Page 68 - 2017 Travel Guide to California

ARCHITECTURE & GARDENS
Harmonious by Design
Californians have always built in tune with their environment
MISSION SAN
CARLOS BORROMÉO
DEL RÍO CARMELO
Also known as Carmel Mission, this
historic church, above, was the second
mission built in California, first
established in Monterey in 1770 and
moved to its current location in
Carmel-by-the-Sea in 1771. It was the
headquarters of the California
missions and home of Saint Junípero
Serra until his death in 1784. His
remains are buried here. It is one of
the most authentically restored
churches of all of the California
missions, a National Historic
Landmark, and on the National
Register of Historic Places. Today it
serves as parish church, museum and
community center.
Architecture in California and the lush
public gardens that add grace notes to the
Golden State began to take shape in the late
18th century, when the Spanish advanced
north from Mexico City to the rustic,
remote province of Alta California.
The California missions, 21 Roman
Catholic churches built from 1769 to 1823,
set the tone. The adobe-walled, orange-tile-
roofed churches erected by the Franciscan
friars eventually formed the heart of major
cities such as San Diego, Los Angeles and
San Francisco. The missions’ gardens were
strictly utilitarian, intended to produce
food. Eye-pleasing garden design blos-
somed later.
Missions to Victorians
The missions influenced California architec-
ture and design for years to come. The
abundant open spaces, arches, tile-roofed
buildings and breezy arcades of Stanford
66 2017 T R AV E L G U I D E TO C A L I F O R N I A
BY DAVID ARMSTRONG
University’s main quad are legacies of the
colonial era (stanford.edu). The ornately and
eclectically elaborated Casa de Balboa, in San
Diego’s Balboa Park, incorporates elements
of the Mission Revival style (balboapark.org).
The 1927 San Gabriel Mission Playhouse is a
direct architectural descendant of the mis-
sions (missionplayhouse.org).
Long, deep, narrow, high-ceilinged
wooden row houses populated boomtowns
like San Francisco. The Victorians were
built from the 1860s to the 1910s. In the
1970s, the modest houses were reborn as
gentrified, vibrantly hued Painted Ladies.
Surviving California Victorians are espe-
cially numerous in San Francisco, clustered
on Alamo Square and in the Haight-Ash-
bury, Western Addition and Mission
districts. Urban eye candy, they are featured
on City Guides San Francisco Walking Tours
(sfcityguides.org).