From Library Journal
Twenty-one private homes built between 1922 and 1991 in South California's eclectic and individualistic Hispanic mission and Mediterranean revival styles are vividly captured in this resplendent work. The book transcends Sunset Magazine-style coverage through a learned foreword by David Gebhard (art history, Univ. of California, Santa Barbara) and an informative introduction by former Architectural Digest editor McMillian, who also supplies captions and one- to two-page introductions to each home. Beyond their unique designs and ornamentation, the homes feature dazzling Spanish and Mexican folk art, antiques, tiles, fountains, and landscaping, all luxuriously photographed. Ownership, especially when tied to the area's movie industry, along with details of restoration and renovation, is noted and quotations from architects provided. Although more visual than analytical, the work delightfully captures the vitality and variety of Southern California's most important vernacular architecture. Recommended for regional and interior design collections.?Russell Clement, Univ. of Tennessee, KnoxvilleCopyright 1996 Reed Business Information, Inc.


From Booklist
Former Architectural Digest editor McMillian and photographer Melba Levick take great pains to allow each of these 21 southern California houses a chance to show off without being constrained by undue fuss over their past and present owners. Exteriors and interiors are displayed in sharply focused color, furnishings are described, and a sense of the original architect's intended statement is conveyed. Many of the homes have been converted into museums; still, their architecture amply shows the good and bad sides of Spanish style. Barbara Jacobs


Midwest Book Review
Elizabeth McMillian's Casa California (0-8478-1850-0, $50. 00), survey of the architectural history and development of the Spanish-style house in Southern California, provides both a regional approach and an artistic examination of the evolution of a style unique to the area. Full-page color photos of interior and exteriors showcase Southern California's most historically significant structures, while descriptions examine the Spanish revival trend. Karen Hearn edits Dynasties (1940-X, $60. 00), an impressive display of paintings in Tudor and Jacobean England from 1530-1630. Histories of individual works and their overall relationships to paintings of the times present intriguing facts and some speculations when full information is not available. An excellent overview with full pictorial embellishment.


Book Description
The Spanish-style architecture of Southern California's seaside estates, canyon villas, and courtyard bungalows is central to its romantic image, one that has traditionally evoked a Mediterranean paradise. The details of this inexhaustively rich style-- ornate wrought iron and wood balconies, colorful tiles, graceful arches, and palm-dotted gardens-- reflect the region's Spanish, Mexican, and southwestern history and culture as well as its popular outdoor lifestyle.

This book showcases Southern California's most historically significant and beautifully preserved Spanish-revival houses of this century. Twenty-one private homes built between 1922 and 1991 are featured in stunning color photography that captures exterior and interior architectural details, Spanish and Mexican antique furnishings and folk art, and lush landscaping and tiled fountains. Among these are the Adamson House in Malibu, with its extraordinary collection of custom tile from Malibu Potteries; the contemporary Greenberg House in Brentwood, by Ricardo Legorreta; The Andalusia Courtyard Apartments in Hollywood; and Casa Pacifica, the former home of Richard Nixon, overlooking the ocean in San Clemente. Brief narratives highlight the history of each building and its design influences on the Spanish-revival movement in California.

The Spanish revival grew in popularity around the turn of the century when many young American architects traveled to Spain, Italy, and Mexico, bringing back sketches and, as the foreword notes, romantic memories of "graceful foliage...small Indian towns...tiled dome and rococo towers." Hundreds of Spanish-style houses, apartments, and bungalows were built throughout Southern California in the following decades, many of them commissioned for movie stars such as Charlie Chaplin and Rudolph Valentino.

The Spanish revival is marked by two main phases: the mission revival, which incorporates the white stucco, cloistered patios, tile roofs, and exposed-beam ceilings typical of eighteenth-century California missions; and the more elaborate Mediterranean revival, influenced by Spanish and Italian Renaissance sources, eighteenth-century Spanish plateresque and churrigueresque forms, and Moorish-Andalusian styles.



About the Author
Elizabeth McMillian is a writer and art and architecture historian based in Los Angeles. She currently teaches at the University of Southern California; from 1982 to 1992 she was the architecture editor of Architectural Digest.

Melba Levick is a widely published and exhibited photographer based in Paris and Los Angeles. Her work has appeared in more than twenty books and numerous magazine articles both in Europe and in the United States, many on urban and architectural themes. Ms. McMillian and Ms. Levick are co-authors of Rizzoli's Beach Houses: From Malibu to Laguna (1994).

David Gebhard is professor of art history at the University of California at Santa Barbara. He is a renowned authority on late-nineteenth- and early twentieth-century California architecture as well as the author of numerous articles and books on the subject.

FROM THE PUBLISHER

This book showcases Southern California's most historically significant and beautifully preserved Spanish-revival houses of this century. Twenty-one private homes built between 1922 and 1991 are featured in stunning color photography that captures exterior and interior architectural details, Spanish and Mexican antique furnishings and folk art, and lush landscaping and tiled fountains. Among these are the Adamson House in Malibu, with its extraordinary collection of custom tile from Malibu Potteries; the contemporary Greenberg House in Brentwood, by Ricardo Legorreta; The Andalusia Courtyard Apartments in Hollywood; and Casa Pacifica, the former home of Richard Nixon, overlooking the ocean in San Clemente. Brief narratives highlight the history of each building and its design sources, while the introduction traces historical and cultural influences on the Spanish-revival movement in California.

FROM THE CRITICS

Library Journal

Twenty-one private homes built between 1922 and 1991 in South California's eclectic and individualistic Hispanic mission and Mediterranean revival styles are vividly captured in this resplendent work. The book transcends Sunset Magazine-style coverage through a learned foreword by David Gebhard (art history, Univ. of California, Santa Barbara) and an informative introduction by former Architectural Digest editor McMillian, who also supplies captions and one- to two-page introductions to each home. Beyond their unique designs and ornamentation, the homes feature dazzling Spanish and Mexican folk art, antiques, tiles, fountains, and landscaping, all luxuriously photographed. Ownership, especially when tied to the area's movie industry, along with details of restoration and renovation, is noted and quotations from architects provided. Although more visual than analytical, the work delightfully captures the vitality and variety of Southern California's most important vernacular architecture. Recommended for regional and interior design collections.Russell Clement, Univ. of Tennessee, Knoxville

BookList - Barbara Jacobs