Mission Revival architecture

Last updated
Santa Barbara Station, built in 1902 in Santa Barbara, California, an example of a railroad depot in Mission Revival Style Santa Barbara Station1.jpg
Santa Barbara Station, built in 1902 in Santa Barbara, California, an example of a railroad depot in Mission Revival Style
San Gabriel Civic Auditorium (1927), San Gabriel, California San Gabriel Civic Auditorium.jpg
San Gabriel Civic Auditorium (1927), San Gabriel, California

The Mission Revival style was part of an architectural movement, beginning in the late 19th century, for the revival and reinterpretation of American colonial styles. Mission Revival drew inspiration from the late 18th and early 19th century Spanish missions in California. It is sometimes termed California Mission Revival, particularly when used elsewhere, such as in New Mexico and Texas which have their own unique regional architectural styles. In Australia, the style is known as Spanish Mission. [1]

Contents

The Mission Revival movement was most popular between 1890 and 1915, in numerous residential, commercial and institutional structures, particularly schools and railroad depots. [2]

Influences

1797 Mission San Fernando Rey de Espana: View looking down an exterior arcade or corredor, an element frequently used in Mission Revival design. Exterior Corridor at San Fernando Rey de Espana.jpg
1797 Mission San Fernando Rey de España: View looking down an exterior arcade or corredor, an element frequently used in Mission Revival design.

All of the 21 Franciscan Alta California missions (established 1769–1823), including their chapels and support structures, shared certain design characteristics. These commonalities arose because the Franciscan missionaries all came from the same places of previous service in Spain and colonial Mexico City in New Spain. The New Spain religious buildings the founding Franciscan saw and emulated were of the Spanish Colonial style, which in turn was derived from Renaissance and Baroque examples in Spain. Also, the limited availability and variety of building materials besides adobe near mission sites or imported to Alta California limited design options. Finally, the missionaries and the indigenous Californians had minimal construction skills and experience with European designs. [3]

Characteristics

Originals

The missions' style of necessity and security evolved around an enclosed courtyard, using massive adobe walls with broad unadorned plaster surfaces, limited fenestration and door piercing, low-pitched roofs with projecting wide eaves and non-flammable clay roof tiles, and thick arches springing from piers. Exterior walls were coated with white plaster (stucco), which with wide side eaves shielded the adobe brick walls from rain. Other features included long exterior arcades, an enfilade of interior rooms and halls, semi-independent bell-gables, and at more prosperous missions curved 'Baroque' gables on the principal facade with towers.

Revival

These architectural elements were replicated, in varying degrees, accuracy, and proportions, in the new Mission Revival structures. Simultaneous with the original style's revival was an awareness in California of the actual missions fading into ruins and their restoration campaigns, and nostalgia in the quickly changing state for a 'simpler time' as the novel Ramona popularized at the time. Contemporary construction materials and practices, earthquake codes, and building uses render the structural and religious architectural components primarily aesthetic decoration, while the service elements such as tile roofing, solar shielding of walls and interiors, and outdoor shade arcades and courtyards are still functional.

The Mission Revival style of architecture, and subsequent Spanish Colonial Revival style, have historical, narrative—nostalgic, cultural—environmental associations, and climate appropriateness that have made for a predominant historical regional vernacular architecture style in the Southwestern United States, especially in California.

Examples

The Mission Inn entry portal, in Riverside, Southern California MissionInnEntry.jpg
The Mission Inn entry portal, in Riverside, Southern California
1909 The Louis P. and Clara K. Best Residence and Auto House, Davenport, Iowa Louis p best residence 2011-06-13.jpg
1909 The Louis P. and Clara K. Best Residence and Auto House, Davenport, Iowa
Arcade at Union Station, in San Diego, California Stage departure santa.JPG
Arcade at Union Station, in San Diego, California
The William Morrison House, in Toledo, Ohio, designed in the Mission Revival style in 1906 William Morrison Residence, Rear Elevation and Front Elevation, architectural drawing, 1906 - DPLA - 31621a2aaa015879ac96391713199610 (cropped).jpg
The William Morrison House, in Toledo, Ohio, designed in the Mission Revival style in 1906

The Mission Inn in Southern California is one of the largest extant Mission Revival Style buildings in the United States. Located in Riverside, it has been restored, with tours of the style's expression. [4]

Other structures designed in the Mission Revival Style include:

See also

Related Research Articles

The architecture of the United States demonstrates a broad variety of architectural styles and built forms over the country's history of over two centuries of independence and former Spanish, French, Dutch and British rule.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Spanish Colonial Revival architecture</span> Architectural style

