Great Spanish Revival Style of Architecture
We Know the Spanish priests would never have guessed over 300 years ago that the missions they were painstakingly building from inadequate materials and untrained labor would one day become an architectural phenomenon! They built those missions to convert, by force, the native peoples on the west coast of the United States, and after doing the job, the “cheap Spanish palaces” that they built would go on to influence American architecture indefinitely. Particularly at the beginning of the 20′s and well into the 40′s, people in the west and southwest made this architectural style all the rage. There are countless modern residences, commercial establishments and institutions, including schools and railroad stations, built in this popular architectural style.
Certain design characteristics can be found in all the missions in California, thanks to the lack of necessary building materials available to the founding priests, or Padres, and the lack of experienced construction workers. All the missions were characterized by huge walls with big, simple surfaces with very few windows. All these missions had protruding eaves, low tile roofs made of clay, and long arcaded corridors with pierced arches and curved gables. Walls were covered in plaster to protect the adobe brick that lay underneath. Adobe brick can be very sensitive to weather, so this protected the safety and upkeep of the missions.
Today, people use modern building materials to either authentically recreate the Spanish revival look, or they’ll create a sort of sophisticated faux rendition of the look. Mission San Fernando Rey de Espana has a wonderful long arcade corridor that rich people in Los Angeles would pay hundreds of thousands of dollars to recreate. Often people are going for the cosmetic exterior of the Spanish mission style, as opposed to the real deal. I don’t think anyone is going to commission their home to be built with adobe anytime soon!
Take for example a lovely Spanish Revival building in St. Louis, by the architect T.P. Barnett, son of George I. Barnett, another famous architect in St. Louis. The T.P. Barnett building is particularly interesting because it also has Art Deco influences, making it one of the most unique buildings in the Grand Center region of St. Louis. Certainly the next time you’re in St. Louis, you need to visit this Spanish Revival building on Washington Avenue.
George Washington Smith is credited as the father of the Spanish Colonial Revival Style. His original Montecito home, as well as “Casa Del Greco”, his second self-designed home next door, built in 1920, are still extant today as family residences.
After his paintings received much recognition in New York, Smith moved to California and designed and built his own home in Montecito, modeled after the Spanish farmhouses he so admired in Andalusia. The house he built, known as Casa Dracaena was beautifully successful, and images of the property were used as adds to sell certain kinds of tile and cement for other building projects. His neighbors started to want to live in similar buildings, and Smith became a full time architect to fulfill the demand. He became one of the most famous architects in the United States. Smith is credited as the father of the Spanish Colonial Revival Style. His original Montecito home, as well as “Casa Del Greco”, his second self-designed residences next door, built in 1920, are still extant today as family residences.
