Photo from the Multiple Listings of the Cliff May home in Oakland
Photo of Sunset Magazines Headquarters, found online @www.terragalleria.com/pictures
Cliff May was known as the father of the California Ranch Home. In the 1930's he began building furniture and homes without any formal training. May wanted his homes to be about informal living with a great deal sunshine. His homes were typically U or L shaped had to be accessible to private outdoors spaces. May modernized the California ranch house by using low-cost materials that would appeal to the masses. Building over 1000 residential and commerical properties, May was known for designing celebrity homes. He created Sunset Magazine's headquarters in Menlo Park and the Robert Mondavi Winery in Napa Valley. Last year one of Cliff May's home sold in Oakland, on Jordan Road! (The Redwood Heights District of Oakland.) May's plans were used in construction of more than 18,000 houses world-wide, including Switzerland, Australia and Ireland. Cliff May said, "If you can't walk out of the living room or bedroom or kitchen onto the ground, if you have to go down steps, you're not living like a real Californian lives."
