (if provided at all). This used to be a pasture, now look at all the McMansions! In suburban communities, McMansion is a pejorative term for a large "mass-produced" dwelling marketed to the upper middle class mainly in the United States. Can also mean going on a rampage of being a villain. From Austin, TX to Atlanta, GA, disgruntled neighbors,zoning boards, and local politicians are fighting against the McMansions cropping up in well-established neighborhoods when the nouveauriche crowd moves in. Copyright HarperCollins Publishers Word origin While some families covet living in McMansions where children have their own bathrooms, parents have their own wing, and nobody has to make an effort to social distance, critics argue that this lack of family togetherness can actually be bad for supervising children as well as building family intimacy. ", "Why China's rich want to live in McMansions and fake chteaux", "Kate Wagner Profile and Activity Curbed", https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=McMansion&oldid=1158285399, On architecture: collected reflections on a century of change, By Ada Louise Huxtable, Bloomsbury Publishing USA, 2008, This page was last edited on 3 June 2023, at 03:15.

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