Details of the Spanish Colonial House

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.