Customer Reviews

Western Ranch Houses by Cliff May

5 star:		(3)
4 star:		(1)
3 star:		(1)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

I adore his homes, and this book gives you the complete layout, including the floorplan---something I love in architecture books. If you can't visit the homes in person, this is the next best thing.

This book has several traits that make it unique among residential architecture books: 1. it was written by the architect it covers 2. it is a reprint of book that was written during the heyday of the homes featured. No Cliff May owner should be without this book. Looking through the pages will give you an amazing amount of insight into the design of your own home. But others may also find this book very useful. While most of the home designs assume lots much larger than commonly available to homebuilders today. With that said, the ideas will still send you in new directions of home design.

On the plus side, this book has lots of photographs and does have floor plans of each featured home. Sometimes it is hard to tell from an on-line description if the book has photographs only or includes floor plans also. The houses in this book definitely have a Western flavor, like the title says, but I can tell that they are the close cousins of the ranch-style houses in my part of the country. The houses featured in the book are from 1939 to 1959. The photos are only black and white, but there are plenty of photos of each featured house. Although my interest in the book is from an architectural standpoint, it would also be a good book for those interested in mid-century interior design or those who simply want to travel back to the days of Ozzie and Harriet.

This book has a more design and decoration approach than its predecessor, Sunset Western Ranch Houses, which focused mostly on history of this house style. Honestly, I was expecting to see a more house-plan ideas oriented book than simply a picture book with some talking on it. This might be a useful book for those who are just looking to give their house (already a ranch-style) a more traditional look, or for those who simply like this subject. I'll give this a three-star rating because, sometime in the near future, when I get my ranch house built, it could be more interesting to me. I'll keep the book on my shelf.

We live in a small neighborhood of Cliff May homes. Many have been remodeled, inside and out, but you can't change the bones of a May home. Unfortunately, we have had to make many improvements to ours as the May homes don't always translate well into the 21st century. X shaped framing makes finding a stud nearly impossible, and the numerous floor to ceiling windows are drafty and lack tempered glass and are extremely expensive to replace, so many of us replace with "normal" windows, walling up many altogether. This also deals with the lack of wall space for furniture or artwork, pictures, etc.