Ranch Style House Plans

What is a Ranch style house plan?

In one of the running gags from the 1995’s gently ironic Brady Bunch movie, architect Mike Brady was professionally hobbled by his total inability to design anything that wasn’t identical to his own stuck-in-the-70s version of the ranch home. It was a great joke back then, but times change. These days the sunny and suburban California vibe of the rancher is more desirable than ever. It’s the coolest family home on the block, a long, U or L-shaped one-story structure (usually) with low pitched roof and classic stucco, timber, stone or brick cladding, with vaulted ceilings overlooking a roomy, open plan interior, and sliding doors accessing a generous patio. As with the modern farmhouse, the ranch home comes with a vintage buzz to it, pointing back to America’s pinnacle moment of middle-class security and comfort.

• Long and low, with low-pitched gabled roof • Rectangular, often L or U-shaped • Open plan interior • Generous walk-up, big patio with sliding doors • Attached garage • Unpretentious and inviting