Atomic Ranch

Book Description

Atomic Ranch is an in-depth exploration of post-World War II residential architecture in America. Mid-century ranches (1946-1970) range from the decidedly modern gable-roofed Joseph Eichler tracts in the San Francisco Bay area and butterfly wing houses in Palm Springs, Florida, to the unassuming brick or stucco L-shaped ranches and split-levels so common throughout the United States.

Customer Reviews:

Midcentury Modern Lover's Porn.......2007-05-05

Page after page of delicious midcentury modern yumminess. Unlike many architecture and design books, this one is actually well written.

Atomic Dressing.......2007-03-21

Eye candy of the past that we loved, environments we create from what we thought were futuristic but now an echo in the past. Great assortment of houses on display to tickle your midcentury fantasies that we can't afford now.

Mid Century Gem.......2007-03-05

I love this book! Every page is graced with mid century ranch homes lovingly photographed and described. If you have any interest at all in architecture, add this book to your collection.

Wonderful book on Ranch Homes.......2007-02-20

As a subscriber of the "Atomic Ranch" magazine, published by the same authors of this book, I had high expectations on its content, which were more than fulfilled, as i simply loved the book. It highlighted many homes that have been previously published on the magazine pages, but it had many others that I have not seen before in print, probably from the earlier issues I missed. The photos are superb, the book format is so elegant and perfect for Coffee Table display and the content is just wonderful. From Amazon, I have also purchased the Alan Hess book on Ranch Homes and the one from Katherine Samon on decorating Ranch homes, but "Atomic Ranch" is by far, my favorite of those three.

Mid century modern for the real world!.......2007-01-26

I have purchased many books on mid century modern style to get ideas for my remodeling project and while they were full of excellant examples of the style the biggest part of them only showed examples of high dollar showcase homes. (example: Frank lloyd Wright's creations) While they are beautiful they are far beyond my means and impractical for my life style. Atomic ranch fills the gap of real world affordable design and livablity that I was seeking. I have gotten many great ideas from Atomic ranch that I will likely use in my own home remodel. The book is excellant to browse, to read, or to use as an example when conveying your ideas to contractors or builders. Atomic ranch is a joy to any fan of serious modern, mid century, googie, or boom generation cold war living and style!! I can't recommend it more. Nuff said.

California Colonial: The Spanish and Rancho Revival Styles (Schiffer Design Book)

Average customer rating:

California's special style
A wonderfully-written and visually-stunning reference
A wonderfully-written and visually-stunning reference

California Colonial: The Spanish and Rancho Revival Styles (Schiffer Design Book)
Elizabeth Jean, Ph.D. McMillian
Manufacturer: Schiffer Publishing
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Hardcover

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Casa California: Spanish-Style Houses From Santa Barbara to San Clemente
Red-Tile Style
George Washington Smith
Santa Barbara Style
Spanish Revival Architecture

ASIN: 0764314602

Book Description

The drama and beauty of historic homes in California are studied and displayed here in a deeply researched text and over 350 stunning color and over 50 black and white photographs. Southern California's Spanish Revival monuments are pictured here-such as Hearst Castle at San Simeon, the Adamson House in Malibu, Casa del Herrero in Montecito. You will enjoy Rancho Revival landmarks like the Lummis House on Pasadena's arroyo, and Will Rogers' ranch near Pacific Palisades. These are all different portrayals of the California Colonial, its romantic past and its manner of settling into California's climate and landscape. Vernacular and religious structures built between 1769 and 1848, during the Spanish Mission and Mexican Rancho eras, gave California its unique character; a look that was subsequently fictionalized in the revival architecture produced since those colonial days. Particularly influential on residential work, the colonial styles have indulged in the rich associations with Spain's culture-employing styles and ornament from the country's provincial Andalusian, Plateresco, Churrigueresco, and Desornamentado styles and its ever-present Mudjar crafts-or burrowed into its rustic pioneer roots and depicted as individual visions of earthy rancho haciendas.

Customer Reviews:

California's special style.......2007-01-29

Informative, needed less description and more diversity of photos. It shows Malibu and north to Hearst Castle but not much of the architectural detail in many of the Los Angeles, Los Feliz, Hancock Park or Santa Monica homes.

