Architecture inspired by great traditions of the Mediterranean region has a long, rich history in California. The fruits of this long lineage flavor the character of our cities and dot the surrounding hillsides. At KAA Design, we have often found the Mediterranean architectures to be a perfect fit for our clients wishing to build here. Whether influenced by Italian, Spanish, French, or even Greek or Moroccan ancestries, Mediterranean architecture reminds us of our European roots, even as it creates places which are particularly well suited to the locale, climate and lifestyle of contemporary California.
The Spanish Missions of California represent the germination
point for Mediterranean architectural styles in North America. These were places designed to provide sanctuary
and practical accommodation, while reminding the founders of the notable
structures of their Spanish homeland. Carmel Valley EstateCourtyard plans, solid, massive walls, arcaded walkways and wide
protecting eaves are elements common to all of the Alta California Missions of
the late 18th and early 19th centuries, and these features
are still common in much of the architecture in the Mediterranean tradition
built today.
A second great flowering of interest in architecture inspired by Mediterranean precedents occurred at the turn of the 20th century with the Mission Revival and the Spanish Colonial Revivals. The synthesis and re-interpretation of Spanish Baroque and Spanish Colonial architecture in the planning and public buildings of the 1915 Panama-California Exposition, located in San Diego's Balboa Park, presented to a receptive public an architecture that was both richly romantic, and aesthetically and historically appropriate for California. The Panama-California Exposition's style was widely published, seen by many, and was highly influential in California and all of the Southwest. Its popularity led to the assimilation of the Spanish Colonial Revival style as the dominant regional historical architecture, which continues to this day.
Mi Sueno ResidenceSoon, a bevy of architects and
landscape designers would meet the rising demand for public and residential
buildings in picturesque Mediterranean styles. Architects such as George Washington Smith, Wallace Neff, Reginald
Johnson, Gordon Kaufmann, Roland Coate, Carleton Winslow Sr. and John Byers
produced residences and specialty commercial structures that exhibited an
eclectic mixture of Mediterranean influences. Although the Spanish character of the Mission era spawned this revival,
these talented practitioners were soon experimenting with a blend of regional
styles drawn from other corners of Southern Europe, the Middle East and Africa.
Said Rexford Newcomb, noted documenter
of the Mediterranean Revival in America, in 1928: “Spanish, Italian, Moorish, Byzantine –
Mediterranean types… merged, as were those golden threads of long ago, into a
new sun-loving style which, while eminently American in its plan and utilities,
is never-the-less distinctly Mediterranean in its origin and spirit.” 1
John Street ResidenceNewcomb’s quote nicely summarizes the core reason why an
architecture and lifestyle inspired by Mediterranean traditions has been so
successful in California. Of course the
early Spanish settlers brought with them cultural ties to the architecture of
their homelands. But the character of
the Mediterranean-inspired architecture of early California resulted from more than
simple emulation of the architecture the settlers and missionaries had known
from home. The climate, locale and flora
of California are strongly reminiscent of many parts of Southern Europe. The characteristics of regional Mediterranean
architecture – the natural, earth-based palette of materials, simple massing of
forms, courtyard planning, solid, massive walls, shady arcades, and a direct integration
with the adjoining landscape – have proven to be outstanding strategies for
gracious living in coastal California. We like to think of our
Mediterranean-inspired designs as having a place in the long lineage of this
living tradition, one that has wide appeal because it is at once sensible,
responsive and romantic.
1 Rexford Newcomb, Mediterranean Domestic Architecture in the United States, J. H. Jansen, Cleveland, 1928, p. 4
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