Our Very Own McMansion
Forgive me for neglecting our eastern neighbors on Thayer Avenue, but I rarely, if ever, get down that direction. The school is about as far down as I ever go. But imagine my surprise this morning when I drove by the new contruction at Thayer Avenue and Thayer Place.
Wow. This is some kinda setup. I didn’t see a “For Sale” sign, so I assume it’s a custom build job. How did I miss this? It sure doesn’t go with the neighborhood, but it’s not necessarily bad. Just big. You could fit a third world country in this thing. And you probably had to mine all the stone out of said country to build it.
As always, this begs some questions:
- Who is doing this?
- Is there an owner already?
- What’s the square footage?
- Is it too far away to make my property value skyrocket?
- Could you actually fit the population of a developing nation inside?
- Did Jerry McCoy fight against the destruction of something in order for this to be built?
- What would my neighbors say if I built this on my property?
- Doesn’t having the largest house in the neighborhood take your relative property down from where it could be?
Maybe The Silver Bee has some details…
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I hope their immediate neighbors don’t like the sun.
“The thousand nations of Migrant Construction Labor will descend upon you.”
Then we will live in the shade.
THIS IS SILVER SPRING!!! (Kicks messenger from Bethesda into a well)
I used to pass by it everyday over the summer the way to work @ FDA in White Oak. I remember thinking “token McMansion” as I saw the framework going up. It’s definitely a custom-built job. I’ve been on detail since September in Rockville so I just passed by it again for the first time in several weeks on Sunday, and its exceeded even my wildest McMansion expectations. It looks like someone just said “Give me a castle on this plot.” A castle with only 1/4 of it in stone and the rest in siding to save money of course.
If you guys really want to see an impressive McMansion, check out the Tony Montana-esque monstronsity off the eastbound side of Randolph Road right before the intersection with New Hampshire in Colesville. It’s pink, and its big.
See the Randolph Road McMansion right here. You can bet I swerved off the side of the road to get a picture of it a few months ago – and that there were, in fact, people outside glaring at me as I did so.
I saw the Thayer Avenue McMansion on Saturday, I think, and also stopped in the middle of the street to photograph it. The house makes you wonder if the owner saw the apartment building behind it and said “Okay, as long as I make it a few feet shorter than the apartments, the neighbors won’t notice.”
Oh sweet, sweet gentrification. This prosperity makes my eyes burn.
I wonder if it has a big “The World Is Yours” statue in the foyer.
I so need one of those. I’ve always wanted to go in the dark of night and do a conversion job on the big globe in front of Leisure World.
You’d think people would go to places like Bethesda or Potomac for displays of conspicuous consumption like this.
Thanks for the pic, Dan.
Here you go.
See… I told you that Castle Neuthayerstein was going in down the street. Maybe Count von Neuthayer will actually inhabit it part of the year. I hope they have a hunchback.
I heard there’s an ice rink and waterpark inside?
To save money, he was hoping to carpet the basement by recycling The Turf after it’s ripped out next year, but the square footage of green astroturf wasn’t big enough.
Not to mention the dry cleaning bill.
But as a bonus, he wouldn’t have to buy smokes for a while, as the turf should have enough butts stuck in it to keep him going for months.
There’s actually the original tiny house somewhere inside. I don’t think they tore the whole thing down, strangely enough, just built around it. The last part of the original house that I was able to see was where the person is standing on the yellow scaffolding in your photo.
That’s all just additions, not a new house? That’s almost as many modifications as that house on the corner of Thayer and Grove.
We have one of everything here on Thayer Avenue. Our housing stock includes a farm house, pre-war bungalows, garden apartments, public housing, a house with chickens in the yard, and now, a little bit of McLean in East Silver Spring
If you have the actuall street # address it is quite easy to do a real property search and get many of your questions answered.
Considering what has been going on in nearby Takoma Park neighborhoods – this was inevitable.
Some details on the McMansion of Thayer Avenue . . .
The builder is “I HATE YUPPIES” He is building it for just himself! He will be moving in when it’s completed at the end of March.. NOT. . Just Kidding. But really, the owner bought it from an estate in 2004 for $308,000 (house) and 55,000 for an extra lot that went along with it. What was there before was an awful old beat-up rambler built in 1945. I always thought it was a condemned house. It was a gift to the neighborhood when this guy tore it down. The lot is a nice size at over 12,000 square feet. I don’t know if the guy is going to move in or try to sell it – Right now it appears, he lives in Croom, Maryland (a nice rural area in upper PG County)
Not to be outdone, Easley Street is getting its own McMansion (see the building now wrapped in Tyvek on the block of Easley Street east of Bullis Park). Thayer’s is bigger, though.
Of COURSE Thayer’s is bigger!
Thanks, Deb! Just the thought of IHY contributing to the Bethesdafication of Silver Spring is spectacular.
[...] was inspired by a another local blogger http://www.ThayerAvenue.com who posted about a ginormous McMansion going up in East Silver Spring on Thayer [...]
Just seeing this post – wish I had read your blog earlier.
Everytime I pass this house I cringe – the builders need some taste – the window’s are too small for the size of the building and it looks like they have 4 – 6 regular sized entry doors in the middle of the house… Didn’t want to go the extra mile to get double entry way doors.
Combined with those cut corners the faux stone on the front looks absolutely horrible – if you’re going thru the effort do it right!