Mediterranean Revival architecture explained

Mediterranean Revival is an architectural style introduced in the United States, Canada, and certain other countries in the 19th century. It incorporated references from Spanish Renaissance, Spanish Colonial, Italian Renaissance, French Colonial, Beaux-Arts, Moorish architecture, and Venetian Gothic architecture.

Peaking in popularity during the 1920s and 1930s, the movement drew heavily on the style of palaces and seaside villas and applied them to the rapidly expanding coastal resorts of Florida and California.

Structures are typically based on a rectangular floor plan, and feature massive, symmetrical primary façades. Stuccoed walls, red tiled roofs, windows in the shape of arches or circles, one or two stories, wood or wrought iron balconies with window grilles, and articulated door surrounds are characteristic.^{[1] [2]} Keystones were occasionally employed. Ornamentation may be simple or dramatic. Lush gardens often appear.

The style was most commonly applied to hotels, apartment buildings, commercial structures, and residences. Architects August Geiger and Addison Mizner were foremost in Florida, while Bertram Goodhue, Sumner Spaulding, and Paul Williams were in California.

There are also examples of this architectural style in Cuba, such as the Hotel Nacional de Cuba, in Havana.

Examples

• AdventHealth Celebration, Celebration, Florida, opened in 1997
• Allouez Pump House in Allouez, Wisconsin, 1925
• Ambassador Hotel in Los Angeles, California, 1921 (demolished)
• Beverly Hills City Hall, Beverly Hills, California, 1932
• Beverly Shores Railroad Station, 1928
• Boca Raton Resort & Club in Boca Raton, Florida, completed in 1926
• Cà d'Zan, former John Ringling estate in Sarasota, Florida, completed in 1926
• Casa Casuarina (Versace Mansion, now known as The Villa By Barton G.) in Miami Beach, Florida, 1930
• Catalina Casino in Avalon, California, completed May 29, 1929
• Coco Plum Woman's Club in Coral Gables, Florida, built in 1926
• Cooley High School, Detroit, Michigan, built in 1928
• Plymouth County Hospital, a tuberculosis sanatorium in Hanson, Massachusetts. Completed in 1919
• Delaware and Hudson Passenger Station in Lake George, New York, 1909–1911
• Don CeSar Hotel, St. Pete Beach, Florida, completed in 1928
• E. W. Marland Mansion in Ponca City, Oklahoma, completed in 1928
• The Church of Scientology's Flag Building, Clearwater, Florida, completed in 2011
• Florida Theatre in Jacksonville, Florida, completed in 1927
• Fort Harrison Hotel in Clearwater, Florida, completed in 1926
• Francis Marion Stokes Fourplex in Portland, Oregon, completed in 1926
• Freedom Tower in Miami, Florida, completed in 1925
• Santa Fe Railway depot in Fullerton, California, completed 1930
• Gaia Apartment Building in Berkeley, California, 2001
• Greenacres (former Harold Lloyd Estate) in Beverly Hills, California, completed in 1928
• Harder Hall Hotel, Sebring, Florida, completed in 1928
• Hayes Mansion in San Jose, California, completed in 1905
• The Hillview in Hollywood, California, completed in 1917^[3]
• Knowles Memorial Chapel, Winter Park, Florida, built in 1932
• L. Ron Hubbard House, Washington, D.C., built in 1904
• Miami-Biltmore Hotel in Coral Gables, Florida, completed in 1926
• Miami Senior High School, in Miami, Florida, established in 1903
• Natural History Museum of Los Angeles County in Los Angeles, California, 1913
• Nottingham Cooperative, 1927, Madison, Wisconsin
• Palm Beach Hotel, Palm Beach, Florida, built in 1925
• Pasadena City Hall in Pasadena, California, 1927
• Port Washington Fire Engine House in Wisconsin, completed in 1929
• Presidio building in San Francisco, California, completed in 1912
• Rose Crest Mansion (Currently a portion of The Mary Louis Academy) in Jamaica Estates, New York, completed in 1909
• Snell Arcade in St. Petersburg, Florida. 1925
• Stuart Court Apartments, Richmond, Virginia, completed in 1926
• Sunrise Theatre, Fort Pierce, Florida, built in 1922
• The Twilight Zone Tower of Terror in Walt Disney World, Orlando, Florida. 1994
• Town Club (Portland, Oregon), completed 1931
• Villa Vizcaya in Miami, Florida, completed in 1914
• Vinoy Park Hotel in St. Petersburg, Florida, completed in 1925
• William J. Burns House, in Sarasota, Florida, built in 1927
• Wolfsonian-FIU, in Miami Beach, Florida, 1927

See also

• Gothicmed – project which includes finding further insight to Gothic architecture in the Mediterranean area
• Italianate architecture
• Mar del Plata style, eclectic vernacular style which borrows some of the references incorporated by the Mediterranean Revival
• Mission Revival Style architecture
• Moorish Revival architecture
• Spanish Colonial Revival architecture

General and cited references

• Book: Gustafson, Lee and Phil Serpico. 1999. Santa Fe Coast Lines Depots: Los Angeles Division . Palmdale, CA . Acanthus Press . 0-88418-003-4.
• Book: Newcomb, Rexford. 1992. Mediterranean Domestic Architecture for the United States . New York . Hawthorne Printing Company . 0-926494-13-9.
• Nolan, David (1995). The Houses of St. Augustine. Sarasota, Pineapple Press.
• Book: Nylander . Justin A. . Casas to Castles: Florida's Historic Mediterranean Revival Architecture . Schiffer Publishing . 2010 . 978-0-7643-3435-1.
• Book: Signor, John R.. 1997. Southern Pacific Lines: Pacific Lines Stations . 1 . Pasadena, CA . Southern Pacific Historical and Technical Society . 0-9657208-4-5.

Notes and References

1. Book: Harris, Cyril M.. American Architecture: An Illustrated Encyclopedia. registration. 1998. Norton. New York [u.a.]. 0393730298. 211.
2. Web site: Colorful, Exotic and Bold Lines Define the Mediterranean House Plan. The Plan Collection. August 1, 2015.
3. Web site: National Register of Historic Places Registration Form - Hollywood Boulevard Commercial and Entertainment District. United States Department of the Interior - National Park Service . April 4, 1985 . en-US.