Spanish Patios in Southern California 
vegetable stalls, to which scarlet peppers 
give color. On these pavements they sit, 
or lounge, or twang their guitars, and when 
the tourist steps from the sunshine down 
into the cool interior of one of the houses 
which line the street, he may well imagine 
himself in old Spam or Mexico. Through 
the closed green shutters there comes just 
enough light to see the earthen floor, the 
white-washed wall, the great bed with its 
spread of hand-made lace and the crucifix 
and candles in a corner. 
It is a far cry from this primitive simplicity 
be secured, and a great breadth of porch. 
I he wash of a soft tannish yellow color 
which was used by the Indians and early 
fathers on the missions with such excellent 
and lasting effect is adopted generally on the 
exterior of these houses; partly because it 
has stood the suns of nearly a hundred years 
on many of the churches, and more especially 
because there is no other tone which shows 
up so w T ell against the turquoise blue of the 
sky and the lace-like shadows of the pepper 
trees. The balustrades in the patios and 
the supporting pillars of the porches are 
AN OUTSIDE PATIO 
to the modern Spanish villa built by an East¬ 
ern millionaire for his winter home at Pasa¬ 
dena. And yet these modern palaces are 
but eight miles away and they acknowledge 
a picturesque relationship to the old yellow- 
washed adobe. Some noticeable features 
of this architecture are, first, a restraint 
which replaces redundant ornament with the 
simplicity of untouched wall, a spreading out 
over the ground, with walls not too high; 
the introduction of pillars and arches wher¬ 
ever a fair view or an enticing vista may 
cream white, finished with a modern enamel 
which is warranted to stand the action of the 
sun and air far better than the cracked and 
crumbling coats of paint which is all that 
looks ruinous on many of these ancient 
edifices. The pinkish red of the earthen 
tiles will also hold its own in color for gener¬ 
ations to come, and when we compare this 
substantial, practical and beautiful style of 
modern architecture with more showy struc¬ 
tures, we realize that the owner of this house 
has builded well. 
210 
