Is my house a ranch house? A colonial? A colonial-ranch? A year into the blog, I’m pretty sure in understanding that my own house is a mix…but this holiday week I’ve been doing more research into the true academic terminology, if there is such a thing. To start, here’s a story from the National Park Service that lays out how the ranch home developed, and which gives us the clues to telling whether our homes are truly ranches – or not. Some of my key takeaways:
- A ranch is defined by its livability, flexibility, and unpretentiousness. It has a low sloping stance and roofline and is designed to bring the outside in.
- Yes, it has one story. But not all one-story houses are ranch homes.
- Ranch-style, ranch bungalow, ranchette, rambler, California colonial, and even ranch burger — all synonyms for “ranch.” I also know there are further sub-categories: Such as ‘Cinderella ranch’ aka ‘Storybook ranch.’
One last point: I still would like to see the actual data proving that ranch homes were the dominant style throughout the 50s. I think that cape/colonial homes may truly have been their match – especially when you consider that many of these homes might be incorrectly called ranches just because they are on a single story.
Read on for a serious “NY Times style” Sunday magazine story —->
Introduction
With nearly constant rumbling and clattering sounds of construction, much of American suburbia was transformed during the bustling postwar period. Vast acres of land were subdivided for a multitude of new housing tracts. Their varied patterns of streets, yards, and detached single-family houses rapidly changed the appearance of the semi-rural and rural landscape beyond most downtown areas. Residential building for much of the period between 1945 and 1970 was characterized by a competitive sales market for such “tract” houses, since the demand for affordable housing remained relatively steady and public and private financing was offered at reasonable rates.1 By far the most predominant design, especially in California, was the one-story ranch house and the informal way of living that it sought to project.
Tracing its architectural heritage from adobes and wood-frame-and-sheathed ranch buildings built during the more rugged nineteenth century, the postwar California ranch house quickly attained national appeal, just as the bungalow had previously. An observation made in the late 1950s by the cultural historian Russell Lynes suggests why the ranch house appeared so popular: “Nobody could mind it. It was not experimental enough to be considered ‘ugly’ by even the most conservative, and it was not tricked-up enough to be considered ‘ugly’ by the experimental. It was merely ‘nice.’ It was ‘unobjectionable.’ It was ‘homey,’ and it was said to be ‘practical.’”2
The rather benign character of a ranch house also led to other comments at the time, many of a more critical nature. For example, the architectural historian and preservationist James Marston Fitch apparently felt uncomfortable with its sweeping popularity when he wrote: “ … there was at first, a tendency to dismiss it as too exotic: ‘It’s all right for California but it wouldn’t work here.’ Now we are at the other extreme–building ‘California-type ranch houses’ in every state of the Union regardless of their fitness to the site and the climate.3
Even the name itself has been broadly identified over the years. Ranch-style, ranch bungalow, ranchette, rambler, California colonial, and less than flattering names like ranch burger are just a sampling. Whether embraced or ridiculed, the immense number of ranch houses built in California and elsewhere clearly conveys a widespread popularity after the Second World War. While the expected context for a ranch house was its snug appearance on a landscaped parcel in the suburbs, the ranch house was portrayed in other ways, too, such as a child’s playhouse or doll house, as the setting for advertisements or for the entertainment industry, or as a popular icon in the museum and collector’s world of 1960s painting.
Today the ranch house is less popular than it was in the postwar years. In fact, reactions of increased disdain have become somewhat predictable. A couple of general factors help explain why such views have
been expressed: first, it is essentially out-of-fashion except for a small contingent of admirers; and second, some studies tend to perceive the ranch house as being representative of a socially less enlightened period
in our history.4 Yet throughout the twentieth century, the ranch house has been like a chameleon, adaptable to almost any condition of design, materials, and method of construction, while still maintaining its low
horizontal scale and recognizable image.
General Characteristics and Overview
In defining the characteristics of a ranch house, it is not surprising that Sunset Magazine took the lead since it has been the long-established voice of western living. Following much coverage of the modern ranch
house and its predecessors in the magazine prior to the Second World War, Sunset Magazine subsequently published its first of two books on the topic in 1946, titled Western Ranch Houses.5 It was assembled as an
architectural pattern book, with an emphasis on illustrations, photographs, and a selective amount of text. The examples were primarily designed before the war by prominent California architects like Cliff May of
Los Angeles and the San Francisco architect William W. Wurster (Wurster, Bernardi, and Emmons).6 May, who was the collaborative author with the magazine’s editorial staff, continued throughout his life to be the
figure most closely associated with the ranch house, in part because of his close association with Sunset Magazine.7 The book was among many publications at the time that promoted the ranch house as suitable
for postwar housing.
