Santa Barbara Architect

Although distinctly influenced by the architecture of Spain, the Santa Barbara architecture is in fact a blend of styles, including Spanish, Mediterranean, and Moorish. The Santa Barbara style is epitomized with Spanish Colonial Revival architecture. At the turn of the 20th century, designers were inspired by a number of sources, which included the adobes and colonial buildings of Monterey, California, late forms of Moorish architecture, medieval Spanish and Italian church architecture, Ultra-Baroque design of colonial Spain and Portugal, rural forms from Andalusia, Italian Romanesque and Renaissance revival elements and southwest Hopi and Pueblo Indian adobes. The prominent architects: George Washington Smith, Joe Plunkett, James Craig and Reginald Johnson brought the Spanish revival in Santa Barbara to national prominence. Spanish Colonial Revival (1915-1930) was a phenomenon which swept the regions of America with Hispanic pasts, including California, New Mexico, southern Arizona, Florida and Texas. In California this revival is construed as a mature continuation of the Mission revival which had used Hispanic elements as mere dressing. Its popularity was heightened by the Spanish Colonial buildings in the 1915 San Diego Exposition.

Elements of Santa Barbara Style

While combining various sources, the purity of single elements was often retained, such as an Ultra-Baroque entry decoration. In some cases an entire style, such as Andalusian, was replicated. These fundamentals made it relatively easy to create a harmony between the exterior image, interior space, decorative elements and the building's function. This style is unified by the use of arches, courtyards, gleaming white stucco surfaces, red tile roofs, the wrought iron used to ornament windows, light fixtures, staircases, and other accent elements.

Santa Barbara Historical Structures

Santa Barbara style architecture inspired buildings that became monuments of architectural history: the Santa Barbara Courthouse, El Paseo shopping arcade, the Fox-Arlington Theater, the Biltmore Hotel and the Crematorium at the Santa Barbara Cemetery.

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