Styles of Architecture ....... Illustrated Architecture Dictionary
Styles of Architecture ....... Illustrated Architecture
Dictionary
Ranch
A rambling one-story house, found from the 1930s on, but especially popular during the 1950s and 1960s, particularly in the West; usually designed to emphasize the width of the facade.
The asymmetrical Ranch house plan is generally built with a low-pitched side gable or hipped roof and a large attached garage. The entry may be protected by a recessed porch. Large picture windows are common.
Typically characterized by the following:
- An asymmetrical plan
- A low-pitched roof with eaves having a moderate-to-\vide overhang
- A hipped, cross-gabled, or side-gabled roof
- Exposed rafters
- Exterior wall cladding of stucco, brick, wood, or some combination thereof
- Ribbon windows
- Windows decorated with shutters
- Frequently, glass sliding doors at the side or rear of the house that open onto a porch or patio
- Usually has an attached garage
Ranch (also American ranch, California ranch, rambler or rancher) is a domestic architectural style originating in the United States. The ranch house is noted for its long, close-to-the-ground profile, and minimal use of exterior and interior decoration. The houses fuse modernist ideas and styles with notions of the American Western period working ranches to create a very informal and casual living style.
First built in the 1920s, the ranch style was extremely popular with the booming post-war middle class of the 1940s to 1970s. The style is often associated with tract housing built at this time, particularly in the western United States, which experienced a population explosion during this period, with a corresponding demand for housing. The style was exported to other nations. Their popularity waned in the late 20th century as neo-eclectic house styles, a return to using historical and traditional decoration, became popular.
- Wikipedia (online Sept. 2016)
Examples from Buffalo architecture
- Illustration above: 390 LeBrun Road, AMHERST
