Western Ranch Houses by Cliff May (California Architecture & Architects ; no. 10)

The success of the first edition of Sunset Western Ranch Houses led Sunset and Cliff May to bring out a second edition in 1958. Very different than the first edition, this too proved to be a best-seller. In addition being more thorough than the earlier work, the second edition also showed that May's architecture was going in new directions. He still preserved the rustic traditions and materials of the ranch house, but his designs were more open and flexible. The houses show that May had absorbed many of the modernist advances in domestic achitecture taking place in Southern California, while still maintaining his esthetic roots in the Spanish ranch house.