Product Description

The Spanish-style architecture of Southern California's seaside estates, canyon villas, and courtyard bungalows is central to its romantic image, one that has traditionally evoked a Mediterranean paradise. The details of this inexhaustively rich style-- ornate wrought iron and wood balconies, colorful tiles, graceful arches, and palm-dotted gardens-- reflect the region's Spanish, Mexican, and southwestern history and culture as well as its popular outdoor lifestyle.

This book showcases Southern California's most historically significant and beautifully preserved Spanish-revival houses of this century. Twenty-one private homes built between 1922 and 1991 are featured in stunning color photography that captures exterior and interior architectural details, Spanish and Mexican antique furnishings and folk art, and lush landscaping and tiled fountains. Among these are the Adamson House in Malibu, with its extraordinary collection of custom tile from Malibu Potteries; the contemporary Greenberg House in Brentwood, by Ricardo Legorreta; The Andalusia Courtyard Apartments in Hollywood; and Casa Pacifica, the former home of Richard Nixon, overlooking the ocean in San Clemente. Brief narratives highlight the history of each building and its design influences on the Spanish-revival movement in California.

The Spanish revival grew in popularity around the turn of the century when many young American architects traveled to Spain, Italy, and Mexico, bringing back sketches and, as the foreword notes, romantic memories of "graceful foliage...small Indian towns...tiled dome and rococo towers." Hundreds of Spanish-style houses, apartments, and bungalows were built throughout Southern California in the following decades, many of them commissioned for movie stars such as Charlie Chaplin and Rudolph Valentino.

The Spanish revival is marked by two main phases: the mission revival, which incorporates the white stucco, cloistered patios, tile roofs, and exposed-beam ceilings typical of eighteenth-century California missions; and the more elaborate Mediterranean revival, influenced by Spanish and Italian Renaissance sources, eighteenth-century Spanish plateresque and churrigueresque forms, and Moorish-Andalusian styles.

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #41930 in Books
• Published on: 1996-05-15
• Released on: 1996-05-15
• Original language: English
• Number of items: 1
• Binding: Hardcover
• 208 pages

From Library Journal
Twenty-one private homes built between 1922 and 1991 in South California's eclectic and individualistic Hispanic mission and Mediterranean revival styles are vividly captured in this resplendent work. The book transcends Sunset Magazine-style coverage through a learned foreword by David Gebhard (art history, Univ. of California, Santa Barbara) and an informative introduction by former Architectural Digest editor McMillian, who also supplies captions and one- to two-page introductions to each home. Beyond their unique designs and ornamentation, the homes feature dazzling Spanish and Mexican folk art, antiques, tiles, fountains, and landscaping, all luxuriously photographed. Ownership, especially when tied to the area's movie industry, along with details of restoration and renovation, is noted and quotations from architects provided. Although more visual than analytical, the work delightfully captures the vitality and variety of Southern California's most important vernacular architecture. Recommended for regional and interior design collections.?Russell Clement, Univ. of Tennessee, Knoxville
Copyright 1996 Reed Business Information, Inc.

From Booklist
Former Architectural Digest editor McMillian and photographer Melba Levick take great pains to allow each of these 21 southern California houses a chance to show off without being constrained by undue fuss over their past and present owners. Exteriors and interiors are displayed in sharply focused color, furnishings are described, and a sense of the original architect's intended statement is conveyed. Many of the homes have been converted into museums; still, their architecture amply shows the good and bad sides of Spanish style. Barbara Jacobs

Review
Elizabeth McMillian's Casa California (0-8478-1850-0, $50. 00), survey of the architectural history and development of the Spanish-style house in Southern California, provides both a regional approach and an artistic examination of the evolution of a style unique to the area. Full-page color photos of interior and exteriors showcase Southern California's most historically significant structures, while descriptions examine the Spanish revival trend. Karen Hearn edits Dynasties (1940-X, $60. 00), an impressive display of paintings in Tudor and Jacobean England from 1530-1630. Histories of individual works and their overall relationships to paintings of the times present intriguing facts and some speculations when full information is not available. An excellent overview with full pictorial embellishment. -- Midwest Book Review

Customer Reviews

Gorgeous book!
This is a gorgeous book full of color photos and description of Spanish Colonial Revival style architecture in Southern California. The beginning of the book provides a review of the style with information on stylistic influences and historical setting. As another reviewer mentioned, the homes in this book are mostly huge, and it really would have been nice to see some well-done modest homes (i.e. the 1000 or 1600 square foot variety). Nevertheless, this is the ONLY full-color book I have been able to find on this style, and I do think it provides helpful elements for use in smaller houses, but one needs to be imaginative to find them. If you are living in a smaller house, you can't just lift a whole room out of this book. For example, the cover photo features a huge staircase and fountain. It is very difficult (and would be inappropriate) to duplicate this type of thing in a smaller home, but I might notice that the decorative tile on the stair risers and the saltillo tile on the steps could be used on the steps up to my own modest front porch, for example. We have used a number of individual elements from this book in our own home, and we've used the photos to get an idea of what "works" and what doesn't in this style. I do really wish, though, that there was a companion book that showed how this style can be used to advantage in smaller homes, since the vast majority of homes of this style are in the 1000-2000 square foot range.

Overall a beautiful and helpful book, and I do think it was worth the money.

Stunning Spanish Style Homes!
This book is well worth the price tag. I found many ideas in here, and am planning to model my house using a few aspects from most of the houses featured.

The photography in this book is absolutely beautiful, and would make a great addition to your collection, even as a coffee table book!

I am very interested in the Spanish Style, but even if you're not, and just want to see 21 beautiful homes, buy this book! It will not disappoint you!

A MUST!
One of those books that is just full of great images of the Spanish Revival/Moorish style architecture of So. California. While not heavy on text, this book is a very important visual reference for designers, etc. who want to see how it used to be done. Many photos are of the interiors, but most are of the gardens.

If interested in the glazed Malibu tiles seen throughout the book, check out "Ceramic Art of the Malibu Potteries: 1926-1932" by Ronald L. Rindge.