The populi has voxed – and after only a minimum of profanity and adjudication, The Austin Chronicle proudly crowns the above Travis Heights domicile – at least we think that’s what it is – as King McMansion (aka Biggest Eyesore) in our inaugural, online “Am I McMansion or Not?” contest. We were wide-eyed and eager when this exercise in community outreach launched March 10 at austinchronicle.com – it seems but a scant few weeks ago – but our wildest hopes were exceeded after dozens of submissions, hundreds of comments, and tens of thousands of votes. The love expressed on the site, however, we can’t begin to quantify: “Horrible.” “The barge has landed!” “[An] example of Branch Davidian architecture.”
These paeans to the pleasingly plump are but three of 130 comments gracing the above picture – your winning submission. After nearly 4,200 votes, this pristine piece of IKEArchitecture averaged a stellar 8.7 on the Chronicle‘s extremely sciencey Bloat-O-Meter, paving over pretenders to the throne like so much impervious cover. For their photographical prowess, the pic submitter hereby wins his or her very own live oak from TreeFolks, Austin’s premier arbor nonprofit. As does the owner of the home pictured – if they so wish to claim it (contact the Chronicle). There’s still some room on the roof.
This article appears in April 21 • 2006.