Western Ranch Houses stressed three basic concepts about the ranch house rather than discussing its style: livability, flexibility, and an unpretentious character. Coupled with the importance of using climate as an
element of design, these concepts were applied to conditions of the site and orientation of the house. Outdoor living areas extending beyond the house on the same level were also emphasized, so that interior
space merged with the exterior, separated merely by large areas of glass and sliding glass doors. Other typical characteristics included a linear arrangement of rooms, elevations composed asymmetrically, and a
telescopic effect of low wings spreading out from the rectangular core of the plan. And additions and alterations to a ranch house were foreseeable since they were part of its architectural tradition.
By the 1950s, the ranch house had become the predominant choice for detached, single-family residences; a position it held well into the 1960s. Seemingly its range of imagery, informal plans, and inclusion of the
latest household equipment satisfied contemporary preferences and requirements. Such owner satisfaction was especially true of the work of Cliff May. His design for the Robert Power residence (1962-1963) in the
coastal city of Camarillo, north of Los Angeles, illustrates how traditional and modern architectural elements were skillfully combined to create a design that recalls the past instead of simply replicating it. By using post-and-beam construction and an open floor plan, generous amounts of light and space are captured under a low-pitched gable roof.8 Works by other practitioners like Wurster, Bernardi, and Emmons often achieved similar results. The firm’s Williams residence (1956) was designed as a light-filled, airy ranch house set in the rural hills of Portola Valley, near San Francisco.9 Similar in design to these California examples, the Albert Goldmon residence (1957; Goldmon and Rolfe, architects) in Houston, Texas, also illustrates the visual effect of setting a ranch house comfortably low on its site.
Even though the widespread popularity of single-family ranch houses peaked by the late 1960s, examples are still built in California today, primarily at new subdivisions where the style is offered among a selection of period revival houses. In addition, the growing demand for condominiums and retirement housing since the 1970s has led to the construction of multifamily complexes of ranch houses, adding to their ever increasing number.
Historical Development
The essential ingredient of a traditional nineteenth century adobe (often called a ranch house) was its informality of design and functional relationship to the outdoors. A single-story adobe was typically
constructed with one or more long porches (corredors), which provided covered external circulation between the rooms in lieu of hallways. It also served as a transitional layer of living space between the
exterior and interior of the building, and it was oriented toward a private courtyard. Since the late nineteenth century, subsequent interpretations of this architectural element have repeatedly influenced a
romantic image of California architecture and its relationship to the environment.
Writers and architects among others began to recognize the cultural value of California adobes in the late nineteenth century, simultaneous to their fascination with the buildings of the Franciscan missions. Similar
to activity elsewhere in the country, architects in California visited and sketched the region’s architectural past as a means of finding inspiration for new design.10 This interest continued to develop in the twentieth
century; initially apparent in the work of many Arts and Crafts practitioners who recognized the utility and simplicity of traditional ranch houses and the informal character of design that they provided. Architects
like the Pasadena-based Charles and Henry Greene designed some of their wood-frame Craftsman bungalows as low single-story houses oriented around two or three sides of a commodious landscaped
courtyard.11 The residence they designed for Arturo Bandini (1903; no longer extant) in Pasadena was conceived specifically to recall qualities of a California adobe. Other architects and builders designed
comparable low-cost versions of ranch houses, which were meant for mass distribution through building companies, plan services, and pattern books.12
The ranch house continued to broaden in form and characteristics during the 1920s and 1930s, when period revival architecture in California embraced Mediterranean and Hispanic architectural traditions, and the
tradition of its American colonial past. Adding to this mix of imagery, the influence of modern architecture on the design of ranch houses became more apparent by the late 1930s and continued thereafter.
Throughout these decades, such changes were motivated by the sense that ranch houses should be up-todate in terms of design and function; meanwhile, apparent connections to the past gradually decreased.
