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Ranch
c.1950-1975
With its one-story, rectangular, close-to-the-ground plan, the
ranch house, or "rambler,"
is easily
recognized. The style
originated in the 1930s with California
architects who
were evidently inspired by the
southwestern Spanish rancho. After World War II, returning soldiers eager to
set out on the middle-class dream of home-ownership made it the most popular
style in the country through the 1960s.
According to architectural historians Lee and Virginia McAlester in A
Field Guide to American Houses (1996), the ranch house was made possible
by the country's increasing dependence on the automobile. As cars replaced
streetcars, buses, and other means of public transportation after World War
II, compact houses in compact neighborhoods were "replaced by sprawling
designs on much larger lots. Never before had it been possible to be so
lavish with land, and the rambling ranch house emphasizes this be maximizing
façade width (which is further increased by built-in garages that are an
integral part of most ranch houses.)
Characteristics of the ranch house style are its rectangular or
asymmetrical one-story form; low-pitched roof;
ribbon windows meeting
the eaves, often trimmed with shutters; and a sheltered porch with
decorative cast iron or wood supports.
In Martinsville, the earliest ranch houses date to the 1950s, with the
majority dating to the 1960s. The 50-year period of historicity is rapidly
approaching for the later models.
Ranch: House (c.1950), South Cherry Street
Ranch: House (c.1955), 289 Gray Street |
