December, 1906 



AMERICAN HOMES AND GARDENS 



377 



The 'Dobe' of To-day 



By Sarah Comstock 



MPLE and welcoming, basking in the glow 

 of California sunshine, the " 'dobe" house 

 of to-day presents a picture that is all 

 warmth and hospitality, and a riot of color 

 into the bargain. The Californian paints 

 as only Nature and her lineal descendants, 

 the tropical peoples, dare to paint. He will top his glittering 

 cream-colored structure with red tiles and trim it with green; 

 build it against an unsoftened background of dazzling blue 

 sky and turn loose upon its lawn a herd of glaring poppies 

 that are a mass of yellow blossom by the second year's 

 growth. 



The Gringo, not content with gobbling California from 

 its Spanish inhabitants, must needs gobble their architectural 



left for anything so practical and lasting as a roof to cover 

 him. He was accustomed to scatter his silver by the handful 

 at every fandango and wedding, and his bank account never 

 warranted a handsome home. His follower, who, accord- 

 ing to our custom, is well content with bestowing a do/ en 

 silver spoons or a rose bowl upon the average wedding has 

 often put a neat fortune into his so-called adobe house. The 

 great majority of the wealthy home makers of California 

 are building in this style, and spending in that building sums 

 that would make the old Padres gasp could they see whither 

 their example has led. Los Angeles, the southern city of the 

 Angels, shows Mission homes on every residence street. The 

 famous Orange Grove Avenue of Pasadena, that Mecca of 

 midwinter summer seekers, is lined with these modern 



An Altadena Residence Built of Stone and Cement 



ideas also — and of course he has done what the American 

 has not always done, improved upon those ideas. The first 

 Spanish monks, headed by the long dead and honored Father 

 Junipero Serra, built the adobe Missions and taught the peo- 

 ple to build homes for themselves in like manner. The style 

 was durable, they said, and well adapted to the climate. The 

 American caught the ideas of durability and suitability and 

 proceeded forthwith to carry out the old Mission scheme of 

 architecture in his own way. The result was a wonderful and 

 beautiful array of "Mission" houses as they are called — now 

 the typical homes of the Golden State. 



The extravagant Castilian of early days had little money 



" 'dobes." Santa Barbara, Redlands, San Diego, Monterey, 

 and of late San Francisco, have blossomed into this gay style 

 of building. 



The modern architects have long since departed from the 

 severity into which the monks disciplined their Moorish 

 architecture. The Moor taught the Spaniards to build. The 

 principles of that form of construction were brought by the 

 early band of Padres to the Pacific coast, but poverty and 

 their religious beliefs caused them to select the useful prin- 

 ciples of that architecture and let the ornamental, or at any 

 rate, the ornate, go. The architect of to-day is not hampered 

 by poverty and asceticism. For his ideas he has gone back 