The Spanish Colonial Revival style is an architectural stylistic movement arising in the early 20th century based on the Spanish colonial architecture of the Spanish colonization of the Americas.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Bertram Goodhue</span> American architect

Bertram Grosvenor Goodhue was an American architect celebrated for his work in Gothic Revival and Spanish Colonial Revival design. He also designed notable typefaces, including Cheltenham and Merrymount for the Merrymount Press. Later in life, Goodhue freed his architectural style with works like El Fureidis in Montecito, one of the three estates designed by Goodhue.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Mary Colter</span> American architect (1869–1958)

Mary Elizabeth Jane Colter was an American architect and designer. She was one of the very few female American architects in her day. She was the designer of many landmark buildings and spaces for the Fred Harvey Company and the Santa Fe Railroad, notably in Grand Canyon National Park. Her work had enormous influence as she helped to create a style, blending Spanish Colonial Revival and Mission Revival architecture with Native American motifs and Rustic elements, that became popular throughout the Southwest. Colter was a perfectionist, who spent a lifetime advocating and defending her aesthetic vision in a largely male-dominated field.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Mediterranean Revival architecture</span> Design style during the 20th century

Mediterranean Revival is an architectural style introduced in the United States, Canada, and certain other countries in the 19th century. It incorporated references from Spanish Renaissance, Spanish Colonial, Italian Renaissance, French Colonial, Beaux-Arts, Moorish architecture, and Venetian Gothic architecture.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Churrigueresque</span> Baroque architecture style in Spain

Churrigueresque, also but less commonly "Ultra Baroque", refers to a Spanish Baroque style of elaborate sculptural architectural ornament which emerged as a manner of stucco decoration in Spain in the late 17th century and was used until about 1750, marked by extreme, expressive and florid decorative detailing, normally found above the entrance on the main façade of a building.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Santa Fe Depot (San Diego)</span> Main railroad station for San Diego

Santa Fe Depot in San Diego, California, is a union station built by the Atchison, Topeka and Santa Fe Railway to replace the small Victorian-style structure erected in 1887 for the California Southern Railroad Company. The Spanish Colonial Revival style station is listed on the National Register of Historic Places and is a San Diego Historic Landmark. Its architecture, particularly the signature twin domes, is often echoed in the design of modern buildings in Downtown San Diego.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Winslow station (Arizona)</span> Amtrak train station in Winslow, Arizona, US

Winslow station is an Amtrak train station at 501 East Second Street in Winslow, Navajo County, Arizona, United States. It is served daily by Amtrak's Southwest Chief between Chicago, Illinois and Los Angeles, California. The Santa Fe Depot and La Posada Hotel Harvey House compound are the centerpiece of the La Posada Historic District.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Los Angeles and Salt Lake Railroad</span> Former train operator, now owned by Union Pacific

The Los Angeles and Salt Lake Railroad was a rail company in California, Nevada, and Utah in the United States, that completed and operated a railway line between its namesake cities, via Las Vegas, Nevada. Incorporated in Utah in 1901 as the San Pedro, Los Angeles and Salt Lake Railroad, the line was largely the brainchild of William Andrews Clark, a Montana mining baron and United States Senator. Clark enlisted the help of Utah's U.S. Senator Thomas Kearns, mining magnate and newspaper man, to ensure the success of the line through Utah. Construction of the railroad's main line was completed in 1905. Company shareholders adopted the LA&SL name in 1916. The railway was also known by its official nickname, "The Salt Lake Route", and was sometimes informally referred to as "The Clark Road". The tracks are still in use by the modern Union Pacific Railroad, as the Cima, Caliente, Sharp, and Lynndyl Subdivisions.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Claremont station (California)</span> Commuter rail station

Claremont station is a passenger rail and bus station in Claremont, California, United States. It is served by Metrolink's San Bernardino Line which runs from Los Angeles Union Station to San Bernardino–Downtown. The Mission Revival-Spanish Colonial Revival style station is listed on the U.S. National Register of Historic Places as Atchison, Topeka and Santa Fe Railroad Station.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Pueblo Revival architecture</span> Architectural movement

The Pueblo Revival style or Santa Fe style is a regional architectural style of the Southwestern United States, which draws its inspiration from Santa Fe de Nuevo México's traditional Pueblo architecture, the Spanish missions, and Territorial Style. The style developed at the beginning of the 20th century and reached its greatest popularity in the 1920s and 1930s, though it is still commonly used for new buildings. Pueblo style architecture is most prevalent in the state of New Mexico; it is often blended with Territorial Revival architecture.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">San Bernardino Santa Fe Depot</span> Railway station in San Bernardino, California

The San Bernardino Santa Fe Depot is a Mission Revival Style passenger rail terminal in San Bernardino, California, United States. It has been the primary station for the city, serving Amtrak today, and the Santa Fe and Union Pacific Railroads in the past. Until the mid-20th century, the Southern Pacific Railroad had a station 3/4 of a mile away. It currently serves one Amtrak and two Metrolink lines. The depot is a historical landmark listed on the National Register of Historic Places as Atchison, Topeka and Santa Fe Railway Passenger and Freight Depot.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Barstow Harvey House</span> Train station in Barstow, California, U.S.

