Friday Night Photos McMansion Edition
Happy Friday everyone. I hope everybody is doing well. As always, post any photos, memes, or music you like.
These Victorian McMansions were built in various areas of San Diego during the 1880s-1890s and moved to Old Town San Diego in the 1970s.
Christian House (1889) This graceful residence was constructed by Harfield Timberlake Christian, founder of an early San Diego abstract company. It is built in a popular late Victorian design characterized by a variety of chimneys, shingles, a corner tower, and encircling veranda.
Sherman-Gilbert House (1887) This house was built and first owned by John Sherman, cousin of General William Tecumseh Sherman. The “widow’s walk” and circular window are key elements of this structure, which moved to Heritage Park in the spring of 1971. From 1892 to 1965, sisters Bess and Gertrude Gilbert, patrons of art and music, brought internationally famous entertainers to receptions in their home. Among the artists were Yehudi Menuhin and Arthur Rubinstein.
Burton House (1893) Pediments and dentil cornices inspired by classic sources mark this house. Henry Guild Burton, retired Army physician, built it during a trend that by the turn of the century began to eliminate decoration.
Servants entrance in the back
Comments
Stay safe!
If the weather reports are accurate you had better batten the hatches.
Thank you, humphrey.
The latest update on the NWS website shows higher windspeeds and a lot more rain than earlier forecasts.
I'm great at multi-tasking. I can waste time, be unproductive, and procrastinate all at the same time.
Hopefully the greater rainfall San Diego had earlier
will have prepared the ground for the rain to come, and avoid flooding. Keep us informed, please.
Love your architectural photos and stories
Bit of an architecture nut my own self. Just wonder, how does one move
a house of that magnitude from one place to another?
Some disassembly required, one piece at a time, I guess?
Be safe in the upcoming storm, hurricanes are messy.
Hi, QMS.
I absolutely love the JC music selection. As for moving the house's, they got moved as a complete structure.
https://www.sdparks.org/content/dam/sdparks/en/pdf/BrochuresMiscellaneou...
If you scroll to the bottom of the pdf there is a photo of one of the house's being moved to it's current location.
I'm great at multi-tasking. I can waste time, be unproductive, and procrastinate all at the same time.
Sorry to sound pedantic,
but these are not examples of "McMansions". These are actual mansions. To see McMansions, go to Kate's blog, IIRC correctly called McMansionHell.
Kate has taken a serious look at McMansions and is the leader in defining just what is and what isn't a McM.
Lovely photos of mansions.
@wouldsman https://mcmansionhell.com
https://mcmansionhell.com/101
for a definition,
and for an example:
https://mcmansionhell.com
Thanks wouldsman,
for Kate's sharp critiques of McMansions.
Thank you!
I'm replying very late, but thanks for the link! I used to follow that site a lot, then lost the link. I'm so glad to have it back
If you're poor now, my friend, then you'll stay poor.
These days, only the rich get given more. -- Martial book 5:81, c. AD 100 or so
Nothing ever changes -- Sima, c. AD 2020 or so
Hi, wouldsman
No problem sounding pedantic. I am curious though, who gets to decide what a McMansion is? For me it's a large and expensive house that the average working person would never need or be able to afford.
I'm great at multi-tasking. I can waste time, be unproductive, and procrastinate all at the same time.
boxy looking structures
built in a field
back in the day we called them barns
aka a place to store hay
You know what they say,
one mans barn is another mans mansion. Or something like that.
I'm great at multi-tasking. I can waste time, be unproductive, and procrastinate all at the same time.
I think I would define them
as being excessive in ways that are meaningless and empty. The perfect example of keeping up with the Joneses to an absurd level.
@Socialprogressive Hi SP, in the link to
Hi SP, in the link to MCM, Kate does a great job defining them. I have not read the "definition" in a few years, but as I recall she actually assigns "points" to determine the difference between MCM and actual M.
