CALIFORNIA HARDWOOD FLOORS

The Ranch House

The trend is unmistakable. The Ranch-style house, a phenomenal success in the '40s, '50s, and '60s, is making a comeback. Like the enthusiastic embrace of Modern-style houses in the past decade, the Ranch house today is being snatched up and restored all across suburban America, while longtime owners are rediscovering what seduced them in the first place. Now Alan Hess, one of the country's leading authorities on the 20th-century American home, offers the definitive look at the Ranch house as he guides readers on a tour of more than 30 iconic examples, all photographed especially for this book. With L- or U-shaped floor plans and sliding glass doors that provide direct access to the patio from the living area, the Ranch house is ideal for an indoor/ outdoor lifestyle and great for families, qualities that made it so appealing in its early days. Now, as this book illustrates, with baby boomers reclaiming the design aesthetic of their youth and a younger generation welcoming the warm and casual spirit of the Ranch, it's no surprise that this most populist of house styles is popular once again.

Some original details from the ranch house in Alleghany County, Virginia, in which I grew up. My parents had it built in 1963/1964.

The original bathroom (we had just the one for the four of us up until my sister and I were adults and had moved out; only then my parents added two extra baths!)

Between 1892 and 1942, the Ranch House was occupied by the Spooner family. Today the ranch house is a visitor center. Open in the winter months Thursday thru Sunday, 11:00 - 3:00. Exhibits focus on the history of the Spooner's, and the native plants and animals of the park.

During California's post-World War boom Sunset Magazine was a user's manual for the good life. The setting for this new life was the ranch house, and Sunset published some of the most interesting developments in this genre, the works of Cliff May. In 1946, Sunset published the first edition of Sunset Western Ranch Houses, and the book became a best-seller. This first edition has been unavailable for many years. It is a fascinating study of the roots of the ranch style, and it is also a compendium of ideas for today's home builders. The book is illustrated with evocative and useful drawings, two-color plans and photographs.