split-level

今日はJohn Grishamの短編小説集Ford Countyの中のMichael's Roomを読んでいます。
弁護士のStanleyは誘拐され、小さな家に連れ込まれます。
They walked for another ten minutes, though it seemed like an eternal death march to Stanley. Rounding a curve in the road, he saw lights ahead, a small house in the distance. He picked up his pace slightly as he decided that Cranwell was not about to fire again with someone within earshot.
The house was a small brick split-level a hundred yards off the road, with a gravel drive and neat hedges just below the front windows.
"split-level" はどんな家でしょうか？　気になったので調べます。
・American Heritage Dictionary: Having the floor levels of adjoining rooms separated by about half a story: a split-level ranch house built in the 1970s.
・Macmillan Dictionary: used for describing a room or house that has parts on different levels beside each other, not above each other: a split-level bedroom
なるほど、ちょっと洒落たデザインの家ではあるけれども階段ががあるので、段差をなくしたバリアフリーの家とは反対の設計思想ですね。