McDonald’s is renowned for its quick and affordable meals. However, at a location in Long Island, New York, this fast-food giant shatters expectations. Here, the McMansion, a McDonald’s restaurant, is housed in a farmhouse originally built in 1795, later transformed into a mansion in the 1860s for Joseph Denton, a descendant of one of Hempstead’s founders.
McDonald’s acquired the elegant property in the 1980s, saving it from being condemned and demolished by the city of Hempstead. Today, the Georgian-style building is home to one of the most exquisite fast-food establishments in the world.
Before McDonald’s bought the property, the mansion had been in disrepair since the end of World War II, boarded up and neglected for about thirty-five years. The fast-food giant initially planned to tear down the structure and build a new restaurant, but historians and local residents insisted on preserving the historic building. In 1988, it was declared a historical landmark, requiring McDonald’s to maintain the original layout during the renovation process.
By 1991, the restoration was complete, and McDonald’s opened its doors to what would become one of its most visually stunning locations worldwide. Further renovations took place in 2017 as part of the company’s extensive modernization efforts, which only served to enhance the beauty and allure of the McMansion.
Now, the restaurant stands as a unique piece of history in Hempstead, surrounded by strip malls and contemporary developments. Nick Carr, a film location scout, described the area around the McDonald’s McMansion as “hellish, strip mall-lined highways with traffic lights that are perfectly synchronized to make your travel time as long as possible.”
In an article for Scouting New York, Carr recounted his experience of coming across the Golden Arches, expecting a typical McDonald’s establishment. Instead, he discovered a magnificent white mansion. He wrote, “Maybe it was around back or something? And then I realized the mansion was the McDonald’s. Holy crap. I practically expected a maitre d’ to greet me as I went inside.”
The McDonald’s New York regional vice president at the time recalled the condition of the building when they first took over: “When we took over this building, it was a disaster, a real eyesore. There were pigeons all over. We had to gut the building, take it down to the rafters.”
Now, the meticulously restored and maintained McMansion is a testament to McDonald’s adaptability and commitment to preserving historical landmarks.
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Source: AWM