This ranch house plan displays an outstanding room arrangement of three major living areas plus a spare room at the rear. A covered entry shelters the front door; just inside there is a well lighted foyer, with a coat closet, which leads to all three areas. The family bath, a linen closet and all three bedrooms are to the left; bedrooms 2 and 3 have cross-ventilation and sliding door closets which leave floor and wall space free for furniture arrangements. Four windows give the master bedroom double exposure. A dressing area with a private bath and separate vanity sink, a sliding door closet and a walk-in closet are also included in the design of this comfortable area. Both the living room and the dining room have been located at the front of the house, where they will be most convenient for formal entertaining. Large window areas, plenty of wall and floor space and easy communication between the two rooms without sacrificing any privacy are important features.
More informal gatherings will be enjoyed in the family room. Sliding glass doors along the rear wall open to a spacious terrace area, partially covered for greater comfort. A large fireplace gives the family room a feeling of cozy comfort. The stone of this fireplace wall also adds to the decorative effect of the efficiently designed kitchen. In this most important room there is an up-to-date corner sink, all appliances are within easy reach and a lot of cupboard storage and counter top work space is available. To the rear of the kitchen are stairs to the basement and a charming dinette area, a pantry closet and an outside entry. A service area adjacent includes laundry equipment concealed behind bi-fold doors, a mud closet and a full bath as well as the well-appointed spare room. The attached two-car garage has an inside door and a side door and plenty of extra storage space. Vertical wood siding, stone trim and a long planter combine to give the exterior a sleek, modern appearance.
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source: Best Homes, issue 47, 1968
Gemini AI Rendering
This lovely two story home is a welcome change for the family that is looking for an unusual floor plan. Every room has a fresh design approach and they all combine to make a wonderful whole. From the outside the house presents an appearance of solid charm, with classic wood shingles and brick veneer set off by shuttered windows and a double front door. The sparkling diamond paned windows in the door help to light the foyer, and the planter next to the entry adds another welcome note. Both the living room and the dining room are spacious, well lighted, and convenient for entertaining formally. For the more informal get-togethers there is an Early American room, with a large cheerful fireplace as a dominant note, and two windows and a door facing on the terrace.
The terrace is, of course, optional, but it certainly would be a joy to have, and it would make an excellent play area for the children. This house also has a covered porch; with a door to the attached two car garage and another door to the kitchen it makes a convenient passway from garage to house. It could also be easily screened or glassed in for use as a summer dining room. Three big windows in the dinette make it easy to enjoy a view with the family meals.
The well organized kitchen has a serving counter, an angled sink, and an excellent arrangement of cabinets and work areas. The lavatory has been centrally located, convenient to all rooms. In the master bedroom there is a private bath with an enclosed shower and vanity sink, a walk-in closet, a second closet and three windows for cross-ventilation. The other two corner bedrooms have cross-ventilation too, plus large closets with sliding doors. The fourth bedroom has a built-in book shelf, two windows, and a closet with sliding doors. In the family bath there is a full tub and a vanity sink. There is a linen closet on each floor, a pantry closet in the kitchen and a coat closet in the foyer.
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source: Best Homes, issue 47, 1968
Gemini AI Rendering
The popularity of split-level houses is widespread, and this well-designed home shows the reason why so many families choose them. First of all, it has a plan which can be adapted to nearly any lot, and the exterior is an interesting combination of cut stone and wood shingles with three eye-catching roof levels, and a window arrangement quite different from the usual. The front door leads to a foyer on the lower level; next to the front entry on the outside there is a planter box, and there is another just inside by the stairs.
There is also a coat closet in the foyer, and a full length glass panel at the door to bring natural light to the whole area. Also on the lower level there is a two car garage, a laundry, a powder room and a recreation room with a corner bar and sliding glass doors to the back yard. One level down from this is the full basement for utilities, storage, etc. The level above the foyer consists of living room, dining room, and kitchen. In the living room there is a gracefully curving bow window, a fireplace with raised hearth and the planter by the stairs is seen from the room. Two windows in the dining room look toward the rear of the property, and THIS is a dining room that is big enough for entertaining, close to the kitchen and with privacy as well.
