There’s a real-life McMansion on Long Island.
However, this mansion isn’t, as the term might suggest, a cheap, ostentatious house. Instead, it’s a 19th century mansion in New Hyde Park, New York, that has been turned into a McDonald’s restaurant.
The mansion – which has hardwood floors, a double staircase and the original portico – was recently even dubbed the “most beautiful” McDonald’s in the U.S. by Insider.
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According to the outlet, the mansion was originally built in 1795 as a farmhouse for a man named Joseph Denton. However, in the 1860s, it was converted into a Georgian-style mansion, Atlas Obscura reported. Over the years, the mansion was reportedly repurposed as a funeral home and several restaurants.
The “most beautiful” McDonald’s location is in a 19th century mansion on Long Island. McDonald’s renovated the rundown mansion in the late 1980s and opened the location in 1991.
(Google Earth)
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By 1986, McDonald’s bought the rundown property for $1 million and planned to tear the house down so the company could build a more traditional fast food joint, Insider reported. However, residents weren’t happy with the plans and fought the chain until 1988, when the mansion became a designated historic landmark.
McDonald’s eventually agreed to restore the building – in exchange for permission to build a drive-thru, per the New York Post. The McMansion finally opened in 1991, looking much the same as it did in the 1920s, according to Insider.
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When it opened 30 years ago, a food critic noted that the food was “exactly the same,” regardless of the more upscale location, the Post reported.
The only significant external change made to the restaurant since it opened include painting the shutters black, instead of the original sea green. The restaurant also added self-order kiosks and digital menu boards in 2017, according to the outlet.