Chapter 10

Amenities and Architecture

Amenities and Architecture

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 Bertram Grosvenor 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.
A landmark example is the Santa Barbara Courthouse designed by William Mooser III. Completed in 1929, the Courthouse is a showplace of Spanish and moorish design with imported tiles, enormous murals, hand-painted ceilings, and wrought iron chandeliers.


Most places on California’s coast face west to the ocean; Santa Barbara’s broad, white beach and ocean view is south—the sun seems to set in the wrong place. Similarly, there’s an air of unreality in the remarkably coherent look—storybook Spanish California—to much of downtown, where red tile roofs top white adobe-style buildings, where Macy’s would be a castle in Seville, the parking garage a bullring, and the courthouse a palace, as though Ferdinand and Isabella ruled Santa Barbara County.