The Mission Revival Style was an architectural movement that began in the late 19th century and drew inspiration from the early Spanish missions in California. The movement enjoyed its greatest popularity between 1890 and 1915, though numerous modern residential, commercial, and institutional structures (particularly schools and railroad depots) display this instantly-recognizable architectural style.
All of California’s missions shared certain design characteristics, owing both to the limited selection of building materials available to the founding padres and an overall lack of advanced construction experience. Each installation utilized massive walls with broad, unadorned surfaces and limited fenestration, wide, projecting eaves, and low-pitched clay tile roofs. Other features included long, arcaded corridors, piered arches, and curved gables. Exterior walls were coated with plaster (stucco) to shield the adobe bricks beneath from the elements.
Structures designed in the Mission Revival Style
- Stanford University’s main quad in Palo Alto, California, completed in 1891
- Southern Pacific Railroad depot in Burlingame, California, completed in 1894
- Santa Fe Railway Depot in San Juan Capistrano, California, completed in 1894
- Castañeda Hotel in Las Vegas, New Mexico, completed in 1898
- Alvarado Hotel in Albuquerque, New Mexico, completed in 1902 (demolished in 1970)
- Union Station in San Diego, California, completed in 1915
- California BaptistUniversity in Riverside, California, the original school buildings built for Neighbors of Woodcraft, completed in 1921
- Caliente Railroad Depot in Caliente, Nevada, completed in 1923
- San Gabriel Mission Playhouse in San Gabriel, California, completed in 1927
- Mission Inn in Riverside, California, completed in 1932
- Villa Rockledge in Laguna Beach, California, completed in 1935
- Canoga Mission Gallery in Canoga Park, California, completed in 1936