A wonderfully-written and visually-stunning reference.......2002-09-14

Dr. McMillian's treatment of a beautiful and significant architectural tradition in this country is quite unique. She has written and assembled an exquisite volume that deftly bridges the gap between a dry technical analysis and a pretty coffee-table effort by offering the reader an excellent textual and visual presentation of the mission and spanish revival styles (and related styles) that emanated in Southern California in the late 19th and early 20th centuries. Lesser-recognized sub-genre's like hacienda, rancho and Plateresco are also discussed, and the oftentimes confusing evolution and blending of these various styles is skillfully addressed. Hundreds of color photos beautifully complement the extremely informative historical analysis, providing the reader with a real taste of the various architectural and decorative arts elements that comprise these styles. Dr. McMillian's effort brings appropriate attention to an architectural tradition that defines Southern California more than any other. A more adept and satisfying one-volume treatment of this subject matter would be hard to imagine. Highly recommended.

For a beautiful companion volume that is equally well-written and accompanied by some stunning photography, check out the author's "Casa California" (1996).

A wonderfully-written and visually-stunning reference.......2002-09-14

Dr. McMillian's treatment of a beautiful and significant architectural tradition in this country is quite unique. She has written and assembled an exquisite volume that deftly bridges the gap between a dry technical analysis and a pretty coffee-table effort by offering the reader an excellent textual and visual presentation of the mission and spanish revival styles (and related styles) that emanated in Southern California in the late 19th and early 20th centuries. Lesser-recognized sub-genre's like hacienda, rancho and Plateresco also discussed, and the oftentimes confusing evolution and blending of these various styles is skillfully addressed. Hundreds of color photos beautifully complement the extremely informative historical analysis, providing the reader with a real taste of the various architectural and decorative arts elements that comprise these styles. Dr. McMillian's effort brings appropriate attention to an architectural tradition that defines Southern California more than any other. A more adept and satisfying one-volume treatment of this subject matter would be hard to imagine. Highly recommended.

For a beautiful companion volume that is equally well-written and accompanied by some stunning photography, check out the author's "Casa California" (1996).

The Ranch House
Average customer rating:

Depressing

The joys of one-level living

The Ranch House
Alan Hess
Manufacturer: Harry N. Abrams
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Hardcover

General | Architecture | Professional & Technical | Subjects | Books
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Ranch House Style

Ranches: Design Ideas for Renovating, Remodeling, and Building New (Updating Classic America)

Atomic Ranch

Western Ranch Houses by Cliff May

Sunset Western Ranch Houses

ASIN: 0810943468

Book Description

The trend is unmistakable. The Ranch-style house-a phenomenal success in the '40s, '50s, and '60s-is making a comeback. Like the enthusiastic embrace of Modern-style houses in the past decade, the Ranch house today is being snatched up and restored all across suburban America, while longtime owners are rediscovering what seduced them in the first place. Now Alan Hess, one of the country's leading authorities on the 20th-century American home, offers the definitive look at the Ranch house as he guides readers on a tour of more than 30 iconic examples, all photographed especially for this book.

With L- or U-shaped floor plans and sliding glass doors that provide direct access to the patio from the living area, the Ranch house is ideal for an indoor/ outdoor lifestyle and great for families, qualities that made it so appealing in its early days. Now, as this book illustrates, with baby boomers reclaiming the design aesthetic of their youth and a younger generation welcoming the warm and casual spirit of the Ranch, it's no surprise that this most populist of house styles is popular once again. AUTHOR BIO: Alan Hess is architecture critic for the San Jose Mercury News. His books include Googie: Fifties Coffee Shop Architecture, Rancho Deluxe, The Architecture of John Lautner, and Palm Springs Weekend. He lives in Troy, Michigan. Noah Sheldon is an architectural photographer based in New York City whose work has been featured in numerous national periodicals, includingThe New York Times Magazine and New York. This is his first book.

Customer Reviews:

Depressing.......2006-12-10

Mr Hess may be an architecture critic in San Jose but his focus in this book is low-end, tract style Ranch houses and his photographer, with similar credentials, is less inspired than a novice realtor photographing homes for the first time. When you realize his coffee house book was a 1950's effort, you know he doesn't have a broad experience beyond San Jose. Don't expect floor plans or any clues as to square feet under roof. This is a waste of time and money.

The joys of one-level living.......2005-06-14

Another beautiful Alan Hess architectural history that deserves to become the standard work. The book is in two parts, in the first sixty-eight pages he writes a readable and interesting history of this very popular housing concept and being popular it was looked down on by the architectural elite and many critics. The second part (147 pages) is a pictorial study of twenty-six ranch houses photographed by Noah Sheldon.

