Showing posts with label Spanish Colonial Architecture. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Spanish Colonial Architecture. Show all posts

Period Revivals in Cowtown

6:05 AM home desaint

Fort Worth is known as cowtown -- where the west began.  While that puts images into people's minds of horses, cattle, ranches and cowboys (and we do have that) many do not realize the incredible amount of great Period Revival houses in our city.
Throughout Westover Hills, Rivercrest, Park Hill, Colonial Country Club and Mistletoe (along with others) there is some of the finest examples of period revival architecture in the country.  Here are just a few of my favorites:

This fine Norman-Tudor Period Revival was built in 1930 in Westover Hills to be the Fort Worth Star-Telegram's "Home Beautiful".  It is the flagship of Westover Hills and was designed by Victor Marr Curtis.


This Spanish Colonial, also in Westover Hills, is a great example of a Period Revival and part of what makes Westover Hills a beautiful example of a mix of architectural designs.


I am not sure of the year this house was built, but is next door to the Spanish Colonial above and recently went through a major remodel and is beautiful.


This Tudor Revival, built in 1934 and designed by Joseph Patterson, is a home we did a remodel on a few years ago.  In Westover Hills also, it has a beautiful setting.


At the entry to Westover Hills, this home was built in 1936 and also designed by Joseph Patterson.  I love the iron flag flying on top of the turret (which is the staircase).


Set at the back of Rivercrest Country Club, this incredible Mediterranean villa was built in 1916 and designed by David Adler of Chicago.


Although the picture of the house is not great, the entrance to this English estate, built in 1927 and designed by Houston's John Staub, is one of my all time favorites.


Next door to the above English estate is another Tudor that was designed by Dallas' Fooshee and Cheek and built in 1929.  Both of these houses face #15 of Rivercrest Country Club golf course which is the hole that Ben Hogan once said was the worst hole in golf.

I will do more posts on Fort Worth's beautiful examples of Period Revival homes, as this is just a few of the many.



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Homes We've Built In Fort Worth

11:56 AM home desaint

Since starting my blog last month, I have had several emails asking for pictures of some of the houses we've built in Fort Worth.  My company does both remodeling of Period Revival style homes and we build new homes based on historical designs.  Here are some pictures of a few of the projects we've done over the years.  I apologize that some of these photos were taken recently so the landscape isn't as pretty as it will be in a few months.  Once the good weather returns and everything is more colorful I'll replace the pictures with the new ones.  Hope you enjoy.

This house you've probably already seen in earlier posts.  This house was originally built as a one story and previous owners found plans hidden in the walls dated 1929 before the stock market crash.  Today's owners hired us to carry out the plans very similar to what was to be done 75 years earlier.
The above French eclectic house started out as a 1940s vernacular.  My client desired a French style home, so I designed it to face what was previously the side street but one of Fort Worth's most prominent streets.  We added the entire front side and almost doubled the size of the original  house.  Using many antique building products like the clay tile roof, the front door surround and the antique french iron doors that the owner found, the house now fits in with the rest of the neighborhood of homes built in the 1920's and 30's.  Most people think that this is one of the street's original houses.

This limestone-clad French style house is in a small new development tucked in the middle of old Fort Worth.

This Spanish colonial house was one of the first new homes we built and is based on a Santa Barbara design.

Another complete remodel and facade alteration, this home was originally a 1940's ranch style home that we doubled in size and turned into a Spanish Colonial hacienda style.

This historic eclectic English tudor is set in a beautiful setting in one of Fort Worth's oldest neighborhoods.  The entire left side of the house is an addition that we did several years ago.  At the time, the city would not allow additions on the front of any of the "Historically Significant Homes" of Fort Worth, but after working with the city and showing them the quality of the addition and attention to details they allowed it.

Another complete remodel and addition to match the original 1920's design, this home sits prominently looking over Rivercrest Country Club golf course.


This English Cotswold designed house also sits right across from the country club.  Clad in a stone to mimic the Cotswold stone and a door surround taken from the great English designs of the Philadelphia area, this home is admired by many for the close attention to English details.

I'll continue to add more pictures of homes we've done and their interiors as well in future posts.

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Details of the Spanish Colonial House

1:18 PM home desaint

With all of the feedback I've gotten from readers about the homes of Hollywood stars, I thought I'd give some insight into the architectural details that these homes from the 1920's an 30's would most likely have had built in to them.


