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Kate is an amazing writer. I loved how seamlessly she floated between academic architectural review to "McMansion bad" comedy, with almost no effort. That sai
by nunez 4y ago
Kate is an amazing writer.
I loved how seamlessly she floated between academic architectural review to "McMansion bad" comedy, with almost no effort.
That said, I 100% agree. Mansions are beautiful and powerful in presence. McMansions are a blight and, in my opinion, incredibly cheap-looking cancerous blobs.
I live in Houston, which has an example of both.
River Oaks is our friendly "rich person" neighborhood. There, you'll see some _really_ nice looking custom big houses. Proper mansions, as it were.
We recently moved from Richmond, an exurb about 45 minutes south towards the abyss between Houston and Mexico. Like Kate illustrated here, a McMansion neighborhood was right off of our exit. The houses are gigantic, but look incredibly, incredibly cheap.
Funny enough, a large apartment complex is being built right by one of them. I wonder what that will do to their value.
- Spivak 4y ago> incredibly cheap-looking cancerous blobs. Oh I assure you, they're cheap all the way through. Take the mass-produced bottom of the barrel construction practices of modern developers, the architectural sense of gluing pre-made block of house together, and then just keep gluing until you hit the target square footage. It's all limestone concrete, softwood, asphalt shingles, hollow doors, plastic floors, drywall, spray painted hardware, a single layer of brick if you're feeling adventurous, a chimney that doesn't actually work, a fireplace that's electric. It's unbelievably depressing that for how expensive they are you can't actually pay for quality only for more house. And I don't really think it's anyone's fault per se but more the reality of mass-produced junk getting cheaper and human labor getting so much more expensive relative to it.