During the Depression, home ownership programs sponsored by the federal government and various organizations frequently promoted the ranch house as an appropriate design for low-cost housing in
California and the West. For one of its projects in the area of Los Angeles, the U.S. Farm Security Administration (FSA) constructed, in 1935, a group of ranch houses on a tract of subsistence homesteads,
which was laid out to respect the existing character of a former walnut grove. The architect Joseph Weston designed four different houses based on the number of bedrooms, each type having multiple plans and
elevations to ensure variation for the entire development.13
In comparison to this effort by the FSA, some contemporaneous, privately developed subdivisions in Los Angeles consisted of larger ranch houses built on small estate-like parcels that were promoted to middle class
buyers. Rolling Hills (1934 and later; A.E. Hanson, developer/landscape architect) on the Palos Verdes peninsula and Riviera Ranch (1939 and later; Cliff May, architect/builder) in West Los Angeles were among the more prominent examples that were constructed.14 The promotion of each subdivision emphasized the connection to its respective historical land grant made in the nineteenth century, along with the pleasures of the semi-rural landscape and outdoor recreational activities like horseback riding. The proximity of their locations to office and commercial developments was pointed out as well. Stables, paddocks, motor courts, and multicar garages were all carefully designed as integral components of the typically sprawling, suburban residences.
When the federal government imposed limitations on building materials during the Second World War, new housing construction throughout the country was restricted to projects for defense workers. In California where employment opportunities in the aircraft and shipbuilding industries attracted masses of people, defense housing tracts were often constructed with ranch houses, albeit minimal in character. Noted examples like San Lorenzo Village (1944 and later; David D. Bohannon, developer/ builder), located south of Oakland, took the basic features of a ranch house and achieved variation through the different orientation of plans, treatment of elevations, and selection of materials. Construction of the project was well organized, taking advantage of precut lumber and staging areas at the site to ensure timely completion and cost efficiency.15 While the standardization that resulted from such examples was a necessity at the time, this approach to design and construction remained viable and practical for tract developments after the war as well. However, this approach also contributed to criticism of ranch houses, both at the time and subsequently.
The wartime limits on construction caused many American architects, designers, and builders to focus their attention instead on predictions about the design of houses for the postwar period. Discussions about appearance, materials, construction techniques, and furnishings were frequently included in the programs and publications of the American Institute of Architects and the National Association of Home Builders (NAHB), founded in 1942 in Washington, D.C. In addition, books such as Elizabeth B. Mock’s If You Want to Build a House (New York, 1946), published by the Museum of Modern Art, and the complete guide for Tomorrow’s House (New York, 1945) by George Nelson and Henry Wright were among numerous publications that were available at a modest cost. And broad coverage of the topic in professional and popular periodicals was also nearly continuous.
In terms of the popular press, home shelter magazines continued their devoted sponsorship of affordable residential design during the 1940s and subsequent decades. Good Housekeeping, House Beautiful, and Better Homes & Gardens were among the main publications that solicited work from leading architects and builders across the country. Ranch houses designed by Cliff May and others were among scores of designs that were prominently featured in print and usually built for public viewing as model houses, fully furnished and landscaped. Ideally, such examples conveyed the benefits of a collaborative effort, in which architects, builders, landscape architects, and interior designers pooled their talents to achieve quality products for sale.
Activity in the field of low-cost house design intensified even further during the early 1950s. Amid this activity, Cliff May collaborated with the Los Angeles architect Chris Choate in designing a low-cost ranch house that was marketed by the organization Cliff May Homes, initially in California and then nationwide by the mid- 1950s. The “Magic Money House” (1952-1953), was based on a five foot, four inch modular plan, and used post-and-beam elements with precut wooden wall panels for the structural components.16
The standard 831 square foot, two bedroom design was priced at approximately $8,000; larger plans were adapted from this basic scheme. All of the designs were available for construction on individual lots or in multiples at tract developments. The design, materials, and method of construction of the Magic Money House were adroitly handled to create an up-to-date modern ranch house; yet the simplicity of its rectangular form and low-pitched gable roof still conveyed a traditional image. The Magic Money House joined May’s commissioned work in having a substantial impact on the postwar popularity of the ranch house. After the war as before the war, May’s work appealed to a wide audience that varied both economically and geographically.
