Spanish Colonial Revival architecture facts for kids
The Spanish Colonial Revival Style (Spanish: Arquitectura neocolonial española) is an architectural stylistic movement arising in the early 20th century based on the Spanish Colonial architecture of the Spanish colonization of the Americas.
In the United States, the Panama-California Exposition of 1915 in San Diego, highlighting the work of architect Bertram Goodhue, is credited with giving the style national exposure. Embraced principally in California and Florida, the Spanish Colonial Revival movement enjoyed its greatest popularity between 1915 and 1931.
In Mexico, the Spanish Colonial Revival in architecture was tied to the nationalist movement in arts encouraged by the post-Mexican Revolution government. The Mexican style was primarily influenced by the Baroque architecture of central New Spain, in contrast to the U.S. style which was primarily influenced by the northern missions of New Spain. Subsequently, the U.S. interpretation saw popularity in Mexico and was locally termed colonial californiano.
Today, tract home design in Southern California and Florida largely descends from the early movement. The iconic terracotta shingles and stucco walls have been standard design of new construction in these regions from the 1970s to present.
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Design elements
Spanish Colonial Revival architecture shares some elements with the earlier Mission Revival style derived from the architecture of the California missions, and Pueblo Revival style from the traditional Puebloan peoples in New Mexico. Both precedents were popularized in the Western United States by the Fred Harvey and his Atchison, Topeka and Santa Fe Railway Depots and Hotels. The Spanish Colonial Revival style is also influenced by the American Craftsman style and Arts and Crafts Movement.
Spanish Colonial Revival architecture is characterized by a combination of detail from several eras of Spanish Baroque, Spanish Colonial, Moorish Revival and Mexican Churrigueresque architecture. The style is marked by the prodigious use of smooth plaster (stucco) wall and chimney finishes, low-pitched clay tile, shed, or flat roofs, and terracotta or cast concrete ornaments. Other characteristics typically include small porches or balconies, Roman or semi-circular arcades and fenestration, wood casement or tall, double–hung windows, canvas awnings, and decorative iron trim.
Structural form:
- Rectangular, courtyard, or L-plan.
- Horizontal massing.
- Predominantly one-story.
- Interior or exterior courtyards.
- Asymmetrical shape with cross-gables and side wings.
Notable architects
One of the most accomplished architects of the style was George Washington Smith who practiced during the 1920s in Santa Barbara, California. His own residences El Hogar (1916, a.k.a. Casa Dracaena) and Casa del Greco (1920) brought him commissions from local society in Montecito and Santa Barbara. An example landmark house he designed is the Steedman estate Casa del Herrero in Montecito, now a registered National Historic Landmark and restored historic house—landscape museum. Other examples are the Jackling House and Lobero Theatre also in California.
In California
Bertram Goodhue and Carleton Winslow initiated the style as the dominant historical regional style in California; they also influenced Hawaiian architecture in the 1920s. Notable in Californian architecture were the following architects:
- John Byers, AIA
- Birge Clark, FAIA
- Edwards and Plunkett
- Elmer Grey, AIA
- Sumner P. Hunt, AIA
- Reginald Johnson, FAIA
- William Templeton Johnson, FAIA
- Julia Morgan, AIA (AIA Gold Medalist)
- Wallace Neff, FAIA
- Richard Requa
- Lilian Jeannette Rice, AIA
- Lutah Maria Riggs, FAIA
- Clarence J. Smale
- George Washington Smith
- Robert H. Spurgeon Jr.
- Paul Revere Williams, FAIA (AIA Gold Medalist)
Currently:
- Kevin A. Clark
- Marc Appleton, AIA
- Michael Burch, FAIA
- Thomas Bollay, AIA
In Florida
In Florida notable architects include:
- John Elliot
- Maurice Fatio, AIA
- Harry Griffin, AIA
- Richard Kiehnel, AIA of Kiehnel and Elliott
- Addison Mizner
- Wallace Neff, FAIA
- Albert Pierce
- James Gamble Rogers II, FAIA
- Robert Weed, FAIA
- Marion Wyeth, FAIA
In Hawaii
- Louis Davis
- G. Robert Miller, AIA
- Bertram Goodhue FAIA's junior partner, Hardie Phillip, FAIA
List of example structures
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- California Quadrangle and El Prado, Balboa Park, San Diego, California: by Bertram Goodhue, for the Panama–California Exposition (1915-15).
- Casa del Herrero, Montecito, California, architects George Washington Smith and Lutah Maria Riggs, 1926.
