The Ugliest Mansions in Texas

They say everything’s bigger in Texas, and McMansions are no exception. So when architecture and design blog McMansion Hell reckoned with the Lone Star State in its latest series, 50 States of McMansion Hell, it did not hold back.

The hilariously harsh blog combed through 2000 prospective homes across Texas to find the 16 most hideous contenders.

The website presented the finalists in all their glory in a two-part blog post – and, of course, provided some snarky commentary to go with.

Instead of ranking the homes as it usually does, McMansion Hell left the readers to choose the very best of the very worst. And some of the now-infamous homes might not be far from your neighborhood. McMansion Hell scrounged North Texas, Houston, Austin, San Antonio and the surrounding suburbs to make the list.

North Texas produced an impressive six out of 16 finalists, including two homes in Denton County, two homes in Rockwall County, and two homes in Collin County.

Houston and the surrounding areas also came through with four seriously ugly houses – two in Montgomery County and two in Fort Bend County.

Austin, maintaining its image as the “cool” city, placed only two homes on the list, both in Travis County.

The remaining four homes were located in Comal County and Kendall County near San Antonio.

Our personal favorites? We’re partial to House 12 in Travis County, mostly because of the strange outdoor veranda which McMansion Hell compares to the outdoor bar at Olive Garden.

House 13, aka Smallpox Estates, is also a strong candidate. The builders ran out of Austin stone halfway through the process and filled in the gaps with red brick for an edgy, devil-may-care look.

But, when it comes down to it, there’s a clear winner. We can’t get over House 14, aka Clone Wars, in Denton County – a whimsical structure with no less than seven spired towers.

Rumor has it, Harry Potter stays here when he’s in Texas.