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The Mediterranean House in America
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Product Description
Inspired by the romance of Italian villas, Spanish farmhouses, and Moorish courtyards, the Mediterranean Revival style became an archetype for sophisticated suburban homes throughout America in the early 20th century. The characteristic white stucco house, roofed with terra-cotta and ornamented with ironwork, decorative tiles, and fountains, remains the dominant style for new residences in California, the Southwest, and Florida.
The Mediterranean house’s longevity is rooted in an overall simplicity and an emphasis on the outdoors. Its central courtyard, terraces, and loggias provide a fluidity between interiors and exteriors equally prized by the architects of ancient Pompeii and groundbreaking modernists.
The Mediterranean House in America provides the first comprehensive survey of this popular style, beautifully illustrated in full-color photographs by Juergen Nogai, archival photos, and drawings.
Product Details
- Amazon Sales Rank: #69421 in Books
- Published on: 2008-10-01
- Original language: English
- Number of items: 1
- Binding: Hardcover
- 240 pages
Editorial Reviews
About the Author
Lauren Weiss Bricker, Ph.D., is an associate professor of architecture at California State Polytechnic University, Pomona. A specialist on California architecture and historic preservation, she has contributed to a number of books. She lives in Redlands, California. Juergen Nogai is an architectural and fine arts photographer based in Santa Monica, California. His books include Abrams’ Dream Palaces of Hollywood’s Golden Age.
Customer Reviews
Splendid! Homes that are truly an inspiration
This large book, lavish with full color pictures, traces the American love affair with the mediterranean home. It includes examples of both the early styles, and the contemporary.
Typically, these homes are built in the warm weather states--California, Florida, and across the southwest. They have a history there, too, inherited from the Spanish colonists. The columns and baroque decorations were currently in style when the Spanish first came to America.
Red tile roofs, elaborate wrought iron scroll work, and spacious interiors are typical. Even at their most elaborate, there is an easy informality about these homes. Many have an indoors/outdoors feel, fitting perfectly into the western states with their warmer weather.
Some of the most famous designers of Spanish style homes are included. Marion Sims Wyeth, for example, created the famous Mar-a-Lago and many of the lovely homes in Palm Beach.
Much recommended.
If I had the money, this is the sort of house I would build
I have no training whatever in architecture but I do have a strong interest in social history and material culture, and housing and architecture is an important part of that. Buildings tend to last longer than most man-made objects and the necessities of society and climate incorporated into the design of one's living space are a major source of historical interpretation. I also lived for several years in southern Europe and since then in semitropical areas of the U.S., especially San Antonio, where Mediterranean styles have long been popular, and where I developed a taste for them myself. Even when such a house is large and expensively appointed, it will somehow seem less formal and perhaps less forbidding than a Federal or Georgian-style place. Abrams specializes in gorgeously photographed oversized volumes and this one is no exception. A well-written introductory chapter summarizes the history behind Spanish, Italian, and southern French architecture and how it has been adapted since colonial times in south Texas, southern California, and Florida. (In some areas, like Coral Gables and Montecito, there has been a deliberate historical effort to maintain a specifically Mediterranean architectural unity in the community.) This is followed by pictorial studies of twenty-five particular homes (no commercial buildings are included) with interior and exterior photos and ground plans, and footnoted commentary on their designers and builders and the families inhabiting them. Each of these, of course, is one-of-a-kind and at least half of them are drool-worthy. Some exhibit great continuity between outside and inside views, but I was also struck by how many are "Mediterranean" only on the outside, with generic modern styling inside. But it's nice to see that some homes built just in the last decade are basically similar to what have become archetypes constructed in the 1920s and '30s. I'm especially partial to the designs of O'Neill Ford, well known in San Antonio, who seems to like vaulted brick ceilings. Books like this one are a great time-sink.
