Useful information:
There are many versions of Spanish style; one of the most significant for American architecture is the Spanish Colonial Revival style inaugurated by the architecture of the Panama- Pacific Exposition in San Diego's Balboa Park of 1915. Here for the first time the general public saw a striking assemblage of white stucco buildings inspired by Spain and Mexico. These buildings, some of which still exist, were designed by New York architect Bertram Goodhue. Also before and during World War I young architects traveled to Spain and brought back sketches of traditional Spanish farmhouses which were then published and helped fan interest in Spanish architecture. An Architectural Guidebook to Los Angeles ( Gibbs Smith) by David Gebhard and Robert Winter provides a succinct explanation of the Spanish style. Two Spanish style houses worth a visit: playwright Eugene O'Neill's Tao house at Alamo, California (
http://www.nps.gov/euon/); and Adamson House at Malibu, a state historic park (
http://www.adamsonhouse.org ). George Washington Smith: An Architect's Scrapbook, by architect Marc Appleton (Tailwater Press) provides an important window on the style's most famous California practitioner in the 1920s.
