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The California Casa
This sumptuous and comprehensive volume embraces one of the most beloved house forms, the Spanish Colonial Revival, presenting at once a lavish portrait of the style as well as the definitive statement on the subject through more than three hundred color photographs.
The Spanish style in architecture encompasses facets from a vast array of traditions, many of which are in evidence in these extraordinary houses. Elements include thickset, whitewashed stucco walls, deeply recessed doors, lushly planted courtyard gardens, intricate and colorful tile work, telescoping towers inset with Juliet balconies, elaborately traced wrought-iron window grilles, and richly appointed interiors heightened by drama in light and shadow cast by moody pendant lamps and low-burning fires. The houses featured are the very best of the type, both famous and little-known, and showcase the work of architects such as George Washington Smith, Bertram Goodhue, Wallace Neff, and Paul Williams, from the early twentieth century, to the work of contemporary practitioners, including Marc Appleton, Michael Burch Architects, and others. These homes are a fantasy for living made real in the Southern California sun.
The Spanish style in architecture encompasses facets from a vast array of traditions, many of which are in evidence in these extraordinary houses. Elements include thickset, whitewashed stucco walls, deeply recessed doors, lushly planted courtyard gardens, intricate and colorful tile work, telescoping towers inset with Juliet balconies, elaborately traced wrought-iron window grilles, and richly appointed interiors heightened by drama in light and shadow cast by moody pendant lamps and low-burning fires. The houses featured are the very best of the type, both famous and little-known, and showcase the work of architects such as George Washington Smith, Bertram Goodhue, Wallace Neff, and Paul Williams, from the early twentieth century, to the work of contemporary practitioners, including Marc Appleton, Michael Burch Architects, and others. These homes are a fantasy for living made real in the Southern California sun.
360 pages, Hardcover
First published March 6, 2012
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Displaying 1 - 3 of 3 reviews
February 28, 2013
We will never be able to shake the Spanish influence from the architecture in the south of California. It is just so beautiful!
February 13, 2016
Spectacular book on the tropical Spanish style houses of California
January 5, 2014
This book is a wonderful showcase of Californian homes, especially those from earlier in the 20th century. It's also a nice reminder that while Los Angeles might be awash in tacky, 1960's dingbats, there's a lot of architectural treasures and gems tucked away in the high-income high-class neighborhoods in and around LA and other parts of Southern California, including the exceptionally local Sherwood House (which I had walked by several times, knowing nothing about its historical or architectural or design value.)
Displaying 1 - 3 of 3 reviews