Contact: Dick Pirozzolo at 781-235-9911 or dick@pirozzolo.com

Ranch log homes make a comeback among young families and empty nesters - benefits include one floor living and first floor master suite.

When Bill and brother Alfred Levitt started building modest capes and ranches on a Long Island potato farm in the late l940s, they opened up home ownership to ordinary Americans.

Thanks to efficient building practices pioneered by these innovative brothers along with federally backed mortgage guarantees, soldiers - home from World War II - bought Levitts's and similar houses in droves. With their young brides, they filled their new suburban homes with children who have now become today's middle-aged Baby Boomers - a generation that grew up ridiculing "the ranch house" as the ultimate symbol of 1950's conformity.

Return to the Ranch

No more. The ranch is back. Those once rebellious baby boomers are getting creaky and like the ease of one-floor living. And THEIR children who are married with children? They think it's cute that their parents stood out in the rain listening to Janis Joplin and The Who, and that ranch houses are terrific for raising a family.

"Log home enthusiasts as well are returning to the ranch," observes Northeastern Log Homes sales consultant Mike Cassidy, a 28-year veteran with the company, adding, "Anyone born after 1960 doesn't see the ranch in a negative light."

Cassidy adds, What's more, a log home ranch has a lot of character especially when it is designed with a steep roof pitch, ample porches, generous decks and wide eaves that enhance the horizontal silhouette. They're more like the homes well-to-do ranch owners of the Old West lived in than the modest suburban houses of the 50's."

Based in Northeastern's Model Home in rural Groton, Vermont, Cassidy is quick to point out that the ranch house profile harmonizes - rather than intrudes upon -the rolling hills of his Green Mountain State. For example, Joe and Lucille DiLorenzo, who are in their 50s, had originally considered a two-story log home with a typical second story loft overlooking a great room. Eventually, the couple realized they needed neither the extra second floor space nor the additional cost to create it. So instead they chose ranch-style architecture whose facade is balanced on each end with high gables. With 1,850 square feet on one floor, it met their need for style, space and a desire to live in their home through their 80s and beyond. They would also be able to accommodate elderly overnight guests without having to worry about stair climbing.

With guidance from Northeastern Log Homes, they included a first-floor master bedroom suite with Andersen Frenchwood Doors leading directly outdoors to a deck. The couple can get up in the morning and enjoy their coffee while watching deer browse at the forest edge - all before any of the kids realize they're up.

The DiLorenzo's home has since caught the attention of newspapers and magazines, including Vermont magazine. Vermont's Joyce Marcel, who chronicled the couple's experience writes: "Typically, log homes are kit homes, and . . . before [the DiLorenzos] ordered it, they spent two years working with Mike Cassidy to make the floor plan their own. They added six feet of depth to the kitchen, changed the location of the bathrooms, and most importantly, eliminated the second floor."

In her article, "For Love of Wood," Lucille DiLorenzo states, "We wanted something we could be comfortable in, without worrying about fixing, repairing or remodeling. That's why we took a couple of years to design and redesign it."