She talks about the history of architecture (herself in Arch grad school when she started this work). In it she points that somewhere late 20th century, as part of the "crappification" of modern American consumerism, builders started cutting out architects. A cost saving measure for sure. Now you have a builder that spent a year building a particular (trademarked) house in a subdivision. Say he built The Hunter for a year. Then the next year he built 20 of The Pinewood. Due to trademark issues he could never build these on his own. But he could "marry" the Hunter to the Pinewood. And make a few other modifications to further distance it from the original architect approved designs.
Now suddenly these huge boxes started appearing, and they were not even as nice as the originals, the Hunter and the Pinewood were designed to traditional norms. But the blended versions broke all the rules. Everything was out of proportion. Too many styles were mixed in. You ended up with houses that had miss sized architectural elements- beams and columns out of size as to what they held up. Teeny columns holding up huge porch roofs. Huge columns holding up teeny porch roof.
Excess of 5 window styles and excess of 5 exterior treatments are classic MCM.
It really is worth reading her work to understand the utter stupidity of MCMs. Here in the north where snow and ice destroy houses, poor roof lines will lead to the death of these houses. Mix and match siding will age poorly. These houses are going to age HORRIBLY. Bad windows. Etc.
Kate has been invited to "guest edit" the Frank Lloyd Wright publication. She has been featured in many many publications. She has done a tremendous amount of work on defining MCMs. And IMHO has earned the right to author the definition of MCM. She keeps her politics pretty quiet, but some hints that she leans a least a little subversive, even anti capitalist, and anti wealth class. Mocking the homes of the nouveau riche is a good start for me.
Seriously, anyone who has not followed her work, it is worth the time.
Edit to add, sorry for my hit and run comments. I could do a lot better on this topic than I am. But I am "up north" in a teeny little cabin. That has 100 times more architectural integrity than a MCM. And a lovely view of Spider Lake (Hayward) WI. Heading out for some water time now. Have a great weekend all.
Thanks for the info
on architecture, wouldsman. I don't know anything about architecture other than if I do or don't like the looks of the final product.
Enjoy your time at the lake.
I'm great at multi-tasking. I can waste time, be unproductive, and procrastinate all at the same time.
Gorgeous pictures and houses
I love looking at the mansions of San Francisco that were built during the robber baron days and for much cheaper than what the current McMansions of today.
Speaking of cheap buildings I have been looking at all the gawd ugly apartments being built here and they look almost like they are using press boards. It’s cheap wood no matter what it’s called.
I’m now wondering if the reason why they are building so many apartments is because they are planning to do 15 minute cities around here? Hey just because I’m paranoid….
I love how nature always finds a way.
Was Humpty Dumpty pushed?
Hi, snoopy
Nice shot of the new growth on the tree. It makes you wonder, what happened to the damaged limb?
We have the same thing around where I live with apartment bldgs springing up all over the place. I don't know how much it has to do with planned 15 min Cities or if it's the natural result of 40+ years of stagnant pay for the working class and they can no longer afford to buy a home.
I'm great at multi-tasking. I can waste time, be unproductive, and procrastinate all at the same time.
The wind took down the tree
and it’s not the only one that has been damaged by it. Last week a huge limb came off a willow tree. I’m wondering if the years of drought has caused some of them to die? The trees that are losing limbs are very old. It doesn’t take much wind anymore to do damage. Last year the cemetery had a tree service come in and trim a lot of the dead branches. I’m careful of which bench to sit on I’ll tell you.
Was Humpty Dumpty pushed?
I'd bet you snoopy,
that Auckland would give your area a formidable bet on the money regarding new housing. What is sprouting on so many properties which were originally single family dwellings is absolutely mind blowing to me. They are cheaply built and ridiculously expensive. I'm thinking it all might implode at some point.
This Aeon In Architecture....
These are the voyages...
As long you're going to live out of your car anyway, do it in style!:
Discount Rapunzel:
'Hello, is this the Burton residence...?'
...Got a condo made-a stone-a!...
If Gepetto were a Dark Lord:
'Wait, this thing goes up how many stories...?!
Eco-Friendly Fortress of DOOM!:
OF COURSE the U.S.S. Enterprise has a billiard-room:
If Sarah Winchester had funded a public school:
"DINSDALE?! DINSDALE...!?"
