When Frank Lloyd Wright was still early in his career, his designs for homes – while still stunning for their geometry and innovation – were reflective of the popular designs of the era. For example: In 1893, he designed the Walter Gale House. While it is filled with unconventional geometric elements, it’s clearly a Queen Anne-style home, with a front-facing turret, traditional gables, and more.
As his philosophy of architecture evolved, however, so did his design. He threw off the traditional structures of “Colonial,” “Victorian,” and “Greek Revival.” His later houses reflected two clear ideologies:
- A home is a living thing, and as such, the living spaces within them should be open and welcoming.
- The home should be reflective of its setting, and welcome the outside in.
In an ironic aside, he considered kitchens and bathrooms the “business” functions of the house. They were generally cramped and isolated from the ‘living’ spaces. Quite the change from today’s desire for open, entertainment-ready kitchens and spacious bathrooms.
Wright considered the ‘living’ part of the home everything from the dining room to the sleeping quarters. He increasingly began to design single-story homes in order to connect all of these spaces. This design also made it easier to blend the structure into the surrounding nature. You can easily see examples of this in his Kentuck Knob home in Pennsylvania and Cedar Rock in Iowa.
Know what Wright was designing?
A Rancher.
What we consider a ranch-style home – single story – has its origin in the American Southwest. It mimicked the homes of cattle ranchers across the prairie. Ranch homes fostered a relaxed lifestyle and offered a window out to the wide expanses of the family ranch. At the end of World War II, they became increasingly popular as millions of soldiers returned home and were anxious to get married and start families. They were easy to build, and relatively inexpensive as a starter home.
The ranch-style home has evolved to encompass a wide range of variations. The traditional rancher stuck with the original prairie look – a single floor. The California Ranch took elements of the desert Southwest, incorporating an L-shape or center courtyard to truly bring the outdoors into daily living. The Split-Level Ranch had all of the elements of a traditional rancher – open living spaces without stacking stories – by using small flights of stairs to delineate the use of one room from another without sacrificing sight lines.
The modern rancher takes advantage of all of these elements. Windows and patios welcome outdoor living. The majority of the living spaces are open and connected, from kitchen to dining and entertainment. Sleeping quarters may be a level above the daily use rooms, but are still easily accessed from the rest of the home.
You may like brick, or perhaps prefer stone for your exterior. You may have a passion for Colonial Williamsburg or an infatuation with gables. If you want a seamless transition from room-to-room, or indoors-to-out, a modern rancher may be a good fit for you.