Ranch – a special country house style

What associations do you have with the name “ranch”? We are sure that first of all it will be cowboys, uncounted herds of cows and horses, vast, uninhabited spaces, a simple but spacious house. Let’s see what modern ranches can look like if they are transferred to Russian realities..

Let’s start with the fact that the ranch is exclusively a country house. Moreover, a house with a fairly extensive territory, a very spacious yard, outbuildings, everything that a real farmer needs. Of course, you can build an imitation of a ranch in the realities of a cottage village near Moscow. But it will only be an imitation, just a private house in an adapted style, rather, an ordinary cottage with an “American bias” and a country-style interior.

In general, the ranch was originally a home for poor people in the countryside. There has been nothing exquisite in these houses since their inception. This style arose on the basis of the Spanish colonial direction of construction in the first half of the twentieth century. The financial crisis was raging in the United States at that time and one should think not about additional comfort, but about how to survive and feed a family. Therefore, there was savings on construction, and on finishing, and on the internal arrangement.

The most notable features of the ranch home are:

• One floor. Maximum is two. But this is, rather, an exception to the rule..
• The house is elongated, because all the necessary premises had to be placed on one floor. Traditionally, the long front facade of the house runs along the road, and a spacious inner territory is hidden behind it..
• The roof is gable with noticeable cornice overhangs, which can be different in width in different sections of the elongated facade.
• Two entrance doors – to the front porch from the side of the road and to the courtyard. Doors are very often made sliding and with glass inserts, this is not an obstacle for burglars, but a decoration of the house, a convenient entrance for the owners.
• The garage usually becomes part of the house, with a separate entrance from the hallway, laundry room, boiler room or kitchen.
• There is a small porch and an outdoor terrace, sometimes with columns, but this is a more sophisticated option.
• In front of the porch – lawn, lawn, in the back, in the courtyard – barbecue area.

The typical American home took a lot from the ranch. In particular, the presence of two courtyards, front and back, the tradition of attaching a garage. But in the middle of the twentieth century, ranches somewhat lost their popularity, giving way to modernism, classics, more comfortable houses with an obligatory pool.

Ranches were always built from the most accessible, one might say, improvised materials. Clay, stone, brick and timber were also used. For wall decoration, plaster, lining, stone or facing brick are often used. The colors are usually neutral, natural, if the plaster is painted, then in the color of ocher, brown, beige, occasionally blue or gray. In addition, the facade is often made snow-white to stand out from the surrounding greenery..

Ranch windows are traditionally large enough to let in maximum sunlight. As for the interior, this is, of course, country, the good old country style, which originated in the USA. True, in living rooms, country very often gives way to colonial classics with its more strict forms and decorative techniques in the form of arches and stucco moldings. Well, what about a ranch without a real fireplace! Most often it is faced with natural stone..

A ranch, we admit, is more of a lifestyle, unhurried, rustic, surrounded by nature, with your family, when the neighbors are far enough away. Otherwise, these squat, elongated houses can be different in the design of the facade, roof, the presence of decorative details.