Ranch-style house

Ranch (also known as; 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 wide open layout. The house style fused modernist ideas and styles with notions of the American Western period of wide open spaces to create a very informal and casual living style. While the original style of the ranch was very informal and basic in design, starting around the early 1960s, many ranch homes constructed in the United States (particularly in the Sun Belt region) were increasingly built with more dramatic features like varying roof lines, cathedral ceilings, sunken living rooms, and extensive landscaping and grounds.

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.

Preservationist movements have begun in some ranch house neighborhoods, as well as renewed interest in the style from a younger generation who did not grow up in ranch-style houses. This renewed interest in the style has been compared to that which other house styles such as the bungalow and Queen Anne experienced in the 20th century, initial dominance of the market, replacement as the desired housing style, decay and lack of interest coupled with many teardowns, then renewed interest and modernization of the surviving houses.

The following features are considered key elements of the original ranch house style, although not all ranch houses contain all of them.

The raised ranch is a two-story house, in which a finished basement serves as an additional floor. It may be built into a hill to some degree, such that the full size of the house is not evident from the curb. However, it does not become a raised ranch simply by having two floors. For it to be a raised ranch, you will have to climb a flight of steps to get to the main living floor - if not it is just a bi-level house. Among real estate agents, this term is commonly misused.

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