It is Sheldon's photos that makes the book come alive for me. With one photographer taking all the color photos there is a consistency of composition and color values and these 230 photos really work, with exteriors and interiors showing structural detail and the use of space. He manages to make the work of Cliff May, William Wurster or Harwell Hamilton Harris really sparkle plus Hess has written comprehensive captions to all these images, another refreshing plus for a highly visual book.

The design and production can't be faulted though to really make it perfect I would have liked to see floor plans of the twenty-six houses. By the nature of the ranch house, on one floor and no need for second floor supporting walls, rooms could meander in any direction and the leading architects of the style certainly took advantage of this. The back pages have a bibliography and index. I think Hess has written an excellent survey of this past popular house style and it will appeal to anyone interested in domestic architectural design.

***FOR AN INSIDE LOOK click 'customer images' under the cover.

Average customer rating:

A perfect book for the ranch house owner!
Beautiful Ranch
Disappointing
More than a pretty face
A literate coffee table book

Ranch House Style
Katherine Samon
Manufacturer: Clarkson Potter
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Hardcover

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Ranches: Design Ideas for Renovating, Remodeling, and Building New (Updating Classic America)
The Ranch House
Atomic Ranch
Western Ranch Houses by Cliff May
Sunset Western Ranch Houses

ASIN: 060960628X
Release Date: 2003-02-25

Book Description

If you grew up in postwar America, chances are you lived in or next to a ranch-style house. And the things we loved about ranches when we liked Ike are still attractive—perhaps more so—today: the liberation that comes with open-plan living, the casual feel of easy kitchen access, the comfort of having bedrooms and children near at hand, the convenience of one-level living, and the everyday luxury of smooth indoor-outdoor flow. So it’s no surprise that the ranch is in style again—and this book showcases the best of it. Whether that style is the mid-century modern of Corbusier and the Eameses, or the cross-cultural awareness of the sixties, or the Pop Art and plastic of the seventies, Ranch House Style offers inspiration and instruction on re-creating these looks in your own home.

But this book isn’t just for style mavens with professional decorators. Because if there’s any one completely American, democratic architectural style, it’s the ranch house. Ranches, in all their glory (and sometimes utter lack of it), are everywhere, usually affordable, just waiting for the right shag carpet to restore their hipness, the right flea-market find to liven up that patio. And Ranch House Style shows how—with examples of the ranch’s flexibility for any decorating style, from Victorian and French Country to thoroughly contemporary, from primary homes in the suburbs to vacation getaways on the shore, from vintage gems to newly built originals. It also shows how to solve the special challenges that come with one-story living in a decades-old house, including how to expand into today’s more spacious footprints, how to renovate for modern amenities, and how best to use the ranch’s typically large plot of land.

Remarkably, there hasn’t been a book on ranches available in decades. Despite the millions that exist across the entire country, the ranch has been ignored by the high-design community. To address that insult to ranch lovers, Ranch House Style also includes thoroughly researched, authoritative material on the style’s history, sociological context, architects, designers, and furniture. This is a serious work that stands alone in its field, in addition to being a beautiful, inspirational, and practical decorating book.

So come visit the ranch—both the remarkably familiar and the strikingly original, from modest to luxurious, in styles from charming to mod—available in neighborhoods everywhere, here showing in all its coolness.

Customer Reviews:

A perfect book for the ranch house owner!.......2007-05-29

This book is chock full of ideas for reinventing a ranch house. It includes an interesting history section with alot of original information. It's fun to look through and it's been helpful to me.
I highly recommend it!

Beautiful Ranch.......2006-01-25

Gives alternatives to "dressing-up" a ranch home. More of a coffee table book, which will make you proud to live in a ranch home.

Disappointing.......2005-05-23

The writing is amateur and unfocused, like a fluffy magazine. The photographs are mostly of decor, not so much of architecture, and the captions are sparse. A good portion of the "style" aspect is devoted to making ranches look not like ranches. What is a pseudo French cottage doing in here?