Numerous other architects, builders, and prefabrication companies took advantage of the nationwide demand for ranch houses after the Second World War.17 Scholz Homes, Incorporated (Donald Scholz, builder) in Toledo, Ohio, and the National Homes Corporation, a successful prefabrication firm in Lafayette, Indiana, were among many that were actively designing and building ranch houses in the Midwest and other areas of the country.18 Most examples were essentially composed and sited as one might find along a typical postwar suburban street in California. On the East Coast, the prominent firm of Levitt and Sons even switched from its popular Cape Cod models to ranch houses for the Goldenridge tract (1951) in Levittown, Pennsylvania.19
Generally, these and other ranch houses revealed how various interpretations over the years had broadened its image in terms of design. This breadth of imagery also integrated details from regional as well as medieval variations of the Colonial Revival, the Prairie School and the work of Frank Lloyd Wright, Asia and the Pacific Islands, and elements from other architectural periods and traditions. Yet, the essential features of a ranch house, especially its low rectangular form and sense of informality, remained dominant. The popularity of the ranch house extended beyond residential architecture as well, long before the postwar period. Since the ranch house was typically low in scale and had a linear plan, it was easily adapted for almost every building type. Schools, public buildings, club buildings, small office buildings, and health care facilities were among the many nonresidential types that were designed to resemble single-family ranch houses. Designs for motels, restaurants, supermarkets, shopping centers, and other automobile related buildings achieved similar results as well. And by the 1960s, many of the major gasoline companies embraced the compatible suburban image of a ranch house for their neighborhood service stations. A Union Oil Company service station (circa 1965) in Thousand Oaks expresses how it and other service stations in California tried to convey an appropriate fit with their setting.
Conclusion
Following the initial popularity of the ranch house during the first half of the twentieth century, its prevalence after World War II secured its status as a major element of American culture. It seems somewhat puzzling, however, that the current retrospective interest in design, music, and fashion of the 1950s and 1960s has approached the ranch house primarily with apprehension, if at all. Perhaps for now it’s just too ordinary and common. Recently though, a hint of its significance was suggested when a brief history of the ranch house appeared in the twenty-fifth anniversary issue of the Old House Journal.20 And just last year, Sunset Magazine once again acknowledged its long association with the ranch house. The magazine’s annual Idea House for 1999 (Frank Stolz of South Coast Architects; and The O’Brien Group, developer/builder) was promoted as the “ranch house of the new millennium.”21 Built near San Jose, south of the magazine’s offices in Menlo Park, the design illustrates that the concept of a ranch house still continues to be explored and broadly interpreted.
This article was originally published in Preserving the Recent Past 2, edited by Deborah Slaton and William G. Foulks, Washington, DC: Historic Preservation Education Foundation, National Park Service, and Association for Preservation Technology International, 2000.
Notes
1 For a selection of the vast literature on postwar housing, see: Barry Checkoway, “Large Builders, Federal Housing Programs, and Postwar Suburbanization,” International Journal of Urban and Regional Research
4, no. I (March 1980): 21-45; Joseph B. Mason, History of Housing in the U.S. 1930-1980 (Houston: Gulf Publishing Co., 1982); Ned Eichler, The Merchant Builders (Cambridge: MIT Press, 1982); and Scott
Donaldson, The Suburban Myth (New York: Columbia University Press, 1969).
2 Russell Lynes, The Domesticated Americans (New York: Harper and Row, 1957), 266-67. See also: T.H. Robsjohn-Gibbings, Homes of the Brave (New York: Alfred A. Knopf, 1954), 77-81.
3 James Marston Fitch, “The New American Architecture Started 70 Years Ago,” House Beautiful 92, no.
5 (May 1950): 258.
4 See, for example: Barbara L. Allen, “The Ranch-Style House in America: A Cultural and Environmental Discourse,” Journal of Architectural Education 49, no. 3 (February 1996): 156-165.
5 See also the later edition: Sunset Magazine, ed., Western Ranch Houses by Cliff May (San Francisco: Lane Publishing Co., 1958). It was reprinted in 1997 and the earlier edition (1946) was reprinted in 1999,
both by another publisher.
6 David Bricker, “Cliff May,” in Toward a Simpler Way of Life: The Arts & Crafts Architects of California, ed. Robert Winter (Berkeley: University of California Press, 1997), 283-90; and Daniel
Gregory, “William W. Wurster,” 245-254.
7 Daniel P. Gregory, “Visions and Subdivisions: Sunset Magazine and the California Ranch House,” Architecture California 13, no. I (February 1991): 32-35.
8 “Residence of Mr. and Mrs. Robert Power, Camarillo, California,” Architectural Digest 2 1, no. 2 (Fall 1964): 20 23.
