Architecture Inspired by Spain

Mission Style Houses

In many ways, the Spanish Eclectic homes built from 1915 to 1940 resemble the slightly earlier Mission Style houses. Mission architecture romanticized the simple Spanish churches of colonial America. Mission houses typically have red tile roofs, parapets, decorative railings, and carved stonework. But the twentieth century Spanish inspired styles proved to be more far reaching. Wild and expressive, this new fashion borrowed from the entire history of Spanish architecture, from Moorish to Byzantine to Renaissance.

Why the sudden explosive interest in all things español? According to historians, the excitement began with the opening of a canal.

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