More than a pretty face.......2004-05-14

Many coffee table books are pretty to look at but few are more than a decorative addition to a room or a bookshelf. Ranch House Style is one of the few! Smart/informative writing, gorgeous photos, and a terrific layout make this a book you want to spend time with-especially if you live in, or are thinking about living in, a ranch house. And who among us hasn't at least spent some time in one?? Katherine Samon brings us up close and personal to this ubiquitous and quintessentially American housing style, allowing a look (at the very least) into some interesting spaces, and encouraging (at the most) the creative expression of new, and old, ranch house owners!

A literate coffee table book.......2004-05-09

It is rare that a "coffee table book" is anything more than a designer collection of pretty pictures. The author of Ranch House Style does far more. This book is well-researched and well-written. It presents helpful ideas with humor, grace, and, yes, style. It's informative and fun. Katharine Ann Samon will change your thinking about "ranch burgers". Don't just look at the pictures, read it. You won't regret it.

Spirit of the West: Cooking from Ranch House and Range

Average customer rating:

Fantastic Home-Style Ranch Recipes
Warm up your Kitchen!

Spirit of the West: Cooking from Ranch House and Range
Beverly Cox
Manufacturer: Stewart, Tabori and Chang
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Hardcover

General | Cooking, Food & Wine | Subjects | Books

Spirit of the Harvest: North American Indian Cooking
Spirit of the Earth: Native Cooking from Latin America
Eating Up the Santa Fe Trail: Recipes and Lore from the Old West

ASIN: 1584791977

Book Description

Spirit of the West presents an enticing array of hearty dishes rich with robust flavor and color. Authors Beverly Cox and Martin Jacobs extend a gracious invitation to join in this delicious roundup of recipes from the American West.

More than 100 recipes provide dishes that satisfy even the most demanding appetites. Breakfast prospects include Pecan Bread with Chokecherry Jelly, Potato Doughnuts, Buttermilk Pancakes, and the old prairie standby, Cowboy Coffee. After a long morning in the saddle, real cowboys can tuck into a Bowl of Red with Sourdough Biscuits or Kansas Fried Chicken with Authentic King Ranch Beans. Come and get it at a dinner smorgasbord of Mesquite Smoked Turkey, Prime Rib of Beef, and Pot Roast with Dumplings. Special occasions demand special chow like a Cream Can Supper (the Western Frontier equivalent of a clambake complete with sausages, corn, and potatoes cooked together in a milk can).

Behind this hearty food lies a rich heritage influenced by the cooking techniques of the native American and Mexican peoples. Ranch house cooking has been further enriched by the many ethnic cuisines brought to the region by its settlers. Photographs feature objects inherited (like many of the recipes) from the authors' forebears to illustrate this entertaining glimpse into the foods that fed the American West.

Customer Reviews:

Fantastic Home-Style Ranch Recipes.......2003-05-05

Spirit of the West is a fantastic cookbook, chock full of great Ranch-Style recipes and home-style food. It is the IACP Cookbook Award Winner, and once I opened it, I could tell why! Its filled with some great recipes, tantalizing photos and accompanying stories.

My particular favorites are Quichelna Cattle Company's Rum ribs,Abuelita's Chicken Soup,Flour Tortillas, Way Station Pot Roast with Dumplings. I'm looking forward to trying the biscuit on a stick and Mrs. Swan's White Cake! YUM.

Fans of cookbooks and western cuisine are sure to appreciate this cookbook. The photos are huge, tasteful, and numerous, and the recipes offer a delightful mix of western and Mexican inspired food. Just reading this cookbook makes me hungry. =-)

Warm up your Kitchen!.......2000-08-16

Give your kitchen a shot of true blue ranch cooking with this wonderful book. This extraordinary informative and practical book will win new friends among cooks everywhere, whether experienced or new to the kitchen. Spirit of the West cooking is to be valued chiefly for its "heirloom" dishes. Treasured heirlooms that come down to us from a day when hard physical labor and a need for thrift made chuck-wagon cooks provide satisfying, hearty, filling meals. Rich simmered soups; old fashioned pot roast with dumplings, hot puddings and wonderful baking recipes will take you on a nostalgic trip to the days when homemade breads were a part of everyday life. The Spirit of the West cookbook has the best of the old recipes, easy to prepare with step-by-step instructions attuned to yesteryear's simpler, more informal approach to mealtime. Once you have tried just a few of the recipes, you will understand why generation after generation of good cooks has shared with confidence and assurance their best cooking. Use the full-color photographs for inspiration; then turn your kitchen into the most welcome place in your neck of the woods.

