Spanish Colonial Revival architecture

Spanish Colonial Revival architecture is a style based on the designs used during the time when Spain ruled parts of the world. It became popular in many places, especially in areas that were once Spanish colonies, from California to Argentina.

In the United States, this style first appeared in places like Florida, Texas, and California. In St. Augustine, Florida, a man named Henry M. Flagler built beautiful hotels that helped make this style well-known. Later, at an event called the Panama–California Exposition in San Diego, the style got even more attention.

In Mexico, this style of building was linked to a movement to celebrate Mexican culture after a big change in the country’s government. The Mexican version focused more on designs from central New Spain, while the U.S. version was inspired by designs from the northern missions of New Spain.

Today, many houses in Southern California and Florida still show influences from this style, with features like special terracotta shingles and stucco walls being common since the 1970s.

Development of style

Mediterranean Revival

The Spanish Colonial Revival style in the United States started with the Mediterranean Revival style. In St. Augustine, Florida, wealthy visitors from northern U.S. cities built grand hotels in the 1880s. Architects like John Carrère, Thomas Hastings, and Franklin W. Smith created these hotels, such as the Ponce de Leon Hotel and the Casa Monica Hotel. These buildings were inspired by old Spanish structures still standing in St. Augustine.

Mission Revival

The Spanish Colonial Revival style became known to more architects through international expositions in the late 19th and early 20th centuries. For example, California's Mission Revival style Pavilion at the World's Columbian Exposition in Chicago in 1893 and the Mission Inn in Buffalo in 1900 showed the beauty of this style. These buildings often included porches, decorative tops, and columns inspired by classic European designs.

Florida

By the early 1910s, Florida became a major place for Spanish Colonial Revival style in the United States. Examples include Frederick H. Trimble's Farmer's Bank in Vero Beach and many homes and buildings in St. Cloud, Florida. The city of Coral Gables, planned in the 1920s by George E. Merrick, used this style almost entirely. Merrick wanted Coral Gables to look like a place from Spain, and even received an award from Spain's king for supporting Spanish culture.

California

California became a key place for Spanish Colonial Revival architecture, especially in coastal cities. The 1915 Panama–California Exposition in San Diego helped make this style popular. Architect Lilian Jeannette Rice used the style in the town of Rancho Santa Fe. After the 1925 Santa Barbara earthquake, the city rebuilt using this style, with buildings like the County Courthouse and Arlington Theatre. Architects like George Washington Smith and Ole Hanson created many homes and public buildings in cities such as Santa Barbara, San Clemente, Pasadena, Sonoma, Beverly Hills, and Riverside.

Texas

In Texas, Spanish Colonial Revival architecture mixed Spanish styles with local touches. Buildings often had low, sloped tile roofs, white stucco walls, and arched doorways, fitting the warm climate. This style was popular in the early 20th century and remains a special part of Texas architecture. The McNay Art Museum in Texas, built in a Spanish Colonial Revival style, houses a large collection of modern art and has beautiful gardens.

Mexico

In Mexico, the Spanish Colonial Revival style grew after the Mexican Revolution as a way to celebrate national culture. Architects began building homes that looked like older Spanish colonial buildings. Traditional materials like tezontle stone, cantera stone, and Talavera tiles were used in these new buildings. Important government buildings were also redesigned to look like older Spanish colonial structures.

Colonial californiano

Later, a style called "colonial californiano" or Californian Colonial developed in Mexico City. This was a Mexican version of the California interpretation of Spanish Colonial Revival. Many houses in neighborhoods like Colonia Nápoles and Condesa show this style.

Australia

Australian architects brought back styles from Italy and Spain, thinking they would suit the climate well. Mediterranean styles became popular in places like Sydney's Manly and Bondi in the 1920s and 1930s. A style called Spanish Mission or Hollywood Spanish became famous after Australians saw Hollywood movies featuring glamorous mansions. The Plaza Theatre in Sydney is a well-known example of this style.

China

In the 1930s, many houses in Spanish Revival style were built in Shanghai, especially in the former French Concession. Even though Shanghai had no direct link to Spain, these buildings were likely inspired by Hollywood movies popular at the time. Local architecture magazines showed examples of this style for builders to copy.

Spanish East Indies

After being ruled by Spain, the Philippines and Mariana islands developed architecture with Iberian and Latin-American influences. When the United States occupied the Philippines, the Mission-style and Spanish Colonial Revival architecture arrived, inspired by California. American architects added modern comforts to these buildings. The Manila Hotel, built in 1909, is a famous example of this style. Other examples include Gota de Leche and Paco Market, along with many churches and cathedrals across the country.

