Teardowns, Too Large Additions, McMansions

The house on the corner, 4000 Hamilton Street, Hyattsville.

Technically, a McMansion can be either just a really large house (typically in the suburbs) or a house crammed in on a lot, oversized compared to the other houses in a neighborhood.

A teardown is where a house is bought for the location of the lot, and the house is torn down in favor of building a new house.

I was walking beween Rt. 1 and the West Hyattsville Metro yesterday, and I came across a monster addition being constructed on the 4000 block of Hamilton Street.

This is clearly not a "teardown" because this kind of lot coverage wouldn't be allowed in the zoning category. So the owners filed a permit for an addition, and likely have exceeded the lot coverage.

A row of Craftsman style houses on the 4000 block of Hamilton Street, Hyattsville.


On the far left, the house that is being expanded.






This isn't in the Hyattsville Historic District.