9 Alan R. Michelson, “Bemardi, Emmons–and Wurster: Focus on the Younger Partners,” in An Everyday Modernism: The Houses of William Wurster, ed. Marc Treib (Berkeley: University of California Press,
1995), 222 223.
10 David Gebhard, “Architectural Imagery, The Mission and California,” Harvard Architectural Review I (Spring 1980): 13940; Karen J. Weitze, California’s Mission Revival (Los Angeles: Hennessey and Ingalls, 1984), 26-28; and Richard Longstreth, On the Edge of the World: Four Architects in San Francisco at the Turn of the Century (New York: Architectural History Foundation, and Cambridge: MIT Press, 1983), 279-286.
11 Randall L. Makinson, Greene and Greene, Architecture as a Fine Art (Salt Lake City: Peregrine Smith, Inc., 1977): 70-72, 8889; “Wooden Dwellings in California on the Lines of the Old Spanish Adobe,”
Craftsman 13, no. 5 (February 1908): 568-71; and Seymour E. Locke, “Bungalows, What They Really Are. The Frequent Misapplication of the Name,” House and Garden 12, no. 2 (August 1907): 48-50.
12 See, for example: Garden City Company of California, Ideal Homes in Garden Communities, 2nd ed.(New York: Robert M. McBride and Co., 1916), 11, 14, 19, 26, 37-38, 43.
13 “Subsistence Homesteads Are Planned for Economy and Comfort,” Southwest Builder and Contractor 84, no. 19 (19 November 1934): 26-28; and “Rurban Homes Project Near El Monte Now Nearing Completion,” Southwest Builder and Contractor 86, no. 6 (9 August 1935): 12-13.
14 A.E. Hanson, Rolling Hills: The Early Years, February 1930 through December 7,1941 (Rolling Hills: City of Rolling Hills, 1978); “Riviera Ranch Tract Being Opened Today,” Los Angeles Times, 20 October 1940, pt. V, p.3; and Cynthia Castle, “The Times Home Hunter,” Los Angeles Times, 17 November 1940, pt. V.
11 “Bohannon Building Team,” Architectural Forum 82, no. 6 (June 1945): 133-136, 138, 142, 146; “Big Dave Bohannon, Operative Builder by the California Method, Fortune 33, no. 4 (April 1946): 144-47, 190-200. See also: Donald Albrecht, ed., World War II and the American Dream: How Wartime Building Changed a Nation (Cambridge: MIT Press, 1995).
16 David Bricker, “Built For Sale: Cliff May and the Low Cost California Ranch House,” (MA thesis, University of California, Santa Barbara, 1983), 8 1-100. The design was renamed the “Magazine Cover House” in 1954.
17 See, for example: A. Quincy Jones, Jr. and Frederick E. Emmons, Builders’ Homes for Better Living (New York: Reinhold Publishing Co., 1957); Royal Barry Wills, Living on the Level: One-Story Houses (Boston: Houghton Mifflin Co., 1955); and John Hancock Callender, Before You Buy a House (New York: Crown Publishers, Inc., 1953).
18 “Look at What’s Selling in Ohio!,” House and Home 3, no. I (January 1953): 144-15 1; “How Merchandising on Local and National Level Builds Volume,” American Builder 75, no. 21 (February 1953): 137-138. See also: John A. Jakle, Robert W. Bastian, and Douglas K. Meyer, Common Houses in America’s Small Towns: The Atlantic Seaboard to the Mississippi Valley (Athens, Georgia: University of Georgia Press, 1989), 182-195.
19 “$9,990 Levitt Houses Boast 70’ Lots,” Architectural Forum 95, no. 4 (Oct. 1951): 217-219.
20 Patricia Poore, “The Ranch House,” Old House Journal 26, no. 5 (September/October 1998): 75-80. See also: Esther McCoy and Evelyn Hitchcock, “The Ranch House,” in Home Sweet Home: American Domestic Vernacular Architecture, eds. Charles W. Moore, Kathryn Smith, and Peter Becker (New York: Rizzoli International Publications, Inc., 1983), 84-89; and Alan Hess, Rancho Deluxe: Rustic Dreams and Real Western Living (San Francisco: Chronicle Books, 2000).
