Some California Houses 



ERHAPS no architecture is so generally regarded as distinctively American and 

 so distinctively modern as that of the houses of the Far West, and particularly those 

 of California, which follow, as their generic type, the old Spanish Missions. To 

 the Eastern eye, which is very apt to view buildings of every kind as somewhat 

 necessarily modeled on European ideals, and more especially on the ideals of England, 

 France, and Italy, the buildings of a frankly new type, which have become quite prevalent 

 in California of late years, seem to be thoroughly characteristic of our warm Western lands. 

 Their attraction, indeed, is twofold, and consists not alone in the unusual style of their art, 

 but in the thoroughly admirable way in which they meet the local climatic conditions. 



That many of these buildings have charm, and quite distinctive charm, is true. An 

 old civilization is created afresh in their plastered walls ; an old life is recalled in their spacious 

 plans and rigid outlines; new ideas, and a new treatment of old ideas, here find expression 

 in buildings contemporary with ourselves. The mystery of romance, the poetry of adventure, 

 the fascination of tradition, are summed up and vitalized in these houses, which are at once 

 so distinctive and so new. Their charm, however, is not altogether in the novelty of the ideas 

 contained in their design. Yet, more than any other group of buildings, they represent a wholly 

 new note in our national architecture a note that belongs entirely to them, since they 

 perpetuate the heritage of a different civilization from that which obtains in the East, and 

 they certainly meet climatic and social conditions which are peculiarly their own. 



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Hacienda del Po/o de Verona," the House of Mrs. Phoebe A. Hearst. 



The great country seat of Mrs. Phoebe A. Hearst, at Pleasanton, California, to which 

 has been given the picturesque name of the "Hacienda del Pozo de Verona" the "House of 

 the Well of Verona" is a fine type of the distinctively Califomian house. It is situated in 

 the Livermore Valley, at the entrance to Niles Canon, not far from San Francisco B;i\ . And 

 here, on a site commanding a magnificent prospect, and surrounded by thousands of acres 

 of vineyards and fruit orchards, Mrs. Hearst has built her country house, in a style that closely 

 approximates a Mexican home of wealth and refinement. 



It is a building of vast size, with an exterior of utter plainness so far as ornament is 

 concerned, but of considerable dignity and variety in its parts The whole of the exterior 

 structure is covered with cement, and the walls, as required by the climate, are of great thick- 

 ness. The roof is covered with Spanish tiles, and the long water-spouts project far beyond 



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