Santa Fe interiors often have partial walls 4-5 feet high with niches built in. The interior edges will also be rounded. Very often the floors will be finished with saltillo tile. These houses will have flat parapet roofs. Ranch Ranch houses are rectangular in shape, have pitched, composition shingle roofs, with overhangs to shade the walls and windows.
Construction is usually of slump block, brick, adobe, or frame stucco.
They are always one story. These simply designed homes often incorporate large back porches as an extension of the indoor living space. Typical of the style are vaulted ceilings, clere- story windows, open spaces and large windows. They can be one or two stories. Roofs can be flat, pitched, mission tiled or shingled.