The Barstow Harvey House, also known as Harvey House Railroad Depot and Barstow station, is a historic building in Barstow, California. Originally built in 1911 as Casa del Desierto, a Harvey House hotel and Santa Fe Railroad depot, it currently serves as an Amtrak station and government building housing city offices, the Barstow Chamber of Commerce and Visitor Center, and two museums.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Scottish Rite Temple (Santa Fe, New Mexico)</span> United States historic place

The Scottish Rite Temple, also known as Scottish Rite Cathedral or Santa Fe Lodge of Perfection, in Santa Fe, New Mexico was begun in 1911 and completed in 1912. It was a filming location for the 2016 Tina Fey film Whiskey Tango Foxtrot.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Viga (architecture)</span> Architectural wood-beamed roof beams

Vigas are wooden beams used in the traditional adobe architecture of the American Southwest, especially in New Mexico. In this type of construction, the vigas are the main structural members carrying the weight of the roof to the load-bearing exterior walls. The exposed beam-ends projecting from the outside of the wall are a defining characteristic of Pueblo architecture and of Spanish Colonial architecture in New Mexico, often replicated in modern Pueblo Revival architecture. Usually the vigas are simply peeled logs with a minimum of woodworking. In traditional buildings, the vigas support latillas (laths) which are placed crosswise and upon which the adobe roof is laid, often with intermediate layers of brush or soil. The latillas may be hewn boards, or - in more rustic buildings - simply peeled branches. These building techniques date back to the Ancestral Puebloan peoples of 750 to 1300 CE, and vigas are visible in many of their surviving buildings.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Charles Frederick Whittlesey</span> American architect

Charles Frederick Whittlesey (1867–1941) was an American architect best known for his work in the American southwest, and for pioneering work in reinforced concrete in California.

John H. Christie (1878–1960) was an American architect who worked for the Southern Pacific Railroad, and was the railroad's chief architect from 1924 to 1947.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Arthur Burnett Benton</span> American architect (1858–1927)

Arthur Burnett Benton was an American architect. Benton promoted Mission Revival architecture.

Edward Alfred Harrison, known as E. A. Harrison, was an American architect who worked as a staff architect for the Atchison, Topeka & Santa Fe Railway, with offices in Topeka, Kansas, and later in Chicago, Illinois.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Alvarado Hotel</span> United States historic place

The Alvarado Hotel was a historic railroad hotel which was one of the most famous landmarks of Albuquerque, New Mexico. It was built in 1901–02 by the Atchison, Topeka and Santa Fe Railway and was operated by the Fred Harvey Company until 1970. With 120 guest rooms, it was the largest of all the Harvey hotels. Its demolition by the railroad in 1970 was described by preservationist Susan Dewitt as "the most serious loss of a landmark the city has sustained" and helped mobilize stronger support for historic preservation efforts in the city.

References

  1. Lacey, Stephen (2007-11-01). "Spanish mission style". The Sydney Morning Herald. Retrieved 2022-09-25.
  2. Weitze, p. 14: "Railroad literature described the missions as 'Worthy a glance from the tourists [sic] eye,' with the Southern Pacific, from 1888 to 1890, publishing numerous pamphlets that included sections on the missions."
  3. Castillo, Elias (November 8, 2004). "The dark, terrible secret of California's missions". SFGate. Retrieved October 30, 2015.
  4. "Historic Districts of Riverside" (PDF). Riverside, California. Archived from the original (PDF) on Apr 11, 2023.
  5. Richard Melzer (2008). Fred Harvey Houses of the Southwest. Arcadia Publishing. pp. 37–40. ISBN   9780738556314.
  6. "history". arrowheadsprings.org. Retrieved May 11, 2010.
  7. St. Petersburg Historic Preservation – Hotels
  8. Big Orange-Lederer Residence
  9. Big Orange—Canoga Mission Gallery
  10. Jones 1991 , p. 2
  11. Jones 1991 , p. 42
  12. File:CSS&SB Depot, Beverly Shores, IN on January 27, 1964 (26558117333).jpg
  13. "The School's History – Auckland Grammar School".
  14. Wainwright, Oliver (3 February 2023). "'Our own little Vatican': inside the biggest Catholic parish church in North America". The Guardian .

Further reading