A side order of McMansions

Let’s drive straight in (or thru) with this tasty Tumblr account, mcmansionhell. The latest post from the avid McMansion decoder, architecture critic Kate Wagner, is titled McTuscan Heaven. What follows is a wryly captioned tour of this baffling suburban home, our favourite being “ahoy matey”, highlighting a randomly placed porthole on the “heinous” rear façade. Wagner’s account has been devoured for over a decade, but McMansions have been gobbling up suburban plots in the US since the ‘80s. In recent years, these mega-homes have been supplanted by what Wagner calls the McModern. Inspired by mid-century homes, the McModern is big and boxy with clean lines and acres of glazing. Basically, today’s McModern conveys the same “mass-produced version of the American dream” as the McMansions of yesteryear – only they’re way less fun to caption.

Brick by brick

We’re taking things back to the bare brick now with a brilliant book by the graphic designer Melissa Price. Brick Bonds (available from stockists including The AA Bookshop) celebrates the raw beauty of the humble brick and is the result of a decade of research into the often-overlooked craft of bricklaying. The book is the size and shape of a brick and is Swiss-bound, which enables you to lie it flat while studying the graphic depictions of brick bonds, from the ubiquitous Flemish Bond to the more complex Chevron Monk Bond. We’ll never stare at a blank wall in the same way again.

Art for everyone

Artists at home are a constant source of inspiration to us. (In fact, we’re working on a series tangentially related to this right now. More to come soon.) Which is why we love it when stories like this appear in our feed. How else would we have heard about Dorothy and Herbert Vogel – a librarian and a postal worker who filled their one-bedroom Manhattan apartment with more than 4,000 artworks by key minimalists and conceptual artists including Sol LeWitt, Donald Judd, Chuck Close, Joseph Beuys and Lynda Benglis. “In 1992, they donated the bulk of their collection to the National Gallery of Art,” reads the caption: “a radical gesture rooted in their belief that art should be accessible to everyone.” Follow @theartreporter for more artist-at-home stories.

Rosie Lowe at home

It’s been a while since we shared a Modern House playlist, but we wanted to share an album that has burrowed its way into our minds recently when editing a feature about the Deptford-based musician Rosie Lowe. Rosie is selling her apartment with The Modern House at the moment and, before we interviewed her for the Journal, she shared a link to an intimate live session she recorded at home. The tracks are taken from her latest album, ‘Lover, Other’. Enjoy.

Playing house

And lastly – for all the tablescapers out there – who wouldn’t like to move into this (machine washable) house for living in?

Photography credits: © Mcmansionhell; © Brick Bonds courtesy of Melissa Price; © Morgan Pollard; © Ferm Living