Robert Stacy-Judd Explained

Robert Stacy-Judd (1884–1975) was an English architect and author who designed theaters, hotels, and other commercial buildings in the Mayan Revival architecture Style in Great Britain and the United States. Stacy-Judd's synthesis of the style used Maya architecture, Aztec architecture, and Art Deco precedents as his influences.

Aztec Hotel

Stacy-Judd's most celebrated Mayan Revival designed building is the Aztec Hotel, focusing on the facades, interiors, and furniture. It was built in 1924 on the original U.S. Route 66, and is located in Monrovia, Southern California.^[1] Stacy-Judd explained the choice of the name of the hotel.

When the hotel project was first announced, the word Maya was unknown to the layman. The subject of Maya culture was only of archaeological importance, a, at that, concerned but a few exponents. As a word Aztec was fairly well known, I baptized the hotel with that name, although all the decorative motifs are Maya ^[2]

Works

Works include (with attribution as appears in National Register listing):

• Aztec Hotel, 311 W. Foothill Blvd. Monrovia, CA (Stacy-Judd,Robert B.), NRHP-listed
• First Baptist Church of Ventura, 101 S. Laurel St. Ventura, CA (Stacy-Judd, Robert Benjamin), NRHP-listed
• Old Armory (Williston, North Dakota), 320 1st Ave., E. Williston, ND (Judd,Robert Stacy), NRHP-listed
• Old Tioga High School-West Section, (Tioga, ND)
• The Philosophical Research Society, 1934, Mayan Revival: 3910 Los Feliz Blvd., Los Angeles, CA
• The "Indian Village" at Soboba Hot Springs, Riverside County, California^[3]

Writing

Stacy-Judd was a friend of the writer T. A. Willard, who published a fanciful account of his travels to Chichen Itza, was extremely influenced by John Lloyd Stephens writings, and perhaps even more so by the illustrations by Frederick Catherwood as presented in their book 'Incidents of Travel in Central America, Chiapas and Yucatán'.^[4] a work that introduced many to the wondrous ruins of Central America. Possibly inspired by his friend T.A. Willard, Stacy-Judd published several popular books on Maya culture that blend fact and fiction.

Bibliography

• Gebhard, David and Anthony Peres. Robert Stacy-Judd: Maya Architecture and the Creation of a New Style. Capra Press. 1993
• Ingle, Marjorie I. The Mayan Revival Style: Art Deco Mayan Fantasy. University of New Mexico Press. 1989
• ---. Atlantis: Mother of Empires. Los Angeles. De Vorse & Co. 1939
• ---. The Ancient Mayas, Adventures In the Jungles of Yucatan. Los Angeles. Haskell-Travers, Inc. 1934
• ---. A Maya Manuscript. Los Angeles. Philosophical Research Society. 1940.
• Willard, T. A., The City of the Sacred Well, Being a Narrative of the Discoveries and Excavations of Edward Herbert Thompson in the Ancient City of Chi-chen Itza With Some Discourse on the Culture and Development of the Mayan Civilization as Revealed by Their Art and Architecture, Here Set Down and Illustrated From Photographs. New York. Century Co. 1926

External links

• • Route 66-org: the Aztec Hotel - Monrovia
• Historic Echo Park: Atwater Bungalows

Notes and References

1. Web site: Monrovia: Aztec Hotel . 2010-04-14 . dead . https://web.archive.org/web/20101127115456/http://route66ca.org/traveler/towns/32monrov/aztec.html . 2010-11-27 . accessed 4/11/2010. Aztec Hotel
2. Gebhard, David, photos by Anthony Peres, Robert Stacy-Judd: Maya Architecture-The Creation of a New Style, Capra Press, Santa Barbara 1993 p. 41
3. Web site: Robert Stacy-Judd: Soboba Hot Springs Hotel (San Jacinto, Calif.) . 2023-11-16 . UCSB ADC Omeka .
4. Gebhard, David, photos by Anthony Peres, Robert Stacy-Judd: Maya Architecture-The Creation of a New Style, Capra Press, Santa Barbara 1993 p. 39