American Collection Ranch Style: 200 New House Plans (The American Collection) (The American Collection) (The American Collection)

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American Collection Ranch Style: 200 New House Plans (The American Collection) (The American Collection) (The American Collection)
Hanley Wood Homeplanners
Manufacturer: Home Planners
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback

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House Plans | Home Design | Home & Garden | Subjects | Books
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Ranch House Style
Ranches: Design Ideas for Renovating, Remodeling, and Building New (Updating Classic America)
One-story House Plans Bible
325 New Home Plans for 2007: Today's Top Home Designs Updated Classics for Today's Homeowner
Most-Popular 1-Story Home Plans

ASIN: 1931131740

Rancho Deluxe: Rustic Dreams and Real Western Living

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Rancho Deluxe is a real treat!
Great Architectural History

Rancho Deluxe: Rustic Dreams and Real Western Living
Alan Hess , and Alan Weintraub
Manufacturer: Chronicle Books
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Hardcover

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Lone Star Living: Texas Homes and Ranches
Cowboy High Style Pb
Ranch Style: The Artistic Culture and Design of the Real West
Cowboy Style
Western Ranch Houses by Cliff May

ASIN: 0811824209

Book Description

Stone fireplaces, rustic wooden beams, Navajo blankets draped over leather sofas—the charming architecture and interiors so beloved from western movies and TV shows distinguish the beautiful homes in Rancho Deluxe. From rugged adobe structures to the rustic glamour of a little known Hearst ranch (designed by Julia Morgan) to a contemporary house that rises out of its red cliff surroundings, Rancho Deluxe takes the "home on the range" to inspired new heights. Alan Weintraub s beautiful photographs and Alan Hess's insightful text combine for a detailed and elegant portrayal of the ranch house, the definitive home of the American West whose ruggedly comfortable style has been imitated all over the world. Featuring extensive architectural and interior details, plus historical sources, Rancho Deluxe is the essential guide to living in style, the Western way.

Customer Reviews:

Rancho Deluxe is a real treat!.......2000-08-10

The last decade of the twentieth century spawned a culture of week-end ranchers buying week-end "places" and decorating the interiors in "drug-store cowboy". "Ranch Deluxe", however, shows you what the real thing looked like, Partner.

For those of us who grew up on "Hop Along" and Gene Autry Saturday mornings at the neighborhood theatre, Rancho Deluxe is a voyeur's dream.

Motoring down the highways of the great Southwest, one occasionally glimpses an old ranch house in the distance. "Is there a soul so dead who never fantasized about life in that ranch house?" Rancho Deluxe welcomes the voyeur to step inside and have a look around.

Great Architectural History.......2000-06-24

This book is a wonderful history/architectural reference. I purchased this book as an interior design reference and although it does not cover interior design details the rich history provided by the author led me to want to read this book cover to cover. And what a beautiful cover it is- brown leather- makes this a great coffee table book. This would be a great gift for anyone interested in western architecture and home style. This is not one of those books that choses a certain western style and displays hundred of the same photograph-this book covers every ranch style possible. I will continue to reference this book for inspiration and ideas.

California Herb Cookery: from the Ranch House Restaurant

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California Herb Cookery: from the Ranch House Restaurant
Alan Hooker
Manufacturer: Edwin House Publishing
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback

General | Baking | Cooking, Food & Wine | Subjects | Books

Herbs, Spices & Condiments | Cooking by Ingredient | Cooking, Food & Wine | Subjects | Books

General | Cooking, Food & Wine | Subjects | Books

Herb cookery and other recipes
Vegetarian Gourmet Cookery (101 Productions Series)

ASIN: 0964924706

Book Description

Alan Hooker and friend Beatrice Wood have produced a masterful record of fifty years of ground breaking California cuisine with over recipes covering all aspects of the great art of cooking with herbs. Hooker, known as the grandfather of California cuisine, taught Child, Puck, and Waters and made herbs popular in restaurant cooking. Liberal with butter, cream, and other tasty ingredients he cooked for the gourmet pallet in home kitchens. Woods drawings made when she was years old are saucy, irreverent, and naughty. They capture the atmosphere of the restaurant and love of good food.

Arizona Ranch Houses: Southern Territorial Styles, 1867-1900

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Arizona Ranch Houses: Southern Territorial Styles, 1867-1900
Janet Ann Stewart
Manufacturer: Univ of Arizona Pr
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback

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