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Welcome to Land of Excess and our self-titled blog which aspires to be a contemporary study of residential buildings for sale in the Greater Washington, D.C. Metropolitan Area.

We are all over it.

The ‘Prestige’.  The ‘Grandeur’.  The ‘Hulking Piles of Construction Materials’ that are, in fact,  McMansions.

The idea for this blog came to its founder, Anne Rowland, on April 24, 2012 after she read an article in that day’s Washington Post about a giant residential structure being built just down the road from where her family had lived in Great Falls, Virginia, a suburb /exurb 14 miles west of Washington, D.C.  This giant building was to be called ‘Le Chateau de Lumiere.’   It was to be 25,424 square feet of imitation Versailles on 5 acres.  The construction was causing a neighborly contretemps, and suits and countersuits were being filed.   After our founder read the article, she paced her New York City apartment, wringing her hands.  She thought back to the year 2001, when the modest house that was designed (by a real architect!!!) and built for her family was torn down by the new owner.  In its place he built a 15,000 square foot residence, properly termed a McMansion.

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Old Guest House with New McMansion, Great Falls, VA 2002. Anne Rowland

The impending existence of ‘Le Chateau de Lumiere’ reawakened our founder’s distress about what had happened to her family home.  Over time, the initial sadness and revulsion had mutated into a passion against, and fury at, the proliferation of gigantic McMansions in Great Falls and surrounding suburbs.   After reading about ‘Le Chateau de Lumiere,’ just pacing the apartment and wringing her hands wouldn’t do.  She needed an outlet for her passion and fury.  The internet!!!!!  Facebook!!!!  In a frenzy she posted pictures and remarks about ‘Le Chateau de Lumiere’ and the McMansion built on top of the rubble of her old house.   And she said  “O.K. This will be my new daily thing.”  And thus Land of Excess was born.  We are happy now to present Land of Excess as a blog of its own.  And, to broaden our brand, Land of Excess will be offering our own unique Home Decor Products.  And finally, we will occasionally find it necessary to present, on the blog, a Land of Excess Live Action Video featuring various goings-on recorded for posterity.

Anne Rowland is a landscape photographer who lives in both the West Village of New York City and in the charming and bucolic Bluemont, VA,  45 miles west of Washington, D.C.  Her work is represented by Hemphill Fine Arts in Washington, D.C.   Her photography can be viewed online at http://www.annerowland.net.