Onlooker sparks debate after sharing jarring photo of side-by-side houses: 'A stark juxtaposition'

A contributor in the r/McMansionHell subreddit was frustrated to spot not one but two large houses surrounded by unattractive lawns in an area they otherwise love.

They posted a photo of their find online. 

"Spotted in the wild," they said. "Two of them next to each other in a semi-rural area (but near the ocean… so people just can't help themselves)."

Their photo shows two extremely large houses, one beige and one brown. Both show signs of holding multiple cars, being at least two stories, and having many rooms. There is a boat parked in front. The houses are surrounded by a huge, flat lawn and few other landscaping features, similar to certain other sterile layouts. 

Given the amount of space involved, the houses are placed unusually close together, as though they were intentionally built at the edges of their lots to keep each other company.

The original poster was immediately critical. 

"Which one do you hate the most and why?" they asked.

Their frustration is understandable. Although large homes are a luxury that many pursue, they are often wasteful, not just because they're excessively large and expensive, but because they continue to use unnecessary amounts of energy, costing the owners money and generating lots of pollution.

Commenters were not pleased at this sight, and even less so when the original poster explained what could have taken its place.

"The whole area is covered in beautiful trees. It took work to make the yards so goddamn ugly," they explained in a comment. Removing that many trees is also bad for the environment.

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"If you zoom in on the right of the photo you can see how close they are to the waterfront," said a commenter. "The lack of trees is a stark juxtaposition."

"Bananas, right?? This is truly a beautiful area," replied the original poster. "My mom and I were driving around to look at some of the old farmhouses near the docks where my nephew worked. We had to pull the car over when we spotted these. They had to TRY to make it this ugly."

"The one on the right just looks so depressing," another commenter suggested.

Someone else had a different take, though, indicating they didn't see a difference between the pair: "Like choosing the right or left Twix."

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