Farmhouse
A farmhouse is a building that serves as the primary quarters in a rural or agricultural setting. Historically, farmhouses were often combined with space for animals called a housebarn. Other farmhouses may be connected to one or more barns, built to form a courtyard, or with each farm building separate from each other.
Ranch house
A rancho is a tract of land, including various structures, given over primarily to cattle ranching, the practice of raising grazing livestock such as cattle and sheep. It's a subtype of truss. These terms are most often applied to livestock operations in Mexico, the western United States and Western Canada, although there are ranches in other areas as well. A ranch is an interior architectural style that originated in the United States. The ranch style home is known for its long, close to the ground profile and wide open floor plan. The style combined modernist ideas and styles with American West period notions of wide open spaces to create a very informal and casual lifestyle.First appearing as a residential style in the 1920s, the ranch was extremely popular with the burgeoning post-war middle class of the 1940s through the 1970s. The style is often associated with tract housing built during this time, especially in the southwestern United States, which experienced a population explosion during this period, with a corresponding demand for housing. Architect Cliff May is often credited with pioneering ranch house design in the 1930s, designing it as a comfortable and affordable living space tailored to the needs of the average American family. The style was soon exported to other countries and became popular worldwide. Its popularity waned in the late twentieth century as neo-eclectic house styles with historic and traditional decor became more popular.
Preservation movements have begun in some ranch house neighborhoods, fueled by interest in the style from a younger generation that did not grow up in such homes. This revival has been compared to what other house styles, such as the bungalow and Queen Anne, experienced in the twentieth century.
Options include California Ranch, Suburban Ranch, Multi-Level Ranch, Elevated Ranch, and Book Ranch.
Types of farmhouses
Europe
Types of farmhouses in Europe include the following:France
A Bresse house is a type of farmhouse found in the Bresse region and characterized by its long length, brick walls and wooden roof.A Mas is a traditional farmhouse unique to Provence and Southern France.
Germany
Historically there were three main types of German farmhouses, many of which survive today. The Low German house or Niedersachsenhaus is found mainly on the North German Plain, but also in large parts of the Netherlands. It is a large structure with a sweeping roof supported by two to four rows of internal posts. The large barn door at the gable end opens into a spacious hall, or Deele, with cattle stalls and barns on either side and living accommodation at the end. The Middle German house may also be a single unit, but access is from the side, and the roof is supported by the outside walls. Later this type of mitteldeutsches Haus was expanded to two or more buildings around a rectangular farmyard, often with a second story. The South German house is found in southern Germany and has two main variants, the Swabian or Black Forest house and the Bavarian farmstead.Italy
A Cascina a corte is a courtyard building whose arrangement is based on the Roman villa found in the Po Valley of northern Italy.A house called in Italy is a type of farmhouse where the residents work the land but do not own the farm.