Spanish Colonial Style

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.

Classic study by noted authority traces Spanish architectural influence in Florida, the Gulf Coast, Texas, New Mexico, Arizona, and California. 195 photographs and 50 measured drawings.

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.

In California, authentic Spanish colonial houses were built with local materials for comfort and convenience, with both construction and ornamentation traditional of Spanish and New England settlers. This book gives architects, home builders and historians a chance to view photos, sketches, and twenty-six full pages of measured drawings of interior and exterior doorways, paneling, balconies, wrought-iron, and mantels—most from houses that are no longer standing.

The drama and beauty of historic homes in California are studied and displayed here in a deeply researched text and over 350 stunning colour and over 50 black and white photographs. Southern California's Spanish Revival monuments are pictured here-such as Hearst Castle at San Simeon, the Adamson House in Malibu, Casa del Herrero in Montecito. You will enjoy Rancho Revival landmarks like the Lummis House on Pasadena's arroyo, and Will Rogers' ranch near Pacific Palisades. These are all different portrayals of the California Colonial, its romantic past and its manner of settling into California's climate and landscape. Vernacular and religious structures built between 1769 and 1848, during the Spanish Mission and Mexican Rancho eras, gave California its unique character; a look that was subsequently fictionalised in the revival architecture produced since those colonial days. Particularly influential on residential work, the colonial styles have indulged in the rich associations with Spain's culture-employing styles and ornament from the country's provincial Andalusian, Plateresco, Churrigueresco, and Desornamentado styles and its ever-present Mudéjar crafts -- or burrowed into its rustic pioneer roots and depicted as individual visions of earthy rancho haciendas.

The author describes Casa del Herrero, including the early schemes, the many revisions, the extensive gardens and the extraordinary details inside. He ends with a chapter on the social events that took place in the house. Illustrations throughout include contemporary photography of every aspect of the house.

Surveys the work of the father of the Spanish-Colonial Revival style ofrchitecture that can be found throughout the warm, dry climate of Southernalifornia and is identified by enclosed courtyards, white stucco walls,rought-iron window grilles, and shady balconies.

Luminous new photography showcases contemporary and historic homes in the beloved Spanish Style in Southern California, while offering, as well, a rare look at the original inspirations to the style, born in Andalusia, Spain. The great appeal of Spanish Style homes lies in their aura of romance and drama, a sense of story, of magic, as well as in their very comfortable and engaging proportions and the great livability of the interior spaces. Deep shadow, arched doorways, trickling courtyard fountains, climbing bougainvillea on wrought-iron window grilles, wood-beamed ceilings, and white plaster walls are all hallmarks of the style. Here, through a celebration of contemporary and historic homes in Southern California, as well as existing historic precedents in Andalusia, Spain--most notably the intricately detailed Casa de Pilatos in Seville and the Alhambra of Granada--The Spanish Style House presents the definitive picture of the style as it exists today. Featured homes include the George Washington Smith-designed Casa Blanca (1928)--a fantasy made real in stone and stucco replete with the romance of old Morocco in its horseshoe arches, domes, and evocative tile murals--and a Marc Appleton-designed beach house (2007) in Del Mar, California, which is a dream on the sea and an eloquent testament to the virtues of the style for today.