BACKGROUND AND INSPIRATION: Early forms of modern houses included rare examples of the prairie style, designed to blend into the prairie landscapes of the Midwest, inspired by Frank Lloyd Wright. The American foursquare and craftsman bungalows, distant cousins to the Prairie style, gave us more common forms of early modern housing styles up to and including World War One. After World War Two, when the suburban boom gained momentum, variations on the modern style became the prominent form of building for suburban neighborhoods and large tracts of standardized middle-class housing throughout the U.S. between 1950 and 1980, mirroring the modern movement and the more prominent International style. Modern houses included the California ranch, raised ranch, split-level, and "sea ranch" after the 1950s. Similar to international style, these houses really don't include much "style" at all -- they are designed to look to the future - not to the past - for their inspiration. By the 1970s architects and developers started slipping subtle hints of past stylistic features into their houses, in part riding the patriotic wave of the Bicentennial celebrations surrounding 1976. By the 1980s the postmodern movement was gaining steam, and the anti-style of the ranch was itself a thing of the past. Architects and builders were moving away from modern forms, favoring instead a revived interest in past styles and ornamentation -- the postmodern era had emerged.

PHOTO LOCATIONS AND DESCRIPTIONS (based on info available)

1. State College, PA. 1960s split-level house.
2. State College, PA.
3. State College, PA.
4. Downey, CA. c.1953. Two-car garage is rare this early, but it is original.
5. Durango, CO. Split-level house.
6. Wheaton, IL. Split-level house with single-car garage. Probably 1960s.
7. Wheaton, IL. Raised ranch. Probably 1970s. Could also be considered a "Colonial" due to the cantelievered second story. Otherwise, still a basic, modern house.
8. Stafford, CT. Single story ranch with basement, c.1969. Porch and garage (out of view) added later. Notice the center gable, steeply pitched with subtle vertical wood trim under the gable, just hinting at a return to historical stylistic trends with the advent of postmodernism in the 1970s.
9. St. Louis suburbs. c.1960s. A modern ranch, at the height of the era of modern architecture, when historical styles were purposely ignored. Across the street from this is a 1970s subdivision showcasing the return of historical styles representing the beginning of the postmodern era. (You can see these houses on the postmodern-residental link). This ten-year difference in American housing trends is striking, from one side of the street to the other.
10. St. Louis suburbs. A raised ranch, or what some people stretch the imagination to call a "Colonial". The only "colonial" feature here might be the cantelievered second story.
11. St. Louis suburbs. 1960s. Split-level, at the height of their popularity, this one with a variation of modernist ribbon-windows and Prairie-style-like low-pitched, hipped roof.