Of course, since I started with Spanish-style homes of stars, I thought I'd show you what would be appropriate for this type of architecture.

Spanish-style homes have always had an abundance of iron details. This included (and should in today's homes as well) iron window grilles, iron stair railings, iron work on doors, you could even have a steel pennant flying above your entry as Rudolph Valentino did.




Some of these pictures came from Steve Giannetti's great website at www.giannettiarchitects.com

The above pictures are great examples of window grilles that can easily be duplicated today. If you need help in getting the correct scale, materials, etc., send me an email and I can help.

While most Spanish-style houses are clad in stucco, painted brick is another option although I prefer stucco. However, go to www.monarchestates.com and look at The Ranch House at Shady Canyon that David Ko of Robert Hidey Associates designed--a great example of painted brick.

So many new home builders today apply stucco in a synthetic finish that just does not do justice to traditional stucco. Hand troweled, smooth stucco (and sometimes lumpy) gives a finish that is hard to beat.


The above picture is from the Four Seasons Biltmore in Santa Barbara. My wife and I have been here a few times (and taken our family) and absolutely fell in love with the place and the town. What a beautiful example of Spanish Colonial architecture the Four Seasons is. With the hand-troweled stucco, the simple iron railing details, the simple iron sconce, the tile stair treads, the deep-set window. This is how it should be done.

Doors are another important architectural detail that, when done correctly, can make a Spanish-style entry stand out. Period style hardware (as shown in my hardware post), iron details, and a speak-easy are a few details that will show that you know what you are doing when it comes to appropriate style.
I hope these examples have given you a small glimpse of some of the exterior features that should be used in a Spanish Colonial house and ones that were most likely very common in the houses that some Hollywood stars lived in in the 1920's and 30's. Once again, attention to details is key in designing a beautiful home.

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Spanish Colonial Lighting

8:32 AM home desaint













One step in creating a feel of a 1920s or 30s Spanish Colonial house is selecting the correct lighting.  There are many chandeliers and sconces made today that are inexpensive and unfortunately chosen by homeowners
 and builders because of expense or a lack of knowledge of what is appropriate for the design of the house.
However, the good news is that there is great lighting available.  And not only for Spanish Colonial houses.  In addition, the cost is not enormous.  What makes these chandeliers and sconces so unique is that are made from a cast from original lights from the 1920s and 30s.

The ones I have included today are for a Spanish Colonial house.  They can also be used in any style of Mediterranean architecture as well as a few other styles.  If you would like more information on these or would like to purchase some, please let me know.

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The Spanish Colonial House

5:11 AM home desaint


The Spanish Colonial house is one of my favorites.  From California to Sea Island, Georgia and from Texas to Florida, there are some excellent examples of Spanish Colonial architecture.


In California architects such as George Washington Smith, Wallace Neff, Bertram Goodhue, Lillian Rice, and Reginald Johnson created in the 1920s and 30s an enormous number of Spanish eclectic homes that became the reigning choice of Santa Barbara, Los Angeles and San Diego.  These homes were the perfect fit for the landscape and everyone from Hollywood stars to the wealthy families sought this style.  Here are some examples of George Washington Smith's work.

Addison Mizner was THE architect of the Spanish eclectic homes of Florida.  The wealthiest of wealthy commissioned him to build their second homes in Florida.  Many have cri
ticized his work for being too over done, however the details and scale of his work cannot be overlooked as a major influence on the style.  Many of his homes include Spanish and Italian architecture with a mix of both in the details, from over the top hand carving of cast stone (he built his own cast stone plant), massive use of beams, intricate hand painting, exquisite flooring, hand made roof tiles -- he did it all.  He built a real estate empire in the Palm Beach area although his architecture can be found throughout Florida and up the Eastern Coast including Sea Island, Georgia where he was commissioned to design The Cloister.

Here are some pictures I took of his work while I was in Sea Island this summer along with one that is my favorite old house on the island:





















In Texas, we had great architects in the 1920s and 30s who loved this style as well.  These homes can be found throughout the state with many being in the obvious place, San
 Antonio.  The firm of Ayres & Ayres, most notably Atlee Ayres, became very proficient in the design after traveling extensively to California.  

In Dallas, the firm of Fooshee & Cheek designed many great Spanish style homes.  In my city, Fort Worth there are some great examples of this style.  Here is one of my favorites found in Westover Hills: 


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