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McMansion is a pejorative neologism, coined by NY environmentalist Jay Westervelt, (Westerveld)[1] to describe a particular type of housing that is constructed in an assembly line fashion reminiscent of food production at McDonald’s fast food restaurants. The term is one of many McWords. A McMansion often denotes a home with a larger footprint than a median home, an indistinct architectural style similar to others nearby, and is often located in a newer, larger subdivision or replaces an existing, smaller structure in an older neighborhood.

A McMansion is a house with a floor area of between 3000 ft² (280 m²) to 5000 ft² (460 m²) in size, often on small lots (the house itself often covering a larger portion of the land than the yard in a more conventional design), in homogeneous communities that are often produced by a developer. Although they are generally large homes, they are mass produced and are not of the caliber of a mansion. Their cost places them in the purchasing range of the upper middle class segment of the population.

The term McMansion first appeared in the San Diego Union-Tribune in 1990; it later appeared in the Los Angeles Times and New York Times in 1998.

Criticism

Even in affluent locations which already have a ready assortment of large houses, 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. In 2006, for example, a recently built house in Kirkland, WA (an affluent suburb on Seattle’s Eastside) stood four feet (1.2 m) away from the neighboring home. In other nations citing Australian suburban developments, homes could be built on the fence line, where in many cases no gap between neighboring homes is left; in some developments, split-occupancy housing has come into fashion.

While the average American family has shrunk in size, the average American home has grown. In 1974, the average American single-family home was 1,695 square feet (157 m²); in 2004 it had increased to 2,349 square feet (218 m²). The average family size, on the other hand, has fallen from 3.1 people in 1974 to 2.6 people in 2004.

The larger amount of space in a McMansion means that much of the home’s volume is not used as much or as efficiently as the space in a smaller house. Rooms often go infrequently used; this is particularly the case with great rooms and formal dining rooms.

A substantial amount of a typical McMansion’s square footage goes toward large hallways, aiding the maximum visibility required for the “Ten Minute House” concept. The individual rooms in a McMansion, particularly secondary bedrooms, are often no bigger than in earlier housing.

The large, numerous windows that are sometimes used in the great room can result in buildings that are much more expensive to cool and heat, especially if the house has been designed without consideration for its orientation relative to seasonal sun paths or without proper insulation. Large rooms, especially those with high ceilings, are frequently more expensive to heat.

Despite common criticisms of McMansions for their small lot size, especially compared to the size of the house, other critics claim that McMansions contribute to urban sprawl and increase commuting or traveling time in developed communities because of their size and low population density. This has been a source of criticism for writers such as James Howard Kunstler, who also attacks what he sees as the shoddy construction of many new homes.

The extra space in a McMansion allows for new and unique uses for rooms in the home. One anomalous report describes a room solely for the family dog, with a special dog shower. The large number of rooms, along with their vastness, sometimes leads critics to complain of conspicuous consumption in furnishing them.

Exterior lighting is often profuse and varied, usually designed more for dramatic effect (such as aesthetic lighting for trees and gardens) than practicality or security. Critics sometimes assert it is both wasteful of energy and contributes to a growing light pollution problem.

Because McMansions are generally at least two stories in height, when built as in-fill or to replace older structures they may be taller than the neighboring homes, creating a disagreeable contrast. In an effort to prevent this and to maintain architectural consistency within neighborhoods, many jurisdictions have written “height ordinances” or zoning to prevent construction of such tall houses. Some builders have attempted to dodge such requirements by elevating the foundations on an artificial mound of earth so that the measured height from the soil is reduced. Such homes then become the subject of disagreements and possible litigation.

In some jurisdictions, in order to combat perceived urban sprawl from nearby metropolitan areas, local counties have designated a minimum lot size. The lot size is often a matter of great local political debate between housing developers, local officials, and residents. Developers will typically seek a variance to allow larger houses to be built on smaller properties, often with the promise of using some of the land for parks or open space. When a variance is not granted, plot sizes end up being “too small to farm, too large to mow,” and are sometimes criticized as a poor use of land resources which ultimately contributes to further sprawl, rather than preventing it.

In other jurisdictions, there may be a minimum area requirement for the house, designed to promote a consistently upscale neighborhood but with the (possibly intentional) effect of keeping out lower-income residents by forcing the houses to be larger and thus more expensive. This can stratify economic groups by neighborhood, and some worry that this stratification will lead to a more broadly inegalitarian society (e.g., by causing de facto economic segregation in neighborhood schools).

Aesthetic

One common aesthetic complaint is that McMansions are overly ostentatious; for example, the front façade may boast multiple gables, in addition to blind dormers, porticos, and a staggered garage that has been placed forward from the body of the house, facing the street. Other aesthetic issues could encompass traditionally functional elements, like shutters, now used as a non-functional ornament, or more generally a poor choice of ornamental elements for that particular construction and site.

The specific styles of architecture used are also sometimes criticized because they are not native to the local area, and because features from various different architectural styles are randomly mixed. Defenders of the McMansion style of architecture claim that builders respond to what their customers want and that today’s architecture is at least more interesting, albeit more ersatz, than that of the Levittown tract houses of the last century.

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