This week, as I scanned local real estate listings, I began to notice an eerie presence. It was huge, often massive, and it kept popping up in the multi-million dollar price range.
It was the Frankenmansion (cue the spooky music).
So what makes a mansion Franken? They look like an architectural Lego project, like someone has taken several homes and stuck them all together.
Some houses come by this look organically. After years of additions and renovations they look pieced together, and it works. Some, however, are built to be Franken. I guess home builders think , “if one giant house is impressive, then mashing five together must be even better!”
These home designs often rely on mixing materials (stone, stucco and brick is a common cocktail) and architectural styles to craft their cacophony. The liberal use of columns, a minimum of eight separate roof lines and the incorporation of at least one turret also seem de rigueur.
You don’t believe in monsters? Well, look at the examples I have gathered as proof. The Frankenmansion is very much alive and well in Baltimore, and like Mary Shelly’s creation, there’s a certain appeal to their ambling clunkiness.
Do one of these creatures (sold or not) lurk in your neck of the woods? Email me a photo and we will add it to the collection. Happy looking!
3885 Whitebrook Lane, Ellicott City
$3,999,900
7 br/12 ba
See the listing on Baltimore Fishbowl Real Estate
1432 Sparks Road, Sparks Glencoe
$2,600,000
5 br/6.5
445 Houk Road, Westminster
$2,400,000
6 br/4.5 ba
12421 Hunters Glen, Owings Mills
$2,395,500
5 br/6.5 ba
See the listing on Baltimore Fishbowl Real Estate
555 Kate Wagner Road, Westminster
$1,900,000
7br
2630 Preserve Drive, Finksburg
$1,800,000
6 br/6.5 ba
