The Growing Home

Above are two mid-century homes that typify the American dream after World War II. The first home is a recently restored American Small House (with an addition off the side), while the second is a more classic ranch style home.

The American Small House is the more modest of the two homes, but like the ranch sits low to the ground and makes little effort to make any statement beyond, "I'm functional". The ranch on the other hand is a bit more elaborate. Its an "early" ranch, probably from the 1950s, as can be seen by the level of detail on the porch and the quality of the brick work. Even still, it is a modest structure compared to the Craftsman Bungalows and Colonial Revival cottages that came before it.

This ranch is located in an urban neighborhood and therefore has a more modest yard than most houses that fall in this style category. However, just like the American Small House above, the ranch stays low to the ground at only one story and displays little ornamentation. In many ways it fits nicely into the 1920's dominated neighborhood where it resides thanks to its similar massing.


While the new construction above could be judged as an extreme example of infill, it does a great job of conveying a completely different message than the earlier houses. This home/castle, which actually now sits on a lot once occupied by a ranch, makes no pretenses to fit into the neighborhood. It conveys a sense of superiority and has no qualms displaying its vast amounts of space, towering over its neighbors. It makes an attempt to hearken back to some sort of Gothic-style, while the ranch and American Small House make little effort to recall a historical style - probably for monetary reasons.

Just like with commercial design from the present day, 50-100 years from now people will look back at the construction from the late-20th/early 21st century and marvel at how plentiful our resources were that we could waste materials and energy on houses this massive for single family homes.