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Building Materials for the Traditional Spanish Mission

By: Mark Bradley143

The Spanish Mission Style of Architecture served functional and aesthetic purposes when it was first produced in California. “Padres” or priests from Spain came to the coastline of California to build their missions and convert the natives, and the style of the missions was a reflection of the great cultural soup that was being prepared. Native Californians used their skill, priests used their design aesthetic from the old country, and the raw materials of their work would come from the natural products off the coast of California.

The materials that would eventually build the Spanish missions would later be used and emulated for the Spanish mission style of architecture that later became popular in California and elsewhere in the US. Buildings throughout Los Angeles tried to emulate this style as it became more fashionable, and even in other places across the nation, like in St. Louis, Missouri where T.P. Barnett’s Spanish Mission Style Deco building still stands. The Barnett building was a fusion building of Spanish and Art Deco that became incredibly popular in the 1920’s, and today holds true to its beauty and grace.

When Padres were trying to get their missions built in California, they had a lot of difficulties to say the very least. There was a scarcity of imported materials as well as a shortage of skilled labor, so they had to use simple building materials and easy methods of construction to get the job done. They gathered material and workforce from the surrounding lands.

The 5 most important materials they used were adobe, timber, stone, brick and tile, which are all the staples of the style today. Adobe was a very innovative material made from earth and water, chaff, straw and manure. These were mud bricks, and they were very useful in this region of the US. The method was originated in Spain and Mexico, so workers were easily able to assemble the bricks that would make up the missions.

Level ground was found, and the workers would put the mud mixture into brick molds, and arrange them in rows to be leveled by hand to the top of the mold’s frame. Today, these bricks still have hand and fingerprints, reminiscent of the people who once worked long hours. Some people even inscribed names and dates on the bricks. California adobe was fairly easy to make and handle, and lightweight for easy carrying.

The Spanish Missions and the later Spanish mission style that would be replicated get their look from the sort of “man-made” authentic quality. There was no existent lumber, so workers used stone axes and crude saws to shape the wood. The missions had a very distinct appearance thanks to these crude methods, and later this appearance was greatly sought after, and people would pay a high price for it.

The Spanish Mission style came to be associated with luxury, ironically enough, and today we see that style for all its elegance, simplicity, and style. Going back to the T.P. Barnett building in St. Louis, all the elegance and refinement of the Spanish mission style’s potential is quite clear.

Article Source: Main Articles

Mark Bradley is a real estate historian and investor. Specializing in renovating historic architecture. For a 15 page historic report on Mark’s Spanish Mission Building at 3207 Washington Ave St Louis Mo 63103 go to www.3207washington.com

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