There are still plenty of them around, of course. For several decades, the ranch was the comfortable, predictable, quintessential suburban house, according to Times reporter Tracie Rozhon. Americans now want big homes. They want at least two stories and they want more than one big window. Also, Americans care little about living rooms and are devoting square footage, instead, to bathrooms with Jacuzzis and saunas.
Image is also a factor.
Americans want their house to make a visual statement to anyone passing by. Robert A.M. Stern, the architectural historian and architect, says, The ranch house has no attitude. America is a country of house-proud people. Jefferson made that clear with Monticello. My intuition tells me that would be a bad idea.