7/29/2019 The Colonial Styles of North America - Part 3 Spanish

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The Colonial Styles of North America - Part 3:Spanish

The West Portal: The rebel Allende at left -- the defender de la Canal at rightFrom fmschmitt.com

The final part of this trilogy of articles discussing the colonial architectural styles

of the North Americas focuses on the legacy of the first medieval nation to

explore, and later conquer, the Americas, the Spanish. They may have

concentrated their colonial activities in Southern and Central America but they still

made their mark to the North and leave behind a strong cultural presence.

The Spanish style of colonial architecture would have been, and still can be, found

in the areas originally conquered and colonised by the conquistadors in the 16th

and 17th centuries; areas in the US such as Florida and the south western states

(California, New Mexico, Arizona) bordering Mexico as well as of course Mexico

itself. There were effectively two strains of Spanish colonial architecture: that of

the common homestead and that of the public building, in particular churches.

Homes

The oldest and original colonial homes in these territories would have been single

story, single room houses with thatched and/or flat roofs. With their characteristic

lime mortar whitewashed adobe walls they would have been very reminiscent of

the peasant homes back in Spain. The Spanish building styles and techniques

originated in climates very similar to those subsequently encountered in the New

World and so their features were well designed to deal with the heat experiencedthere. Cooling porches were built to provide shelter from the most extreme of the

weather and the temperature within the buildings would have been regulated

through the use of the thick adobe or stone walls and wooden shutters on the

windows. As the buildings developed, and the settlers became more prosperous,

they would have taken on second stories with porches and balconies and even

ornamentation on their stucco walls.

Public Buildings

Public buildings such as churches carried much grander and elaborate

ornamentation on a far larger scale to reflect the catholic churches and cathedrals

of the Spanish homeland. In contrast to the functional homesteads they were built

to dominate and inspire the local inhabitants and advertise the power and

authority of both the Spanish and the mother church. They therefore reflected the

latest European styles of the age, principally Baroque, but also Neo-Classical and

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7/29/2019 The Colonial Styles of North America - Part 3 Spanish

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Renaissance and were complete with colourful and extravagantly decorated

internal spaces.

Town Planning

Perhaps one of the most enduring legacies of Spanish building however was the

popularisation of the idea of organised town planning. The idea of laying out

streets in predefined grids with open public spaces, such as central plazas, andprominent public buildings.

Towns were planned meticulously to give the key public buildings pride of place as

well as to provide space for key social, communal and military functions within the

town. Guidelines were even prescribed by the monarchy so that the towns layout

and its buildings therein would all work together to meet these aims. At the heart

of these planned towns would be the impressive, dominating and awe inspiring

churches and cathedrals that the Spanish built to spread the messages of their

mission in the New World.

North America is, in every sense, a melting pot of cultural influences and this can

be seen very clearly in its architectural styles. Influences may have travelledacross the seas from the Old World of its European settlers but they have evolved

and taken on characteristics of their own to suit both the demands of the new

environments and the fashions of the inhabitants.

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