Reinventing The Ranch 00 Informal floor plans and spacious lots make these 1950s' designs ideal for '90s remodels The most popular postwar housing style in the United States was the ranch house. Every city in America boasts entire neighborhoods of 1950s ranches that are ripe for remodeling — one sto r y big picture windows, no (old-fashioned) po r ches, and broad roof overhangs that were in their time as dramatic as the tail fins on the owners' ca r. And speaking of the ca r , perhaps the most defining feature of the ranch was the accommodation of the automobile. Garages for the first time were brought up front and proudly faced to the