Atomic Ranch Midcentury Interiors by Michelle Gringeri-Brown

The homes have a reputation for being dated, today, with their tendency toward wood paneling and pastel-colored tiles. “They tended to be more gracious, more generous, a plan where your life would be a little bit better.” There is something quintessentially American about these homes, he adds. “The idea of a ranch house was to do away with some of the more rigid, formal approaches to a middle-class house,” says Robert Benson, professor of architectural history and theory at Miami University in Oxford, Ohio.Īlso known as a California ranch, western ranch or rambler, the wide, low-pitched homes with more casual, open floor-plans were incorporated into the nation’s housing stock en masse after a conscious federal government effort to encourage homeownership among GIs returning from overseas.Īs for the style, Benson says, “The ranch house counted on a certain kind of romance from cowboy movies, not necessarily the real Old West but more like the John Wayne Old West from Hollywood movies.” The craving for clean lines, functional style and a retro feel has propelled ranch-style homes into the spotlight.

Ranch-home owners can thank the current popularity of the mid-century modern furniture of the same era.

The ranch homes that sprouted across the American landscape in the decades following World War II are ubiquitous and much maligned, but the architectural style is getting a fresh look.

Atomic Ranch Midcentury Interiors by Michelle Gringeri-Brown