I think it's a bit more nuanced than that. McMansions are defined by their attempts to outwardly demonstrate wealth, which makes deriding them easy but justifiable. Many of the kinds of homes the author discusses here are multimillion dollar properties. Yes, there's a little snobbery involved, but I don't find it classist to point out the irony in wealthy folks appearing cheap by yelling "LOOK HOW WEALTHY I AM!"
The people who devalue mcmansions largely do so because these houses are the material legacy this country is leaving, and it's objectively shit. They are an irresponsible way to build and organize neighborhoods.
Yep. Not everyone wants to pay $5,000/month to live in a jumped-up coat closet in a "trendy" part of Manhattan.
Me, I live in a late '50s tract house and it suits me fine. I don't actually care what kinds of housing other people want to live in -- because it's none of my business. Manhattan coat closet or suburban "McMansion" -- whatever floats your boat.
Sprawl is a problem, but I don’t buy that this is the main reason people complain about McMansions (I live in a condo in a dense building fwiw due to personal preference so this isn’t sour grapes).
The people I know living in these large houses that were cheaply built with weird architectural accents were primarily middle class people in suburban areas with low cost of living and larger families. Often they grew up with less money and were the first of their family to do well. Typically they bought a house in some new development with a good school.
The people I’ve heard complain the most about it are the upper-middle class people on the coasts that went to Stanford, I mostly only heard this style of complaint after moving to the bay and meeting people that grew up in these higher classes.
It really comes across as a way to look down on the lower classes that “don’t have good taste” dressed up as something more intellectual. Actual rich people (not upper-middle) don’t give a shit, probably because they’re not afraid someone will mistake their status for middle class - they just live in their estate in atherton and don’t read articles like this.
I don’t like suburban sprawl either, but I have an allergic reaction to this kind of elitism.
It’s true - middle class people often don’t know how to properly signal status because they didn’t grow up in it, but how to properly signal it is also a moving target (intentionally) by those a little above them. I just find it tedious to watch.
there’s obviously space between “cheap mansion on an acre miles away from grocery” and “imaginary dystopia” - you could at least pretend to be commenting in good faith
