A Renovated Cliff MayâDesigned Home in a Historic SoCal Enclave Asks $1.5M
The 1954 residence in Long Beachâs Rancho Estates is all about indoor/outdoor living.
The Lakewood Rancho Estates in Long Beach, California, was designed by architects Cliff May and Chris Choate in the 1950s for developer Ross Cortese. The historic, 700-house tract is characterized by Mayâs casual, ranch-style homes, a style he popularized throughout Southern California. Now, one of his prized designs is on the market.
Originally designed by Cliff May in 1954, this Rancho Estates residence recently underwent a complete overhaul and is now a two-level, single-family home measuring 2,288 square feet.
Two-story Cliff May-designed homes are like unicorns, and usually not in the good way. They’re rare enough; Cliff May expert, resident and Realtor Doug Kramer estimates there are about a dozen scattered around the 700-home Cliff May Ranchos neighborhood in East Long Beach in a tract east of Studebaker Road and north of Spring Street. But as a rule, they’re fairly unappealing, bordering a time on being an eyesore.
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The problem with adding a second story to May’s original sleek and invariably one-story designs is they’ve usually been done on the cheap and quick, with a contractor working without an architect and just slapping a generic rectangular top to the home, which, while, yes, it provides additional space to the original, it generally results in a dog’s breakfast in terms of appearance.