What Is a Brick Rambler?

Style Characteristics

• The rambler ranch house has an open floor plan that extends far to the sides, parallel to the street, and/or deep into the lot, perpendicular to the street, conveying a feeling that the house “rambles on” forever. These houses are single-story dwellings with lots of large windows and sliding glass patio doors. Ramblers have the long, horizon-hugging, low-pitched roof design of the rectangular ranch house, broad overhangs and strong horizontal lines. They exhibit the ranch style’s asymmetrical long façade typically set parallel to the street.

Garage Included

• Ramblers and ranch houses normally have a built-in garage that faces the street. Their exterior walls tend to be finished with wood siding in muted tones or in earth materials, such as brick, and the houses have minimal ornamentation. This lack of ornament can leave a “plain Jane” impression. The ranch-type house style grew out of Spanish colonial working ranches, blended with California bungalows and the Prairie Style of the 1930s.

Tract Development

• Early ranch and rambler houses were custom designed by noted architects of the 1930s. But in the 1950s, tract developers seized on the ranch style for tract home production in the exploding suburbs around major cities. In attempts to dress up a basic classic house style, some developers added Early American style elements, such as scalloped roof trim and rooftop dovecotes or adopted bright paint colors instead of the classic earth tones. The cookie-cutter tract developments gave ramblers and ranch houses a reputation for looking like they were all clones.

Pros & Cons

• Ramblers in areas with high water tables are easily adapted to sit on a slab or crawlspace. As single-story homes, there are no stairs to climb. This makes for easy access to all parts of the house. The open floor plan facilitates interaction among family members and with guests, while the big windows let in light and air. Some people find the rambler’s clean lines and lack of adornment to be attractive. On the minus side, the sprawling open floor plans of ramblers mean these houses need very large building lots. The clean lines and unadorned appearance that some people find attractive may strike other people as sterile, bland and lacking in personality.