Ever heard this phrase? Apparently it refers to a one-story house built in the late 1940's or early 1950's. Asa and I went to an open house today to find out what was "atomic" about it - I expected it to blow up or something.

Sun: This was the best I could do without undertaking a tedious search through 15,000 hits

Out Of Vogue - vintage modernAtomic Ranch is a quarterly devoted to 1940's-70's ranch houses and modernist tract homes. They're cooler than you think... Design Ave. www.DesignAve.nl ...
www.outofvogue.com/links.htm

The term seems inane to me. What's wrong with just calling it a "1950s ranch?" To me the name suggests that the house has been reduced to its smallest possible parts, but then I'm sometimes too much of a literalist.

Is the thought here that Atomic refers to "atomic family"?

Looking for the origin of "atomic ranch," I read a nice LA Times article about the origin and intrigue of ranch homes, and it mentioned a magazine entitled "Atomic Ranch," which seems to be about ranch homes. As the article says: they want to "frame the style in a hip, retro package, nearly fetishizing its sharp angles, post and beam ceilings, and sliding glass doors."