One of the most popular vernacular house styles of the '50s and '60s was the ranch. Some general characteristics, from antiquehome.org, include:
**single story**, asymmetry, horizontally oriented to the street, hipped or gabled roof, minimal ornamentation, made of natural construction materials, and "new" amenities such as attached garages, sliding glass doors, and huge picture windows.
On the inside, a ranch features open floor plans with living room, dining areas, and family rooms blending into one another, and bedrooms clustered into another portion of the house.
On the inside, a ranch features open floor plans with living room, dining areas, and family rooms blending into one another, and bedrooms clustered into another portion of the house.
Continuing on my journey through Depew/Cheektowaga (see previous post), I was able to find examples of many a '50s-'60s ranch. These pictures were taken in many neighborhoods off of George Urban Blvd. and Dick Road. Many different neighborhoods featured the same type of ranch, possibly demonstrating the same builder in different phases of his development.
The first three homes are basic cubical ranches with a hipped roof. The second and third have added wooden porches, possibly the smallest example of the "rambling" aspect of a ranch. The second and third homes have also updated by siding their homes, as most of the other ranches in their areas were made of brick (being from this neighborhood, I know the homes were originally brick).
These two homes from my childhood street, Jane Lane (in a neighborhood of girls' names, my street was the only one that rhymed) show the original porches, with the second being enclosed (also known as the house which always gave out apples for trick or treat on beggars' night, as Depew's trick or treat was on Oct. 30, not Halloween). The first features a two-car garage, which was an original option. 
These three homes feature another option: the pushed-forward garage. This allowed for either a larger backyard or patio, or, more likely, a family room.
These next three ranches show a gabled roof with the ever-important picture window. Notice not all of them have attached garages.
These homes are less of the cube style, as they clearly form a rectangle shape. Legend has it that as land became cheaper, ranches were built on wider and wider lots, allowing for more street frontage and the loss of the square shape. The second brings a whole new meaning to "rambling ranch", as they ran out of room on the first story and apparently opted to ramble up and add a single bedroom on the second.
Jane Lane! These kinds of proper names usually are a sign that a single private developer laid out the entire neighborhood. Lots of developers named streets after their family members, especially their wives and daughters. Even if they're not people's names, patterns in street naming--the cities of Italy, let's say--often indicate that a single developer laid out the whole neighborhood at once.
ReplyDeleteWhat's with Beggar's Night?
The neighborhood was full of girls' names: Karen, Caroline, Madeline, Candace, etc. Across Dick Road from this area are two neighborhoods divided by a creek: off North Creek, the streets are more girls' names and off South Creek all the streets are named after different destinations like Nassau, Kingston, Honduras, Panama, and oddly, Nantucket.
ReplyDeleteI'm not sure why Depew allows trick-or-treat on Beggar's Night, especially since both Lancaster and Cheektowaga, the two towns the Village of Depew is located in trick-or-treat on Oct. 31. For me, it always meant two nights of gathering candy; the first at home and the second at grandpa's.