California Ranch 1932–1970
Also called the Western Ranch or the early Ranch, these modern houses architect-designed, built for casual family living and an outdoors lifestyle.
We’re talking here about a deliberate new style of residential architecture—not the tract houses of a generation later. California architect Cliff May (1909–1989) is credited with the first modern Ranch, built in an Diego in 1932. Consciously interpreting the ranchos of the mid-19th century, May was one of many notable post-Arts and Crafts architects.
A prolific designer and promoter, May sold the style that he himself called “the early California ranch house” throughout the West. He spoke not only about the architectural form, but also about the casual, family-oriented culture of the early (Mexican) Californians, whose gallant hospitality was legendary. Working in tandem with landscape architects, May designed low houses that followed the contours of the land, enclosing a courtyard or patio with carefully planned views of nature. Floor plans were open, always with a family room. By the mid-‘30s, his ranch houses had been published by Sunset magazine and nationally.
Patricia Poore is Editor-in-chief of Old House Journal and Arts & Crafts Homes, as well as editorial director at Active Interest Media’s Home Group, overseeing New Old House, Traditional Building, and special-interest publications.
Poore joined Old House Journal when it was a Brooklyn-brownstoner newsletter in the late 1970s. She became owner and publisher and, except for the years 2002–2013, has been its editor. Poore founded the magazines Old-House Interiors (1995–2013) and Early Homes (2004–2017); their content is now available online and folded into Old-House Journal’s wider coverage. Poore also created GARBAGE magazine (1989–1994), the first unaffiliated environmental consumer magazine.
Poore has participated, hands-on, in several restorations, including her own homes: a 1911 brownstone in Park Slope, Brooklyn, and a 1904 Tudor–Shingle Style house in Gloucester, Massachusetts, where she brought up her boys and their wonderful dogs.
