Architecture and Environment

Architecture and Environment

2005

Santa Barbara is known not only in the United States but also around the world with its sunny beaches framed by palm trees and the serial of the same name , which was box-office in the nineties . It is located on the on coast of California just between the cities of Los Angeles and San Francisco is a perfect refuge for either city-dwellers or numerous tourists from different corners of the country who come to see this earthly paradise and rest and have fun . And beautiful beaches and

secluded waters suits perfect and offer great and limitless opportunities for swimming , boating and sunbathing

The city is almost dwarfed by a low ridge of hills giving spectacular pictures of the harbor . Many magnificent but far not the cheapest houses rest on these ridges and slopes . Perhaps because of this the site is often called the `American Riviera , a perfect place for vacation but a very costly place to live . However , there may be another explanation and Santa Barbara has earned its name due to the fact that it distinguishes from all American cities and is more European-like if not to say more It can rightfully pride itself on a striking combination of beautiful landscapes and Spanish Revival architecture that is the city 's heritage from past times

Article by Jackie Craven

In 1915 , gates to the Panama canal swung open . To celebrate , San Diego -- the first North American port of call on the Pacific Coast -- launched a spectacular exposition . The chief designer for the event was Bertram Grosvenor Goodhue , who had a fascination for Gothic and Hispanic styles . Goodhue did not want the cold , formal Renaissance and Neoclassical architecture which was normally used for expositions and fairs . Instead , he envisioned a fairytale city with a festive Mediterranean flavor Panama-California Exposition Buildings --

California Building and Cabrillo Bridge

Courtesy of the Frances Loeb Library

Graduate School of Design , Harvard University

Goodhue (along with fellow architects Carleton M . Winslow , Clarence Stein and Frank

. Allen , Jr ) created extravagant , capricious Churrigueresque towers based on the 17th and 18th century Spanish designs . They filled Balboa Park in San Diego with arcades , arches colonnades , domes , fountains , pergolas , reflecting pools , man-sized Muslim urns and an array of Disneyesque details

America was dazzled , and Iberian fever spread as trendy architects adapted Spanish ideas to upscale homes and public buildings

Possibly the most famous examples of Spanish Revival architecture can be found in Santa Barbara , California . Santa Barbara had a rich tradition of Hispanic architecture long before Goodhue unveiled his vision of a Mediterranean skyline . But after a massive earthquake in 1925 , the town was rebuilt . With its clean white walls and inviting courtyards , Santa Barbara became a showplace for the new Spanish style

Bertram Grosvenor Goodhue was an innovator who combined Gothic and Hispanic designs with modern ideas . He revolutionized church architecture by reawakening Medieval traditions . His fanciful Spanish Churrigueresque buildings for the Panama-California Exposition brought new energy to Spanish Colonial Revival architecture...