Jim Morrison's not dead, he just went back home:
In the Land of the Blind, the One-Eyed Man is declared mentally ill for describing colors.
Yes Virginia, there is a Global Banking Conspiracy!
Hi, Moonbat
Having grown up a stones throw from the Winchester Mystery House I love the Sarah Winchester designed public school. Good stuff as always. Thanks for sharing, Moonbat.
I'm great at multi-tasking. I can waste time, be unproductive, and procrastinate all at the same time.
Love the structure made of stone and the jim Morrison.
Inner and Outer Space: the Final Frontiers.
Hi pixelators
Hi all, Hey SP! Hope its all good!
Yeah SP get down to the coast, check any body of water before, during, or after the Hurricane Hellabitch. You should get a push of boobies and frigatebirds, at the least and it could be lots better than that.
Great photos SP, as always. Neat looking places. Growing up in CA I didn't see a lot that was very old. Moving back east was an eye-opener. Wife and I live a couple years in a house in the woods in New Jersey that was almost a hundred years old, the owner was born in it. Gen Geo. Wash. camped in the field next door. But lots of real old stuff, and big, huge, old, real old houses were quite common actually.
Re: McMansions - my dos centavos... A Mansion is a large perhaps oversized house, built with finery throughout. I would say these old examples you show are 'mansionlets'. Small end mansions. I bet they are very finely crafted. Just big houses in a lot of eastern cities with actual older districts.
Whereas a McMansion primarily differs from an actual mansion in that they are the modern 'cookie cutter' subdivision tract home style oversized conflagarations designed to appear anywhere from gaudy to pretentious or ostentacious. They are fitted out with all the latest fads of hardware and amenities on the surface. Inside the construction however lots of corners are cut with cheap shit. They are faux, or psuedo mansions. There are whole tracts and subdivisions of them, selling for twice what they are worth.
This is a Snowy Egret baiting. However, without bait. Instead what it does it put the end inch or two of beak under the water surface, and then open and shut bill to create the ripples. Fairly perfectly mimicking an insect like a dragonfly stuck on the surface. When a sucker, or other species, approaches, BAM! dinner. Sorry about the quality, is a degraded poor copy of a slide. Behavior is where it's at man.
I gotta fly, have good ones all!
We cannot solve our problems with the same thinking we used when we created them.
Look deep into nature, and then you will understand everything better.
both - Albert Einstein
Hi, dystopian
The Snowy's I see at Santee Lakes like to tap their feet on the bottom as they wade along the shoreline. It seems to be a pretty affective way to flush out the fish hiding in the reeds.
Here's a modern day McMansion not far from where I live.
https://www.zillow.com/homedetails/9056-Trailridge-Ave-Santee-CA-92071/2...
I'm great at multi-tasking. I can waste time, be unproductive, and procrastinate all at the same time.
Hi dystopian
About 20-25 years ago when visiting my family in America I would stay for a month at my brothers in Trumbull, CT. I'd regularly visit a close friend who lived in a modest house in Greenwich. The route from Trumbull to Greenwich took me through the most beautiful old woods and delicately maintained lands. With each progressive trip I noticed a new gaudy mansion replacing a 150 year old tasteful home. I could hardly look at the degradation of such original beauty.
Greenwich Pt. Pk.!
Hi Janis,
That is one of the prettiest areas, with the nicest houses I ever saw.
I have a bird or two that got on my life list, which is the first time you saw something, from Grenwich Pt. Park, CT. Yeah those houses, holy cowfish! Old Lyme too, that whole coast. Hard to find parking though. A rare bird was just there and when it was posted they said only parking is $45 a day and if not there by 9 a.m. forget it on summer weekends.
It's the American Way Janis. Take out the good old stuff and replace it with cheap new crap.
We cannot solve our problems with the same thinking we used when we created them.
Look deep into nature, and then you will understand everything better.
both - Albert Einstein
Hi dystopian
How degraded for so many, the quality of life has become. I think much is because of the separation of people from nature and culture. Aren't you glad we had the opportunity to be there then, and still finding the possibilities : ).
Hi Social
Your architectural photos are as striking as all your other photographs, thank you. The music selection was also great, and so complimentary.
