Untitled (date unknown)
Cliff May
Cliff May's career can be parsed into five stages. He modeled his rustic patio houses in San Diego (1931–38) on the old adobes he knew from the childhood days he spent on his aunt's ranch. Beginning in 1939 through the mid-1940s, May designed and built urban ranch houses in Los Angeles in which he experimented with larger, irregular plans on large lots. In response to the postwar population boom, May and his partner, Chris Choate, sold model home designs to developers in the early 1950s, resulting in circa 18,000 Cliff May homes in housing tracts across the Southwest. Beginning in the mid-1950s through the rest of his life, May returned to designing sophisticated custom ranch houses such as his own house, Mandalay, located in Sullivan Canyon in Los Angeles, and the Philbin house in Woodside, California, 1959–60. It is in these modernized, sprawling ranch houses that Cliff May's definition of the carefree California life is most evident.
© UC Regents
Speculative House (San Diego, California): Perspective and Plan (1932)
Cliff May
Graphite and colored pencil on trace 16.5 x 11 in
Cliff May Collection, Architecture and Design Collection, University Art Museum, University of California, Santa Barbara © UC Regents
Cliff May Homes Model 2121 (1957)
Cliff May
Rendering by William Cody.
Pencil on trace 12 x 18 in
Cliff May Collection, Architecture and Design Collection, University Art Museum, University of California, Santa Barbara © UC Regents
The House That Dreams Built: Mock-Up for Cliff May Homes Brochure (ca. 1954)
Cliff May
Ink and collage on paper
Cliff May Collection, Architecture and Design Collection, University of California, Santa Barbara © UC Regents
Cliff May House #5 "Mandalay" (Los Angeles, California): Plan (1956)
Cliff May
Ink on paper
Cliff May Collection, Architecture and Design Collection, University Art Museum, University of California, Santa Barbara © UC Regents
Old Ranchos 2 (1945)
L. J. Geddes
Photographs commissioned by Cliff May, which he used as models.
Gelatin silver print 8 x 10 in
Photograph by L. J. Geddes; Cliff May Collection, Architecture and Design Collection, University Art Museum, University of California, Santa Barbara © UC Regents
Billboard for Lakewood Rancho Estates (ca. 1953)
Cliff May
In 1950 Cliff May and his partner, Christian Choate, began developing a panel system for building low-cost California ranch houses to meet the postwar housing demand. They invited five builders to witness the erection of a factory model on a lot owned by May in Sullivan Canyon. By the end of the day, a handful of laborers had assembled the shell of the house using both post and beam construction, and pre-cut and pre-assembled panels. A young builder named Ross Cortese immediately placed an order for 950 houses, which would, by 1954, become Lakewood Rancho Estates in Long Beach, California. May and Choate formed Ranch House Supply Corp. and Ranch House Sales, Inc., and by 1955, they were manufacturing ten houses per day. Two thousand Cliff May homes sold in the first year, a figure that quickly grew to 10,000. This photograph, taken by Cliff May, shows the billboard that lured buyers to Lakewood Rancho Estates with a promise of a carefree, modern, California life.
Gelatin silver print 3 x 5 in
Photograph by Cliff May; Cliff May Collection, Architecture and Design Collection, University of California, Santa Barbara © UC Regents
Don't Just Dream, Move In: Cliff May Homes Brochure (1954)
Cliff May
Printed ephemera 11.5 x 17.5 in. unfolded
Cliff May Collection, Architecture and Design Collection, University Art Museum, University of California, Santa Barbara © UC Regents
Logo for Riviera Ranch: Artwork (ca. 1940)
Cliff May
Printed ephemera 6.5 x 4.5 in
Cliff May Collection, Architecture and Design Collection, University of California, Santa Barbara © UC Regents
Apartment Interiors (1935)
Cliff May
Graphite and colored pencil on trace 13.25 x 21 in
Cliff May Collection, Architecture and Design Collection, University Art Museum, University of California, Santa Barbara © UC Regents
Cliff May House #5 "Mandalay" (Los Angeles, California): Gatehouse Plan and Elevation (1956)
Cliff May
Graphite on vellum 18 x 23 in
Cliff May Collection, Architecture and Design Collection, University Art Museum, University of California, Santa Barbara © UC Regents
Sullivan Canyon Ranches: Artwork for Advertising (ca. 1948)
Cliff May
Pencil, ink, and watercolor on paper
Cliff May Collection, Architecture and Design Collection, University of California, Santa Barbara © UC Regents
De Anza Motel (Montecito, California) (ca. 1938)
Cliff May
Graphite on trace 13 x 38 in
Cliff May Collection, Architecture and Design Collection, University Art Museum, University of California, Santa Barbara © UC Regents
Janss House (Palm Springs, California): Mass Study (1955)
Cliff May
Graphite and ink on vellum 8.5 x 11 in
Cliff May Collection, Architecture and Design Collection, University Art Museum, University of California, Santa Barbara © UC Regents
House Beautiful Demonstration House (Los Angeles, California): Interiors (ca. 1945)
Cliff May
Graphite and watercolor on board 26 x 20 in
Cliff May Collection, Architecture and Design Collection, University Art Museum, University of California, Santa Barbara © UC Regents
Avenel Housing Association (Los Angeles, California): Tract Plan and Perspective (ca. 1946)
Gregory Ain
Ink on vellum 18.5 x 18 in
Gregory Ain Collection, Architecture and Design Collection, University Art Museum, University of California, Santa Barbara © UC Regents
Joel McCrea Ranch House (Moorpark, California): Perspective (1933)
John Byers
Graphite and colored pencil on trace 9 x 16.5 in
John Byers Collection, Architecture and Design Collection, University Art Museum, University of California, Santa Barbara © UC Regents
Coville house (Isla Vista, Goleta, California): Interior (1957)
Lutah Marie Riggs
Conte crayon on trace 18 x 35 in
Lutah Maria Riggs Collection, Architecture and Design Collection, University Art Museum, University of California, Santa Barbara © UC Regents