21 Daniel Gregory and Ann Bertelsen, “Sunset Magazine’s 1999 Idea House,” Sunset 203, no. 3 (September 1999): 110-129.
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{ 28 comments… read them below or add one }
Hi Pam, thanks for these great articles. When I had my Ranch home evaluated for energy conservation the technition also mentioned that Ranches are the most energy efficient because of their design. Fits in perfect with todays energy crisis and the need to conserve. Lets hope more and more people come to appreciate these humble yet fun homes.
JohnQ
Pam, Thanks for this as it is something I have pondered about my 1946 house since buying it 6 years ago. The realtor had it listed as a ranch and I said, NO, this is not a ranch — this is a cape. She said NO, it doesn’t have steep enough roof. Since then I have been frustrated not knowing how to label or describe my house. I finally settled on “cottage” or maybe “modified cape”, but recently a friend who loves capes and grew up in one told me “it is a cape, not even a modified one.” And, in reading this article, it seems that my house has almost none of the characteristics of a ranch other than being on one level. So, I now feel sure my house can safely be called a cape — and, I have amunition for anyone who dares to say it is a ranch just because it is on one level.
Elizabeth
Elizabeth Mary, I would love to see a photo of your house! Send it to me – pam @ retrorenovation dot com.
Also, I also found it interesting that at the end of this year-2000 article, the author notes that: “the current retrospective interest in design, music, and fashion of the 1950s and 1960s has approached the ranch house primarily with apprehension, if at all. Perhaps for now it’s just too ordinary and common.” Nine years later – interest for ranches is back – and growing!
Pam,
Great topic and article! Interesting that Bricker left out the influence that Japanese architecture had on the American, (particularly Western) Ranch style. In our area of Northern California you’ll see many ranches with asian roof details and exposed rafter tails, and along with them Japanese gardens and courtyards. The concept of movable walls, sliding panels, and lantern-like pendant lighting also are very “Eastern” in their origins and are very common here. You and your readers have also noted the popularity of oriental motifs as well in the decorating of homes in the fifties and sixties.
Also, like the sea of existing Arts & Crafts bungalows, there seems to be a hybrid and historically inspired architectural variation for every taste in ranches. You can find the Spanish “Rancheros”, the “Storybook Ranches” (my favorite) that have tremendous similarities to the 1920’s & 30’s Storybook cottages they built all over Los Angeles and the SF Bay Area, the “Prairie Style” with wide sweeping hip roofs ala Frank Lloyd Wright, the “Cape Style” which has been ubiquitous in America since the style was born in Colonial America, the split-level along with the Cliff May’s. the Eichler’s, the Streng’s and countless others that were more streamlined and “Modern”. Of course, what we see the most in this country are hybrids of all of these.
With each of the architectural “revivals” that we’ve seen just in the last 40 years, (Victorian, then Arts & Crafts, then 1920’s styles and now predominantly 1950’s and 1960’s styles) there is an initial categorizing and identification of the most iconic examples first, then it inevitably filters down to the more regional styles and eventually the myriad of wonderful and unique permutations by individual architects and builders who weren’t designing for tracts of homes, but rather creating one-of-a-kind houses that wouldn’t fit neatly into any specific category. These to me are the real “jewels” and the ones usually most endangered and most often remodelled to look more like the stereotypical icons in all the books and magazines.
Hopefully Pam your readers will all appreciate the inspiration that spawned their homes design, even if it wouldn’t make the cover of Dwell or Architectual Digest, and even if its just a family-friendly honestly-built more common “ranch”.
Embrace your homes style!! Viva la difference!!
Pam,
Where were you in my High School and College years??!! OH THOSE FOOTNOTES!!
Robert
PS: How many of you were told to have “x” amount of footnotes and didn’t meet that quote so you just made them up! LOL. Not me by any means. Uh Huh.
Paperboy aka Steve – great comment. I will use it in full as a post sometime soon! It is SO very interesting to follow the resurgent trajectory of interest in midcentury homes that you describe!
If you’re interested in the history and design of Cliff May’s ranch houses, we’re posting our research and discoveries in our personal blog at mavb.us. Currently we’re working on his formative years in San Diego during the 1930s–it gets a lot more complicated after WWII! I think Pam is right that the Cape Cod/Colonial style was as popular, if not more popular, than ranch houses–but identifying a particular style for the zillions of small “minimum” houses built post-war is very difficult since they’re so simple (Levittown billed their houses as ranches, but if you look at them, it’s not so obvious). Keeps our work interesting!