Speaking of breaking the mould take a look at this Kiwi designed architecture in China ...
Great design work
It looks very futuristic like something you would see in a science fiction movie . Thanks for the video, Janis.
I'm great at multi-tasking. I can waste time, be unproductive, and procrastinate all at the same time.
On a more mundane level,
some local photos ...
Enjoy the weekend all and be well.
Hey J!
GREAT photos Janis! I love the backlit wet web highlight! I try to shoot them all the time, and almost never get anything I like. They just look easy to shoot. Beautiful photos as always! Thanks!
We cannot solve our problems with the same thinking we used when we created them.
Look deep into nature, and then you will understand everything better.
both - Albert Einstein
Hi, Janis
Your photos are never mundane. The dew covered spider web is a great find. I also like the contrasting colors and patterns in the second shot.
I'm great at multi-tasking. I can waste time, be unproductive, and procrastinate all at the same time.
Here is a picture from
Here is a picture from yesterday's sunset on Kauai's South Shore.
Hi Hindsight
It's a nice surprise to see you again, and to be reminded by your photo of the eternal beauty of Hawaii, especially now. I hope your dedication to conserving the land is continuing to find success.
Greetings from Paradise.
Aloha,
I just moved to the Eastside of Kauai this week. No more awesome sunsets a bike ride away for me. I'll post some sunrise photos as that is a bike ride away now. I'm living in a tiny house now, looks better than any MCM.
Friends of Mahaulepu is still working to stop the over-development on Kauai. The island needs a new dump, wastewater facilities are at capacity not to mention the need for drinking water. It's a mess and the powers that be appear to like it that way. Lots of grift in county government.
that yellow bush makes your house
look afire
awesome shots
thanks for sharing
the Hawaiian mojo!
Aloha Hindsight
Your tiny piece of paradise looks so inviting and expansive. The nostalgia it emanates is a wonderful sensation. You must be enjoying the more succulent air of the east side, to the drier of the SW, enjoy. I look forward to seeing the sunrises.
I hope the devastating event on Maui will encourage all the islands to take a strong stand on their future. Somehow, whether just wishful thinking or blind trust, I do feel a sense of faith in the possibility of Hawaiians directing their future.
All the best for you all.
Hi, Hindsight
Thanks for giving us a glimpse of Kauai. No matter which island you're on, Hawaii never disappoints when it comes to sunsets.
I'm great at multi-tasking. I can waste time, be unproductive, and procrastinate all at the same time.
(No subject)
Sp, do you and yours live in a high
drainage area in SD? It looks like you all will get hit with a healthy tropical storm. Fingers and toes are x'ed for you guys from hurricane-ville.
Most important is water--make sure you are set for drinking and toilets. Will do my usual commentary after I peruse the thread, but wanted you to know my thoughts are with you! 
Inner and Outer Space: the Final Frontiers.
I do NOT like McMansions!!
We've got 'em all over the place here. They are eyesores (for the most part), and cheaply built. They're architectural junk food hence the name. If I had the money, and there was no climate damage, I know the house I would built here. It would be one story, small, flat roofed, concrete block with lots of windows to let in the light. Tiled interior floors and powered by the sun. Any woodwork would be done with dawgs in mind. Large lot with mucho trees and fenced. I love the old hurricane house architecture here. Also, I would not be near any lakes, rivers, nor the ocean. You would not believe the incredible maintenance costs of waterfront property! That's factoring in being rich. Anywho, great thread as always! Sp, please stay safe and well!! At least So Ca. is being spared drought this year. Rec'd!!
Inner and Outer Space: the Final Frontiers.
Hi, orlbucfan
The latest NWS forecast is predicting between 2-3" of rain over the course of the storm which is about double what we would get in a large winter storm. It looks like most of the rain will be further inland in the mountains and deserts. There are areas around the county that flood anytime we have a large storm. Thankfully none of those areas are near me. Thank you for the advice on extra water. I do have extra. Hopefully it won't be needed.
I'm great at multi-tasking. I can waste time, be unproductive, and procrastinate all at the same time.