SPANISH REVIVAL

Historic Spanish Revival and Mediterranean Revival structures are present throughout the Sarasota , Bradenton and Venice areas representing a Floridian legacy. The Spanish Revival architecture is derived from mainland Spanish architecture, Spanish colonial forms, and from Mexico and South American countries. It is architecture of nearly pure Spanish influence. The Mediterranean Revival architecture has more of an eclectic mix of styles representing the Spanish influence but is combined with Florentine, Roman, Venetian and North African details.

A Brief History

The Spanish first sighted Florida in 1513 when Ponce De Leon and his crew laid eyes on the north shores. After years of political wrangling Spain eventually ceded Florida to the United States in 1819. It wasn’t until the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries when the state’s architectural development reached its maturity. Beginning in St. Augustine with the construction of the Ponce de Leon hotel in 1889 by Henry Flagler the Spanish Revival movement spread across Florida. With Addison Mizner’s construction of the Everglades Club in Palm Beach in 1919 Florida’s modern Spanish Revival style was born. It boomed along the southeastern shore of Florida (Boca Raton, Coral Gables and Miami) and it was during this time that Kiehnel and DeGarmo introduced the Mediterranean Revival style. On the west coast of Florida, St. Petersburg was expanding rapidly in the 1920s and Perry Snell and J.C. Hamlett developed most of the shoreline with Spanish Revival structures. Reaching south to Bradenton, Sarasota and Venice the Spanish and Mediterranean Revival architecture was developed by Dwight James Baum, Owen Burns, Thomas Reed Martin, and Ralph S. Twitchell to name a few. Today, with each structure representing part of Florida’s history many of these historic buildings are being preserved across the state

Design Elements

Throughout the 1920s there was a vast range of skilled artisans who’s work was fully utilized by the Spanish Revival style featuring the crafts of exterior plastering, black-smithing, masonry, cast stone and terra cotta molding, and tile making. There are many design elements that go into a Spanish Revival structure resulting in its informal yet refined design of soft angles and edges, sweeping lines and arches accented in soft earth tone colors. Doors are often round or with segmental arches or are planked and bound together with horizontal rails. Windows are typically arched, segmental, pointed, parabolic, or of a bull’s eye or quatrefoil shape. Some may feature small balconies with wrought-iron fences. Small tiled roofs provide shelter over doorways and balconies. Lavish use of decorative ironwork is found in railings, window grilles, hinges, locksets for doors and gates, and lighting fixtures. The main roof is usually flat or low-pitched and accented with terra cotta or cast concrete details. The interior walls are typically smooth stucco. The living rooms are often sunken, many which feature a fireplace. The floors are often a warm colored tile or stone or hardwood. And by inviting the outdoors in, patios and courtyards blend seamlessly with the home and garden. It is through a combination of these design elements that comprises the characteristics of the Spanish Revival design.

For map locations of areas of Spanish Revival and Mediterranean Revival architecture in Sarasota, Bradenton, and Venice click here.

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Contact Gemma J. Watmough

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41 West Realty Group, Inc.
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Sarasota, FL 34236

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