Is there any site online that you have located that distinguishes specifically a regular ranch from ranch-colonial from a Ranchette (love it–maybe that is what my “mini-ranch” really is) etc? We went walking in our neighborhood Sunday and crossed over to the side of our street beside one of the neighborhood parks (one block over). All the houses on that block had much more brick (our street is more brick veneer/low long planters/siding), shutters and windows with 12 small panes, while our street has more windows with 4 long rectangular panes in many homes. And the homes on our block seem coated in windows! Our block looks more spartan, the other more WASP-y Conservative and “rich”.
My uncle reflected on this same feeling when he grew up in this same neighborhood in Memphis in the 50’s-60’s. He felt that his house was more modern and weird due to having a sunken living room and being situated on a flat lot. The across the street neighbors had the more Colonial-looking homes situated on a small hill.
Kristin – this is something I intend to work on in 2009! Read paperboy’s comment above – I think he hit the nail on the head when he says…there were big trends… but then these got sliced and diced by builders and architects regionally, locally and as you point out, even street to street! It’s a big yummy Ranch and Cape Cod stew!
It is very funny how this neighborhood differs block to block! This block has 2 versions of the very same house–mine and an across the street neighbors who is 3 houses to the East. I should do a survey once it gets a bit warmer to see how many are of the same plan.
One interesting point: The across the street neighbor and her husband bought their home new. The only difference is our backyard is twice the depth because we back up to an alley and a vintage 50’s strip mall (yes, they play this up and it is fab) and she is on a slightly more elevated lot. The price of her home brand new in 1953? 11K!!!!!!!
Elizabeth Mary mentioned cape cod.
From http://www.hgtvpro.com it states “A first floor placed close to grade, with no overhangs at the roof and eaves.” So if you have overhangs or not, that might be helpful to you.
http://74.125.95.132/search?q=cache:F9jHOibs9osJ:www.hgtvpro.com/hpro/di_design_trends/article/0,,HPRO_20174_5384502,00.html+cape+cod+overhangs&hl=en&ct=clnk&cd=1&gl=us
I understand this blog heading had “Ranch Homes” in the title.
I do feel that to me Retro is most anything built circa 1940’s to 1970’s. More so 50’s and 60’s. So for me, Cape Cod fits into that category if built in that era as it will have many facets of that era in the style and items in it such as sinks, bath tubs etc.
In all honesty, why can’t a two story built in that ere not have some retro characteristics?
Robert,
Thanks for the comment. I did see that in the article and my house has no overhangs of any kind anyplace, and the first floor is above grade. The lack of both are some of the reasons I did not think it was a ranch. But, Pam has seen a picture and came up with the notion that it might be CapeCod Ranch, which I think is a brilliant idea and how I think I will now describe it when asked.
Inside is also a mix of Cape and ranch elements. The living room and dining room have what I think of classic traditional features — fireplace, built-in bookshelves in living room and corner cupboard in dining room — which is sort of open to the living room, a ranch element. Bath and kitchen were totally original when I bought the house, and totally not good retro. So, I have redone the bath, in more of a 20’s style, which was probably a no-no, but before I found this site and got into the retro POV. Kitchen has some original elements and some new re-do’s, which I have tried to keep to period. It does still have the 1967 GE 40″ range (which I love and hope continues to function as long as I am here) and the porcelain sink with drainboard and metal cabinet underneath. Cabinets are original but the countertops are new boomerang formica and metal edging from Dave Sanders — compliments of this site.
Elizabeth Mary
Elizabeth Mary
Sounds like your enjoying your home. Keep up the enjoyment.
Robert
Hi,
I found this wonderful site of yours at the same time that my husband and I have found a 1965 custom ranch to purchase that is definately in a time capsule, to our delight!
We are in the purchase process now and will certainly be back for ideas and information in our restoration process.
Jean
Welcome, Jean. Take lots and lots of photos so we can see your time capsule! And come back soon!
One of the things about classifying style is that there is no “true way.” The vast majority of American homes are eclectic in nature and draw on many different traditions. Mid century home styles have yet to be defined and categorized. One that is consistently overlooked is the streamlined Minimal Traditional that was derived from the Colonial Revival style and bungalow type. It showed up in the late 20s and was built well into the 50s, but because of its simplicity and affordability, it has never been considered anything but Plain Jane Vanilla.