- The Main Quad and many buildings in the campus of Stanford University, designed by Frederick Law Olmsted, 1886–1891.
- Glendale Southern Pacific Railroad Depot, by Maurice Couchot & Kenneth MacDonald, Jr. in Glendale, CA, opened 1923.
- Santa Barbara County Courthouse, by William Mooser III, in Santa Barbara, California, completed 1929.
- George Fearn House in Mobile, Alabama, completed 1904.
- Adamson House, "Taj Mahal of Tile" by Stiles O. Clements, in Malibu, California, completed 1930.
- Marine Corps Recruit Depot, San Diego, California, 1917–1930
- Naval Training Center, San Diego, California, completed 1923 (Buildings 1–26, and Officer's Quarters "A"-"D"). Other phases completed 1936 (Barracks 27–30, Camp Lawrence), and 1942 (Camp Luce).
- Quapaw Baths building in Bathhouse Row, Hot Springs, Arkansas, completed in 1922.
- C.E. Toberman Estate, by Russell & Alspagh, in Hollywood, California, completed 1924.
- Azalea Court Apartments in Mobile, Alabama, completed in 1928.
- "La Casa Nueva", Workman and Temple Family Estate, in City of Industry, California, completed 1927.
- Castillo Serrallés in Ponce, Puerto Rico, completed in the 1930s.
- William S. Hart "La Loma de los Vientos" Ranch, arch. Arthur R. Kelly, Newhall, California, completed in the early 1920s.
- Randolph Air Force Base (various structures) near San Antonio, Texas, designed in 1929.
- Hollywood, Homewood, Alabama, a 1926 residential development in Homewood, Alabama.
- El Capitan Theatre, Hollywood, built in 1928.
- "Death Valley Ranch", "Scotty's Castle," a landmark in Death Valley National Park, which was begun in 1922 and had construction on the original design continue sporadically as late as 1943.
- Scripps College, by Gordon Kaufmann and Sumner Hunt, in Claremont, California, women's college and campus established in 1926 by Ellen Browning Scripps.
- Hamilton Air Force Base, in San Francisco Bay Area near Novato, California, completed in 1934.
- Pima County Courthouse in Tucson, Arizona, designed by Roy Place.
- Benedictine Monastery in Tucson, Arizona, also designed by Roy Place. http://www.tucsonmonastery.com/
- Louis P. and Clara K. Best Residence and Auto House, Clausen & Clausen, Davenport, Iowa, constructed in 1909.
- Pasadena City Hall, by Bakewell and Brown, in Pasadena, California, completed 1927.
- Hortonville Community Hall, by Robert Messmer, in Hortonville, Wisconsin, built in 1912.
- Thomas Jefferson Hotel in Birmingham, Alabama, opened in 1929.
- Adler Hotel in Sharon Springs, New York, built in 1928.
- El Reno Municipal Swimming Pool Bath House in El Reno, Oklahoma, completed in 1935.
- Plaza del Lago in Wilmette, Illinois, completed in 1928 by Henry Gage
- Camarillo State Hospital in Camarillo, California, first phase completed in 1936 by State Architect Howard Spencer Hazen, built to completion in 1957. With the hospital's closure in 1997, the site has been redeveloped into California State University Channel Islands (opened in 2002), with all the new college buildings retaining the Spanish Colonial Revival architecture and Mission Revival architecture, except the John Spoor Broome Library--the only modern-style building on campus.
- (former Farroupilha Radio Broadcast Station), an example from Porto Alegre, city in far southern Brazil, opened in 1952, closed in 1986.
Gallery
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Casa del Prado Theatre & Balboa Park, San Diego, California (1915).
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Queens College in New York City still uses many of its original Spanish-style buildings, which were built in the early 20th century.
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William S. Hart's La Loma de los Vientos, a 22-room house atop a prominent hill in Newhall, California, designed by architect Arthur R. Kelly and built between 1924 and 1928.
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Presidential Palace in Cerro Castillo, Viña del Mar, Chile (1930).
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Images for kids
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Spanish Colonial Revival style in contemporany residence.
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Secretary of Culture of Mendoza, Argentina (1929).
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Palm Beach Town Hall from the North, with the doors from the now removed Fire Department.
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Santa Barbara County Courthouse (1926).
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The neocolonial companion building (1940s) to the colonial Mexico City palace of the ayuntamiento.
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INBA-catalogued house built in the colonial californiano style in Lomas de Chapultepec, Mexico City (1930s).
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Gota de Leche Building in Manila, Philippines (1915).
See also
In Spanish: Arquitectura neocolonial española para niños
