Home Style Part Two: Raised Ranch And Split Level

In Part One, we discussed the ranch Style Home and its uniquely American origins. Developed after Frank Lloyd Wright's prairie style, the ranch has become one of the most common styles in America, particularly in the west, where wide open spaces lend themselves to the sprawling, low-slung style, with its long, shallow (front-to-back) footprint. The first ranch house was credited to architect Cliff May in 1932. Popularized by developers who built hundreds of them at once with identical floor plans, they were sometimes turned on the lot in order to appear varied, but still looked like clones until homeowners personalized them with individual style and landscaping. A Raised Ranch Style is exactly what it sounds like. It's a long, low home built on a raised foundation, a partially or entirely above-ground basement, called a daylight basement, which opens into the back yard, often onto a patio. Completely finished, the basement doubles the square footage of living space and often offers amenities such as game rooms, family rooms, or mother-in-law apartments that might not otherwise fit into the ranch home. Often, the built-in garage is situated in the lower level, as are utility rooms or workshops. As with other ranch homes, the raised ranch lacks intrinsic décor and therefore lends itself to imaginative personality styles. Paint it contemporary, traditional, art deco, country, or stamp your ranch with a theme: African, Asian, western, country. Fill your home with elephants and giraffes, Egyptian, or cowboy and Indian artifacts. Display colorful dolphins or dragons or whimsical frogs.

From about 1945 to the 1980's, the split-level ranch, built on several levels to accommodate uneven topography, became popular. The split-level also has a simply styled façade which is amenable to many variable or perhaps eclectic styles.

Typically, one enters from the front door to a foyer, from which staircases go both up and down, leading to living areas and bedrooms. Sliding doors lead to back yard patios and garages are on the facing ground level.

If more about architectural style interests you, please give me some feedback. I am enjoying the research, but won't continue to post the results here unless there are people who enjoy reading about it. Thank you for your attention. The next style I want to approach is craftsman, or arts and crafts.