Queens McMansions: Making Life Less Affordable in ‘The Boroughs’
December 27, 2007 by Jennifer Chait
Filed under Home & Living
~ By Deborah Ng
I lived over 30 years in Elmhurst, Queens, New York. Though it’s not a place I choose to live now, Queens will always have a special place in my heart. Even now, five years after moving away from New York, I still visit often and keep up by reading Queens blogs.
When I was growing up, the trend was to buy up houses and knock them down to be replaced by apartment buildings and multiple family houses. My area of Queens was the city’s melting pot and more families moved in each month. I couldn’t believe it when developers turned the Colonial next door to my grandmother’s house into a four family home and built a three family apartment building in the driveway.
The house with the arrow is the house I grew up in, my grandmother’s house. The house with two dots was built into the driveway of the white house to the left of it. And to the left of that, with two dots on the roof, is the two family house where I rented an apartment for 15 years.
Now there’s a different trend. Charming old homes are being torn down to be replaced by McMansions. Since space is limited many of the structures are rather narrow, like this:
And this:
Here’s my problem with McMansions. I understand when homeowners want to build on or increase their curb appeal. I don’t even mind McMansions so much. They can’t hold a candle to my mother’s 119 year old Victorian but some of them have charm in a mass-produced cookie cutter sort of way.
Queens is one of “The Boroughs.” Many of us chose to live in the boroughs because it was cheaper than the Manhattan where a one room studio averages about $2500 per month and apartments sell for millions.
With developers tearing down affordable 3 and 4 bedroom homes and building huge, and I mean huge, multi-million dollar homes, only the rich will be able to afford to live in Queens anymore.
Certainly the average Joe couldn’t afford this home:
Or this one:
And especially not this one:
Goodbye Queens. I’m so glad I grew up in the 70’s when all the families on 50th Avenue knew each other and the houses warm, comfortable and quaint.
Please visit Deborah Ng’s other blogs: Freelance Writing Jobs, Simply Thrifty and Celebrity Cowboy.
[Images via Queebs Reborn: For Better or For Worse.]
Mcmansions? GRRRR.Don’t get me started on this subject. I get violent.
I’m with Marye on the ‘grrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrr’ response to McMansions. GRRRRRRRRRRRRrr
Here’s a link to a gorgeous island community in BC (Canada) that is working really hard to achieve ‘green’ and sustainable options and to cope with McMansionification:
http://www.gulfislands.net/green_edition/index.asp
Great post Deb.
I wonder if the developers are bothering to get all those new McMansions LEED certified? That would make it a little easier to swallow…
I really love old houses, and I hope a few survive in your old neighborhood.
It is sad with older houses are torn down and we lose part of our heritage. Unfortunately, maintenance, taxes, and other high cost factors often force the original homeowners to sell. It happens in the country, the suburbs and the city.
I did enjoy the “tour” of your part of Queens though and seeing where you grew up. Write down the memories of those days.
I never would have guessed that McMansions had invaded Queens! This is a real eye-opener, though I suppose it’s not entirely surprising.
I personally wish more people would renovate existing homes rather than destroy them, but I know that’s not always possible due to various economic, building code, and other considerations.
Nice post!
I loved seeing the house you grew up in, Deb. What a fun post! When my husband and I were dating, he was living in the Bay Ridge section of Brooklyn, and I saw the same thing happening there. You’d be walking down a typical Brooklyn street then turn the corner and suddenly there were these huge mansions. They were very pretty, but it was bizarre. I always felt like I had completely left Brooklyn for a bit while I walked on those McMansion streets!