Santa Barbara Style

The architectural identity of the wealthy southern California town Santa Barbara is explored with emphasis on the architects who designed its major buildings, estates and historic homes. 200 illustrations.

An ode to the classic Spanish-style houses of Santa Barbara. Spanish Colonial Style celebrates an extraordinary tradition in architecture whose hallmarks include whitewashed stucco and plaster walls, wood-beamed ceilings, dramatic fireplaces, and, above all, mystery and romance. Homes in this much-loved style of architecture welcome the visitor and embrace the resident, and architects James Osborne Craig and Mary McLaughlin Craig, early proponents of the style and influential disseminators of it, were masters of the form. Their work, until now, has been largely underappreciated and little seen. The Craigs played pivotal roles in the development of the Spanish Colonial Revival and of other styles of architecture in Santa Barbara, and the influence of their work spread much beyond that. In addition to shining a long overdue spotlight on the rich career of these tremendously influential architects, Spanish Colonial Style also heralds Santa Barbara as the small city of international importance that it became in the first half of the twentieth century.

Domestic architecture and interior design.

Following a devastating earthquake in 1925 that destroyed most of Santa Barbara’s significant buildings, the city became the first in the country to have a controlled building plan that encouraged a unified style using elements of Spanish colonial architecture. With airy broad patios, thick adobe walls, and warm-colored tile roofs, Californian architecture is beautifully distinctive. The product of many architects, it combines the harmony and color of Spanish colonial style with some of the best of American architecture. It is inspired by the play of sunshine on light surfaces as well as the contrast of deep shadows. Here, where gardens are so much a part of the house, the homes have become part of the garden. In 1929, H. Philip Staats presented 231 photos and plans of the rebuilt Santa Barbara: its public and commercial buildings, homes, interiors, and gardens. This book contains that collection, and is meant to serve as an inspiration for those planning and decorating in the Hispanic styles.

This documentation of the architecture of Santa Barbara, California has grown since the first edition was published in 1970: the second (1980) saw an expanded format and some 150 new photographs, and the third includes still more pages and photographs. The architectural examples presented here, selected from thousands taken on a block-by-block survey, were chosen for purity of style, historical signficance, and uniqueness. Each clear and beautiful black & white photo is captioned with information on the original owner or building title; date of construction; name of architect, designer, or builder; address; and alterations or additions to the building. 11x10" Annotation c. by Book News, Inc., Portland, Or.

The aura and romance of Old California lives on in this treasury of inviting homes. The California House presents the magic of the "golden state," that land of infinite promise and dreams, the most tangible expression of which can be found in the homes built by early California dreamers. Here domestic visions of tranquility and repose were inventively realized—in stucco or stone, wood and wrought iron, plaster, and glass and tile. Spanish Colonial Revival–style homes with elaborate wrought-iron window grilles, romantic, shadowy interiors, and lush courtyard gardens stand beside other particularly Californian architectural wonders such as the San Francisco Victorian Painted Lady, the Monterey Colonial, Eurekan Queen Anne, and the homey California Arts & Crafts. Including houses designed by luminaries George Washington Smith, Stanford White, Greene & Greene, and Reginald Johnson, this book will fascinate both the architecture aficionado and interior design enthusiasts, as well as the everyday lover of homes. Including, but going beyond, the much-adored Spanish style (in its many manifestations) and Mission Revival, the book features as well the Victorian of San Francisco's Painted Lady and Eureka's Queen Anne, Monterey Colonial, California Arts & Crafts, French Chateau, classic Colonial farm house, and more. All new color photography of 25 houses in California ranging in style from Spanish Colonial Revival, Mission, Victorian, Queen Anne, California Arts & Crafts, Monterey, French Chateau, Colonial Farm House. The book includes little known California work by well known architect Stanford White, known primarily for his East Coast work (designer of the original Penn Station with McKim, Mead & White, and original Madison Square Garden, and many others); as well as the Magdelena Zanone House (Queen Anne late Victorian style home in Eureka, CA); the Murphy House, San Francisco (Classic French Chateau); a Gothic Victorian 1860s home in Sonoma; Casa Amesti (Monterey style home); "El Cerrito" designed by Russel Ray and Winsor Soule and built in 1913 in Santa Barbara (an amalgam of Mission and Spanish Colonial Revival); the Frothingham House designed by George Washington Smith in 1922 (Spanish Colonial Rev.); Cuartro Ventos House by Reginald Johnson, 1929 in Santa Barbara; William Edwards House by Roland E. Coate, Sr. in San Marino, 1926; Robinson House by Greene and Greene in Pasadena, 1905; Sack House in Berkeley (California Arts & Crafts) Brune-Reutlinger House in San Francisco (classic Painted Lady Victorian); a colonial mid-19th cent farm house in Sonoma; "Mariposa," classic Spanish style in Montecito; The Marston House in San Diego (Arts & Crafts/Tudoresque); Rancho Los Alamos De Santa Elena in Los Alamos (Span. Col. Rev.); Pepper Hill Farm in Balard.