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MODPHX MEMBERS
ModernPhoenix is proud to announce
a new partnership with Desert
Living magazine, allowing us to reprint some of
their seminal articles on the Modern and Modern Contemporary
movement in Phoenix. In gratitude for all of your active
participation on the ModPhx website, they're
offering all ModernPhoenix members a free year's subscription
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For our inagural article, we're reprinting ModPhx member Scott
Jarson's story about the glorious modesty of the classic Phoenecian
Ranch. This is one of the articles that let me know I was not
alone, and that maybe there was a potential audience for ModPhx
after all. Enjoy!
Alison King, Editor |
Meanwhile Back at the Ranch...
Reprinted with the gracious
permission of ModernPhoenix member Scott Jarson 
and Desert
Living Magazine ,
which originally ran the article in 2002.
Once the darling
dream home of suburban America, Ranch-style homes that are the foundation
of Phoenix growth are disappearing under the blade of the bulldozer
to make room for new housing trends. What
can we do to save them, or should we even try?
For many of us of a
certain age, it's hard to separate thoughts of Phoenix from the idiom
of the Western Ranch House. Mixed with images of
black and white TV, big cars and shopping centers, the Ranch-style home
is the comfort food of Valley housing.
In many areas of our Valley, the very best remaining examples of custom,
architect designed, Ranch-style homes are not only being neglected, they
are increasingly being demolished rather than renovated to satisfy demand
for a very different sort of housing statement that plagues our community.
Born in an age that reflects a principled
and humbler aspect of our society, what we consider and define as the
Western Ranch House is really a very interesting amalgam of Prairie,
Modernist, Bungalow, and Cottage Styles, creating a design that is uniquely
American and, in spite of the derision that it has suffered over the
years, actually a very sound architectural solution to our particular
environment.
The Ranch home typically is seen
as a horizontal design, single level, with a sloping roof and generous
overhangs. Limited
window openings often give way to glass walls, or sliding Arcadia
doors in the more public spaces. They incorporate some ideas that now
seem mainstream: dedicated spaces for cars, corner windows, patio spaces,
climate control plus a variety of building systems, materials and appliances
not used prior to WWII.
In truth, not unlike like
the modernist homes of the time, the typical ranch home is a surprisingly
contemporary adaptation. In the scheme
of things this style is an architectural newcomer, unexpectedly livable
fifty years later. They are energy efficient, constructed with
lasting, quality materials and relatively easily built. Plus they have
an adaptive nature that lends customization of the plan to fit a wide
variety of homeowners.
It's no wonder that this design
became so widely accepted in our society, but the desire for the Ranch
home had deeper connotations. The Ranch defined a romantic side to
America. The generation before us recognized
and admired a Western sensibility which was reflected in how we lived
in places like Arizona; a rural place not unlike the Jeffersonian roots
of our land, interaction with climate and nature that could not be ignored,
combined with sense of opportunity that provided an openness reflected
in the landscape and the inhabitants. While Modernist homes found
a hard audience in Mom and Pop America, the Ranch home balanced modern
design, materials, affordability, and desire into a perfect package.
It is widely accepted that California's Cliff May spearheaded the design
craze that swept across the Country. In his 1946 book Sunset Western
Ranch Houses , May covered all aspects of this design including promoting
outdoor living and integrating landscape into the plan. His advice and
guidelines are not out of step with the sensibilities of today's design
conscious: May
writes, "You should expect the house to do many things for you. Not only
should it give you greater comfort with less work, but it must also give
you a more satisfying way of living."
In a time before the Ranch house
went mainstream, became mass produced and widely accessible, and long
before the term "ranch house" became
almost apologetic or derogatory, there existed a serious design ethic
behind this style that gave birth to some excellent Valley examples.
In north central Phoenix, Arcadia and
the Town of Paradise Valley these homes were the dream realizations
of many of the Valley's more affluent denizens. Here endures a legacy
of design, especially in some of the more Modernist-influenced Ranch
homes that are unique to Arizona, and yet these are the most endangered
of all.
Wereas more modest Ranch
homes are accepted, updated, even revered in some parts Phoenix, these
grander, mostly architect designed versions await destruction at alarming
levels. Due to land value and in
no small part to the lack of any voice educating potential buyers, these
houses are routinely considered valueless. Often as not they are
classified as "scrapers", destined for immediate destruction without
any consideration to the value of the house, or to the cultural significance
the design represents. Bulldozed and carted off as land fill with
absolutely no effort placed on re-using the structure or its components,
they are reduced to rubble in hours making way for grander designs that
are not only in-appropriate, but potentially unsustainable.
Architectural Consultant Reed
Kroloff puts is very well: "The
Ranch house represents a uniquely American design that offers more character,
is better built and shows more civic responsibility than the grossly
selfish and irresponsible designs that often replace them." These modest
homes reflect a more hopeful and less self interested period in our history,
yet their use of materials, attention to architectural scale and appropriateness
is perfectly suited to Arizona In discussing the loss of these
designs, Kroloff observes a frightening realization. In almost
every other great city in America these homes are recognized for their
architectural quality and are highly valued. Nowhere but Phoenix
destroys its architectural heritage with more wanton, almost gleeful,
abandon.
How well suited is the Ranch
home design to our climate? Kroloff
and others recognize that the Phoenix tradition of building with masonry,
especially the clay tile bricks that grace many examples, combined
with deep eaves and relatively small window-to-wall ratios make the ranch
house particularly ecologically appropriate to our arid, sunny land.
That we are choosing to destroy
ranch homes is not particularly surprising. We
have continually imported design styles from other regions of the World
to the detriment of local influences. But what is the price for
the loss of these homes? Reflecting a particular place and time
in our society, they are not likely to ever be reproduced. The
skilled labor and dedication to simple, quality materials that make them
up are now reserved only for the most sophisticated designs. The availability
of land affordable enough to duplicate them is gone too and the market
demands larger and larger homes, even if the space is unused.
Ultimately, what may save
these homes is what also makes them fodder for the builders. In some areas they continue to sell at what
is considered land value. You can purchase a modest Ranch home in a great
location, completely renovate it, and still be far less than buying new. You'll
have a home that is easy to maintain, affordable, and one that adapts
well into our landscape.
So perhaps the American proclivity
for demanding the newest and biggest, an ethic which drives the demolition
of these homes may be overcome by another essential American passion.
Bargain hunting.
Scott Jarson is an artist,
writer and real estate agent whose firm specializes in the marketing
of architecturally unique homes. He
can be reached at www.azarchitecture.com
