There aren’t too many really in-your-face McMansions in the Bay Area — which isn’t to say there aren’t lots of ugly, over-sized homes that we would really rather didn’t exist at all.
A new study reveals why it is people like me can have a visceral reaction to McMansions. Apparently it is when the homes are out of proportion to the neighborhood that they cause bother, not so much their size per se.
So if someone puts up a home that is twice as big as most homes in the ‘hood, and therefore not architecturally compatible, it is likely to cause a strong negative reaction, according to the Ohio State University report.
Like so many studies that require large amounts of brain power and funding, the conclusions seem pretty self-evident to me. Still, this probably explains why the palatial mansions of Piedmont, like the one above (330 days on market, two price cuts from $3.1m to $2.6m), while undeniably big, are not unduly offensive, because the reality is they are surrounded by similarly huge homes — some prettier than others.