Part of the kitchen is designed to be the working half, with a built-in oven, counter-top range, and plenty of cupboard and counter space. Another part of the kitchen, with two windows, has been designed for informal dining, and since there is an outside door in this room it means a lot of time and steps saved for the entire family. The stairs to the different levels are located in the center of the house and curve around to form a balcony on the top level. At this level there is a master bedroom with two exposures, a wardrobe closet, a walk-in closet, and a private bath with an enclosed shower and a linen closet. Bedroom #2 has three windows and two closets, bedrooms #3 and #4 have two windows and two closets each. The family bath has a vanity sink, a tub, and a linen closet, and there is another in the hall outside.
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source: Best Homes, issue 47, 1968
Gemini AI Rendering
The NBC Radio City building in Los Angeles was born out of a moment when radio was not just entertainment, but the beating heart of American culture. Constructed between 1936 and 1938 at the famous intersection of Sunset Boulevard and Vine Street, it became the West Coast headquarters of the National Broadcasting Company at a time when Hollywood itself was rapidly transforming into the global capital of media. The move from San Francisco to Los Angeles reflected a deeper shift: radio was merging with film, celebrity culture, and eventually television, all converging in Southern California.
Behind the ever-popular traditional facade is a floor plan completely different in its concept, providing a practical, organized, yet dramatic living area. A sloping beamed ceiling sweeps around the rear of this home connecting the kitchen with the family room, including space for a dinette. The enormous bay thus created extends into the rear garden and can also be seen from the main entrance. Immediately on entering the house through the flagstone center hall the focus of attention is on the family social area. The core of this area is a brick fireplace—a veritable hub around which all household activity turns. On one side is the kitchen and on the other the family room. Between are a dinette, with a barbeque fireplace for cook-ins, and an extension of the family room which allows it to flow outdoors to the terrace and garden. This expansive indoor-outdoor living area, with floor-to-ceiling glass on all outside walls, is completely informal and contains all the necessities of day-to-day family routine.
The formal living room remains set apart from the daytime activity area, a special place for special gatherings. Its focal point is a bow window overlooking the covered flagstone porch with its grill-work columns. There is no need ever to cross the formal living room to reach any part of the house. The dining room also has an unusual amount of privacy plus two sliding glass doors. One leads to the side porch, which can be screened, and the other leads to the terrace as do the two in the family area. Every one of the three bedrooms has plenty of closet space and a nice arrangement of windows. Bedroom 2 has a comfortable window seat and the master bedroom has a separate bath and dressing area which is most convenient. The family bath has been designed to double as a powder room. The basement is complete with recreation room, laundry, bar, lavatory, game storage closet and walk-in cedar closet. Wood siding and stone have been used for the traditional exterior of this very different home.
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source: Best Homes, issue 47, 1968
Gemini AI Rendering
Every day of the year and in every area of family life this ranch house will prove to be just right. For example, it has a nice flagstone front porch that’s sheltered from wind and weather making it a pleasant place to welcome guests or simply sit and rock. A larger porch at the rear, roofed over and protected on two sides, can serve as a year-round passage between the two-car garage and the mud room and it can also provide a private area for entertaining and a safe play space for small children. A third outdoor area is the flagstone dining patio, connected to the dining room by large glass doors. The front porch entrance opens on a large, bright vestibule complete with coat closet and the rear porch entrance opens on a mud room-laundry where there is a lavatory, stairs to the basement, room for laundry equipment, freezer corner and huge pantry closet. A compact combination of facilities such as that offered in the mud room will do much to speed along indoor and outdoor chores.
No "through traffic" in the living room and plenty of unbroken wall space make this room easy to decorate nicely and easy to keep looking that way, too. The two chief features, a graceful bay window and a handsome fireplace with a long hearth, complement each other perfectly. Barbeque meals have earned a rightful place on the American menu, and in this kitchen those meals can be cooked with a minimum of fuss on the barbeque fireplace. The usual kitchen chores can be handled with ease too and informal meals can be served pleasantly in the roomy dinette corner. In the bedroom area to the left of the foyer there is a family bath with a sink and vanity combination, and there are three large bedrooms. There's a total of eleven closets—all but the linen closet have sliding doors, and there are nice big windows in each bedroom. The master bedroom also has a private bath, a dressing room with vanity and some handy shelves. A handsome stone and shingle exterior seems perfectly suited to this ranch house.
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source: Best Homes, issue 47, 1968
Gemini AI Rendering
