The McMansion Hell subreddit was created on July 15, 2017, and it has become a sensation since then. The group has amassed an impressive 254K members, and there are photos pouring in every day shaming the worst houses that people come across in their travels. 

To learn more about how this community started, we got in touch with one of the group's moderators, Logan, who was kind enough to have a chat with Bored Panda. He explained that the McMansion Hell subreddit was born out of the McMansion Hell Blog by Kate Wagner. "Kate is a genius," the moderator shared.

We also asked Logan if he's partial to any photos that he's seen shared in the subreddit. "There's so many horrific monstrosities that it's impossible to pick a favorite for me," he says. "There's definitely favorites of mine from our Thursday design appreciation days, like The Stahl House, and any Eichlers posted."

And thankfully, the moderator shared that the group has some lovely members. "It's a nice sub with a chill community, moderation duties are low-key."

But it hasn't changed Logan's opinion on these massive homes. "I have not become a McMansion fan, and would not choose to live in one, but you never know where life will take you."

We were also lucky enough to get in touch with the McMansion expert herself, Kate Wagner, who created the McMansion Hell blog in 2016.

"McMansion Hell started in 2016 as a side project for me while I was in graduate school studying architectural acoustics," Kate shared. "The idea came to me because I wanted to not only create social commentary around wealth and material culture in America but also find a way to merge humor with educational intent and architectural criticism."

We also asked Kate what it's been like to see her blog become so popular. "I've always been very surprised, thankful, and encouraged by the community and the support of the folks who enjoy my work, support it materially on Patreon, and use the blog as an empowered way of looking at the built environment," she told Bored Panda.

So how does Kate feel about these monstrous homes? "I personally feel that the McMansion is an architectural artifact of rising wealth inequality in the United States across the last five or so decades," she shared. "The architecture of these houses and the choices made within represent not only questionable aesthetic taste but are testaments to a society in which a great many people suffer in order for very few of them to possess the wealth necessary to build such houses."

But that doesn't mean that these homes have no value. "As architecture, [these homes] are filled with fascinating statements of worth - architectural languages and ideas of wealth borrowed from other styles, other times, and other places with varying degrees of success in terms of execution - and projections of that worth onto the built environment," Kate noted. "As objects, they have always fascinated me, and I have a soft spot for the elements of creativity and the ad hoc execution that goes into many of them. There is a certain whimsy to the McMansion, especially those from before the great recession."

Finally, we asked the creator if she has any favorite McMansions that she's ever come across. "For me, individual regions stay in my mind rather than individual houses. The best McMansions can be found in a number of hotspots, including the Chicago suburbs, the DC suburbs, Bergen County, NJ, and Denton County, TX," she revealed. "I am always partial to McMansions styled to look like medieval castles, as I have a hobbyist's interest in medieval architecture myself."

But Kate says she rarely sees any McMansions that she would be willing to live in. "I really enjoy urban life and cannot drive, so the McMansion lifestyle has very little appeal to me personally. It would be nice to have a walk-in closet, however."

Natalie Perri, Founder and CEO of Unraveling Architecture, has also written on her blog that she’s not a fan of McMansions. She explains that, not only are these homes often designed poorly with no regard for the environment, they can also put a strain on neighborhoods by “destroying the character of a community.” They can be 10,000 square feet or more, taking up an excessive amount of space and making homeowners around them feel like they’ve lost their sense of privacy.

Huge homes can also create problems when they block neighbors' views, cast huge shadows, require an excessive amount of water and energy to run and have staff coming in and out at all hours. There might be gardeners in the yard every morning, cleaners coming through the home every other day and guests parking up and down the street while the homeowners are entertaining. These factors can all be significant nuisances for neighbors and even impact the resell value of all of the houses in a community. 

We hope you’re enjoying scrolling through these photos of terrible homes, pandas. These pics just go to show that a bigger or fancier house will not necessarily make you happier! Keep upvoting the ones that you think should be demolished, and then, if you’d like to check out another Bored Panda article featuring horrific homes, we’ve got you covered right here!