To my knowledge there has not been any systematic survey of what types of homes were built and in what numbers from 1900 to 1960. Based on the preponderance of documentation I have seen researching thousands of popular publications, Colonial Revivals and its subtypes have consistently held the lead by a modest margin.
Modern styles including Craftsman-style bungalows, Ranch, and most period contemporaries ran a close second to the American tendency to go for the familiar, traditional, and more conservative types. The popularity of the bungalow as we typically think of it ran for a scant 20 years. By the 1930s, people were shaving the eaves off their homes to make them look like the more modern Minimal Traditional (which sounds like what Elizabeth Mary has).
I love Ranches in all their iterations but by the mid-50s split and tri-levels were superceding them in many areas. It might be splitting hairs, but I like to make the distinction.
Rikki
Rikki, we are in agreement here. Clearly, mid century homes were often a mish mash of styles (just like today). There were hundreds if not thousands of developers and design-catalog companies all pouring out architectural plans. I tend to think that is were possible to count and classify “which style” was most common between 1946-1966, it would be a pretty basic box. Kind of colonial/cape-revival, but with a lower roofline and more open inside, like a ranch. I posted these three stories in a row to begin to show some of the differences…precedents… and will do more in the future, to be sure, as this utterly fascinates me. Thanks for your comment!
Great information, Pam!
I recently bought a book that shows floor plans of Cliff May’s designs. Nice, rambling ranches with lots of glass!
Yes, sablemable, a very interesting topic indeed! It’s all I read about nowadays!
Are you implying that we’re obsessed, Pam?
Stated coyly by sablemable
no, sablemable, only that i am
I live in one of those Cliff May homes. nice article
I understand that Cliff May never studied architecture, but did he design some wonderful homes!
Joe, is the home pretty much original, or had former owners make changes?
sablemable, click on Joe’s name in his comment post and it’ll take you to his website, then on to flickr page with photos of his reno!
I AM AN OWNER OF A CENTRAL TEXAS RANCH-STYLE HOME THAT WAS INHERITED TO MY LATE HUSBAND. THIS HOME WAS BEING PLANNED OUT IN 1952 AND WAS COMPLETED IN 1954. I AM IN THE PROCESS OF A LITTLE REMODELING. MY HOME IS ABOUT 2,400 SQUARE FEET.
Great article, I happen to have a Donald Scholz designed California Contemporary in Kettering, Ohio. Here is a picture.
http://www.flickr.com/photos/scholzmcm/3311602303/
Ryan
Welcome, Ryan. Your house is fantastic inside and out. Readers will love your landscaping…the courtyard…wow!
Very good article on the history of the ranch house. The article mentions Donald Scholz Homes based out of Toledo,Ohio. I have been a fan of Scholz’s low-slung 1950s ranchers for years. My wife and I almost bought one in Bay Village Ohio about 15 years ago, but settled for a (larger) mid-century Rocky River colonial instead (and now we’re in Chicago). Any way, I have fond memories of that Scholz ranch that got away.
Did you know that there are entire neighborhoods of 1950s Scholz ranches in Ohio? In Toledo (Scholz’s home turf), there is the Lincolnshire area just west of the 1950s-era Westgate Village shopping area. One of the Lincolnshire ranches was featured in a 1950s American Home article: “Pretty Pink Ranch”. In the Cleveland area, there is the neighborhood south of Lake Road and east of Clague Road in Bay Village. The Bay Village neighborhood was built on the site of a former golf course, with a meandering creek and ravines, all the better to show off the models with the walkout basements. Curiously, the Bay Village neighborhood shares street names with the Scholz neighborhood in Toledo (Lincolnshire, Queenswood, Edinborough, etc.). Apparently Mr. Scholz was fond of the “Olde English”-sounding names, although the street names hardly suggest the rambling contemporary houses lining them.
Also in the Cleveland area, there is the Scholz neighborhood north of Hilliard Boulevard and south of the Westwod Country Club in Rocky River (as an aside, Hilliard Boulevard in Rocky River is a gently curving street of broad lawns and mid-century ranches- a real gem from the 1950s). Finally, on the east side of Cleveland, in Cleveland Heights, there is the Forest Hills neighborhood with quite a few Scholz ranches- the Forest Hills Homeowners Association even has a website with a page or two dedicated to the Scholz legacy.
I’m now living in the Chicago area. Plenty of good mid-century residential design- but still looking for a Scholz home in the area…any idea if Scholz built in Chicagoland?