Book Report: ‘Cliff May and the Modern Ranch House’

"Cliff May and the Modern Ranch House" by Daniel P. Gregory, with photographs by Joe Fletcher and a foreword by Joel Silver. (Rizzoli; 256 pages; $60) Reviewed by Robert Nebolon (Robert Nebolon, a Berkeley architect, designed a contemporary Hermosa Beach home featured previously on this blog.) Cliff May, the father of the California ranch house, is finally getting his due. Thanks to Daniel P. Gregory’s superb book “Cliff May and the Modern Ranch House,” the work of this prolific Los Angeles-based architect is finally being recognized. As much as members of the Los Angeles architectural community rave about their modern architectural history (they should; it’s quite impressive), Cliff May seems never to get mentioned. Maybe it’s because of those wagon wheels out in front of his houses. Yet it’s hard to imagine an architect whose work affects more Westerners on a daily basis than Cliff May. Most of us have either owned a ranch-style house ourselves or had friends who lived in one. These houses are found everywhere. Gregory’s book explains how May blended Spanish courtyard houses with modern open plans filled with modern conveniences to create an elegant contemporary house well suited for the hot, dry climate found in [...]