When I got into real estate more than a dozen years ago, in my New Jersey sales area, ranch homes were considered the lowest of the low. Prospective buyers would say they were open to colonials, Tudors, Victorians, occasionally even splits and capes, "but definitely no ranches." If I did have ranch buyers, when they asked why the house had been sitting for eons, the answer was that because the style was the least popular and they could probably get a great buy. But down the road, it would be a tough resale.
Everything’s changed. When we had a so-called "Mid-Century Modern" home advertised on our website, NJDreamHouses.com, recently, we got dozens of hits overnight, while a cute Victorian with open front porch had virtually none. I did a quick search of the internet and learned that there are actually some builders right now -- including Maxx Livingstone (http://www.maxxlivingstone.com), of California -- advertising new mid-century modern houses based on 'classic designs'. There’s also a magazine, Atomic Ranch (http://www.atomic-ranch.com), and companion book publisher, dedicated to preserving the style, which in days of yore was often associated with tract housing. And there are areas like Marin County, CA, that advertise a wide inventory of well-preserved M-C-M homes.
What is this world coming to?
I grew up in a Fifties development in Western New York State in a "California ranch", the design for which the builder had dragged from a sunny, warm state to a cloudy, cold one, complete with a carport that wasn’t quite right most of the year. My family eventually enclosed half of it it into a den, where it still functions with Jalousie windows as an all-purpose, before-you actually-enter-the-house way-station. Fifty-plus years on, we still call it "the new room." Our puppies were born there in 1969 because my mom didn't want them in the house. The other part became a much-needed garage.
The ranch was a perfectly nice place to grow up, but it had no attic with old suitcases in it or anything else remotely intriguing to a girl who loved history, old books and forgotten love letters, and the often stifling old attics at my friends' houses were just such an adventure.
Of course, as an adult, the first house I bought was a 100-year old, very rickety Victorian that needed everything.
In New Jersey, towns largely developed after World War II and the Korean War for GI's coming home to marry start families, are where you generally see ranches, along with splits and capes. These houses weren't built for extended families or servants; they were relatively small and compact. In recent past, young people have been redoing them into sleek, open living spaces, often keeping interesting elements like flagstone fireplaces, high-grade hardwood floors, big windows, and cathedral ceilings, while vanquishing those terrible pink, green, and black bathrooms, flat-faced cabinetry, monochromatic Formica countertops, and wrought-iron staircases, original touches that fail today to impress as either either kitsch or elegance.
I still prefer older homes, my current one built about 80 years ago, very upright, tall, noble and un-ranchy. Oddly enough, though, these flat, sometimes sleek birds of another feather seem a bit more interesting to me, now, and not just because my knees hurt every time I run up and down stairs in my own house or because in my old age I'm getting sentimental.
No, I think it's more about the risks taken by designers in those days, to try something new. You only have to look at those Mid-Century Modern designs that are so popular today to realize the impact that these funny-looking houses have had on our contemporary culture. In Manhattan last week, my husband and I stopped into Crate and Barrel for a couple of minutes to kill time before seeing a movie. We looked at each other at the same instant after taking in the dining room set on display. It looked just like Mom's, circa 1956. And we liked it! Welcome home, Mid-Century Modern!