Design elements

Spanish Colonial Revival architecture has similarities to the Mission Revival style and the Pueblo Revival style. It was made popular in the Western United States by Fred Harvey and his railway depots and hotels. This style was also influenced by the American Craftsman style and the Arts and Crafts Movement.

This architecture uses smooth plaster or stucco walls and chimneys. It often has low, flat roofs made of clay tiles. You might see small porches, balconies, or decorative iron trim. The buildings can be rectangular or L-shaped, usually one story tall, and often have courtyards. They also feature arched openings and special window designs.

Notable architects

One of the most famous architects who used this style was George Washington Smith. He worked in the 1920s in Santa Barbara, California. His homes, like El Hogar and Casa del Greco, attracted many clients. One of his famous designs is the Steedman estate, called Casa del Herrero, located in Montecito. This house is now a special historic site and a museum.

In California, architects like Bertram Goodhue and Carleton Winslow helped make this style popular. They also influenced buildings in Hawaii. Many talented architects worked in California, including John Byers, Birge Clark, and Julia Morgan, among others.

In Florida, architects such as John Elliot and Addison Mizner also helped spread the style.

In Hawaii, architects like Louis Davis and Hardie Phillip contributed to this style of building.

List of example structures

• California Quadrangle and El Prado, Balboa Park, San Diego, California: by Bertram Goodhue, for the Panama–California Exposition (1915-15).

• Freedom Tower (Spanish: Torre de la Libertad) in Miami, Florida, was designed by Schultze and Weaver and originally served as the headquarters for The Miami News, completed in 1925.

• Casa del Herrero, Montecito, California, architects George Washington Smith and Lutah Maria Riggs, 1926.

• Several buildings at Montclair State University in Montclair, New Jersey, the first being College Hall, constructed in 1908.

• The current Museo de Arte Hispanoamericano Isaac Fernández Blanco or Noel Palace, designed by Martín Noel in Buenos Aires, Argentina, 1920–1924.

• The Main Quad and many buildings in the campus of Stanford University, designed by Frederick Law Olmsted, 1886–1891.

• "Casa Dracaena", George Washington Smith residence #1, 1916.

• Glendale Southern Pacific Railroad Depot, by Maurice Couchot & Kenneth MacDonald, Jr. in Glendale, California, opened 1923.

• Brophy College Chapel, by John R. Kibbey of Lescher & Mahoney, in Phoenix, Arizona, serves as the main chapel for Brophy College Preparatory, a Jesuit high school, built in 1928.

• Santa Barbara County Courthouse, by William Mooser III, in Santa Barbara, California, completed 1929.

• George Fearn House in Mobile, Alabama, completed 1904.

• Farmer's Bank in Vero Beach, Florida, completed in 1914.

• Adamson House, "Taj Mahal of Tile" by Stiles O. Clements, in Malibu, California, completed 1930.

• Alice Lynch Residence in Los Angeles, California, completed in 1922.

• 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"). An expansion of recruit facilities in the same design language was completed in 1932 with the construction of the barracks at Camp Lawrence (Buildings 27-30). The final buildings built in the original Spanish Colonial Revival style were completed in 1942 with the opening of Camp Luce, including new Administration, classroom, library, and recreation buildings.

• Quapaw Baths building in Bathhouse Row, Hot Springs, Arkansas, completed in 1922.

• Coral Gables Congregational Church in Coral Gables, Florida, was designed by the architect Richard Kiehnel of Kiehnel and Elliott in 1923.

• Holy Trinity Episcopal Church in West Palm Beach, Florida, was designed by L. Phillips Clarke of Harvey and Clarke, completed 1924.

• C.E. Toberman Estate, by Russell & Alspagh, in Hollywood, California, completed 1924.

• Palm Beach Town Hall in Palm Beach, Florida, by Harvey and Clarke, completed 1925.

• "Casa de las Campañas" in Hancock Park district, Los Angeles, California, completed in 1928.

• Frank H. Upham House in Altadena, California, completed 1928.

• 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.

• Gaylord Suites in San Francisco, California, completed in 1928.

• 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.

• Annie Russell Theatre, located on the premises of Rollins College in Winter Park, Florida was named after the English-born actress Annie Russell and was designed by Richard Kiehnel of Kiehnel and Elliott, constructed in 1931.

• 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.

• Antiga Estação Transmissora da Rádio Farroupilha (former Farroupilha Radio Broadcast Station), an example from Porto Alegre, city in far southern Brazil, opened in 1952, closed in 1986.