November, 19 21 
21 
SOME MODERN CALIFORNIA ARCHITECTURE 
From the Wealth of Its Spanish and Indian Legacies Architecture on 
The Coast Is Evolving Significant Types 
ELOISE ROORBACH 
patios with fountains and ornamental wells, 
so much a part of old Spanish architecture, 
fitted perfectly into California’s deep blue 
skies, purple hills and tropical foliage. And 
in the most modern and up-to-date archi¬ 
tecture found on the Pacific coast today, the 
low roofs, flat walls, hand-made tiles and 
arches for swinging bells still prevail. 
The freshness of spirit that has always 
dominated the work of the western architects 
is singularly interesting. Although the houses 
in California today carry a rich tradition of 
Spanish form and color, nevertheless, they 
are definitely original, the significant men 
(such men as Myron Hunt, Elmer Grey, and 
Richard S. Requa) vary California’s archi¬ 
tectural type to suit their own interest, imag¬ 
ination and the needs of their clients. And 
Flat roofs and rectangular construction are 
enlivened by rich ornament in this San Diego 
house. Courtesy of the Frank Meline Co. 
F ORTUNATELY for her architecture, 
California was reached, in the early 
days, by way of South America. The Spanish 
padres and adventurers, seeking souls and 
gold, arrived at this flowering land without 
any preconceived notion of what an early 
American architecture ought to be. Needing 
homes, and having come from a land of great 
beauty architecturally, they began to build 
with the materials at hand; the adobe brick 
dried in the sun met their requirements, and 
with it they built into the beautiful mission 
houses their rich memories of Spain. 
They were evidently not conscious of any 
desire to adapt an old architecture or to create 
a new. And happily the vivid tiled roofs and 
gorgeous gardens, the grotesque stone masks 
set in walls, the carved water spouts, the little 
This garden terrace view of a house at San 
Diego shows many Spanish and Moorish 
details combined effectively 
Kales 
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