The McLoft: A Faux Urban Loft For The Suburbs

A curious hybrid of McMansion and SoHo, the interior looks like the typical converted downtown loft, complete with an open floor plan, buffed concrete floors, high ceilings, and lots of shiny steel fixtures. But it is also surrounded by a small but immaculate yard, ensconced in a gated section of a suburban development.

...detached faux-warehouses with urban monikers like the Ballpark, the Steam Plant, and the Cannery...

...while some developers cheat and call something a loft simply because it has a high ceiling, most immerse their creations in factory grit: roll-up garage doors, exposed ductwork, brick or cinder block walls, caged floodlights...

You want a more urban experience, but you don't want to give up your suburban trappings. The answer? A house in the suburbs that looks like it belongs in the city...

What began with something authentic, the converted downtown loft, has been slowly diluted into little more than a few symbolic, superficial elements."