Mrs. C, an elderly friend living near 66th Terrace and Nall, Prairie Village KS kept saying her and her husband, Bob, had built a "Cliff May" house. It has redwood siding, heavy cedar shake roof and nice bones with lots of southside windows and a beautiful backyard. Though I am quite familiar with May's work, she convinced me enough to think they had a "Sunset" magazine house design. She showed me pictures in vintage magazines with Cabot's Ranch House Stains featuring May houses. I became very curious annd delved in deeper. As it turned out and after many attempts to see her house plans, I discovered the house was designed in 1954 by Linscott and Haylett, built by Wm. V. Powell Construction, who Mrs. C quoted as saying, "you don't want to live in a barn", and with that talked them out of vaulted ceilings. The house plans couldn't be found but a preliminary plan was found showing the house reversed with a front entry instead of a side entry garage. This is a great mid-century ranch, with private and public areas seperated nicely, both giving onto the wonderful rear terrace designed by Hare and Hare in 1959. The Hare and Hare landscape design firm did an extensive design for the terrace, pergola room and landscaping. I'll feature that in a future post...
