Starling Residence
Aspen Park, Colorado
Design Development
Materials & Influences
Santa Fe Territorial Style
David Sprunt
LA 6631 - Fall 2006
Contents
Introduction
3
History of The Territorial Style
4
Native American Adobe & Pueblo Style
4
Spanish Colonial Style
4
Territorial Style
5
Territorial Revival Style
6
Design Examples
7
Styles of Adobe Construction
7
Portal
8
Pilaster & Wall Cap
9
Guardrails & Balusters
10
Arbor (Ramada)
11
Flooring
12
Stairs
13
Furniture, Planters & Pottery
14
Accent Colors
15
Water Features
16
Territorial Style References
2
17
Introduction
To ensure design integrity when developing details for a landscaping project, it is important to
understand the limitations and potential of the site and its surroundings as well as the historical traditions
and forms of the surrounding architecture. This document describes the history and development of the
Santa Fe Territorial Style architecture of the American southwest used in the Starling residence. The brief
history below is followed by images of design details consistent with the Territorial Revival Style that
could be used in the portal and courtyard area of the residence.
When design rhymes across time, it demonstrates a sense of history,
and when it rhymes across space, it reinforces a sense of place.”
- Douglas Kelbaugh, architect
as quoted in Facing Southwest: The Life & Houses of John Gaw Meem.
3
History of The Territorial Style
Native American Adobe & Pueblo Style
Before the arrival of European explorers in the fifteenth through seventeenth centuries, Native
Americans built their dwelling and ceremonial structures in forms that were dictated by the culture of
their society and the local climate. The three general types of structures were round-frame houses like the
tipi used by the Plains natives, rectangular-wood frame structures such as the longhouses developed by
natives along the east coast and Pacific northwest, and earth-wall structures like those used by the natives
of the American southwest.
Smaller, portable structures like the tipi and wigwam were used by nomadic tribes and were often
covered with animal hides or straw, while larger permanent buildings were typically built by agricultural
societies.1
In the arid parts of the American West, dugout, masonry or adobe houses were common and wellsuited to the region’s low rainfall. Unprotected adobe rapidly deteriorates when exposed to the elements
and is especially susceptible to deterioration from rain and snow, so is best suited to places where the
average rainfall is less than about 20 inches per year2.
Some Native American tribes built massive multi-unit pueblos, others used small dugouts, but all of
these adobe or masonry structures used systems of wooden roof timbers to support earthen roofs.3
Because it was so difficult to cut wood without metal tools, the builders allowed the ends of these
timbers to protrude outside the structure. These bark-stripped wooden beams are called “vigas,” a term in
use today that also applies to the vertical roof supports.
Ancient walls were built using puddled adobe, a time-consuming technique requiring workers to pile
a mud-and-straw adobe mixture along the wall, then wait for it to harden before piling on another course.
The oldest buildings of this type are the massive Casas Grandes ruins of northern Sonora, Mexico and
near Florence, Arizona, southeast of Phoenix.4
Because of the nature of the material and the way it was used, the walls of these puddled adobe
structures were often several feet thick and provided not only support for the roof and upper floors, but
also protection from enemies.
The cooler and more secure center rooms of the building were often used to store food, while the
outer rooms were used as living quarters. Beginning in the thirteenth century, removable ladders were
used to enter the buildings by way of the second floor and could be pulled up if the need arose. As
Agnesa Reeve describes in her book, The Small Adobe House, “ Doors were often made of octillo cactus
ribs or slender posts; tiny windows, if covered at all, perhaps had a sheet of selenite, a type of translucent
quartz. Floors, almost universally of dirt, sometimes were treated with ox blood, which dried to a glossy,
hard finish.”5
Spanish Colonial Style
In the sixteenth century, Spanish colonists and missionaries brought their faith, culture, customs
and architecture to the American Southwest. But each of these cultural influences changed as they
encountered the Native American cultures. The newly arrived Spanish architecture, itself influenced
by the Moors’occupation on southern Spain and even earlier by the Romans, was reinterpreted and
transformed yet again by local craftsmen of the Southwest using their local materials and traditions.
A significant advance in adobe construction came when the Spanish introduced the use of wooden
1
2
3
4
5
McAlester, Virginia & Lee. Field Guide to North American Houses, p 65.
Reeve, The Small Adobe House, p.6.
Ibid,, 73
Ibid., 10.
Ibid,, 15
4
forms to shape adobe bricks, thereby improving construction speed and efficiency over the ‘puddled adobe’
technique.
Traditional Spanish homes were built around an enclosed courtyard where family life centered. The
courtyard often contained a well or fountain, flowering shrubs, bright colors, and comfortable shade.6
Often, houses took this form over time. As the family became more affluent, independent rooms were
added and were joined together around a courtyard.7 Another common feature of these homes is the
covered porch or portale that opens onto the courtyard and provides a sheltered connection between the the
rooms of the house.
During the Spanish Colonial period between about 1600 and 1821, wealthier colonists incorporated
these features into their growing adobe homes. Most of the colonists lived in impoverished outposts and
their homes took the form of small one- or two-room structures with tiny windows and corner fireplaces.
They were mostly devoid of decoration and out of necessity had simple designs. Hispanic colonists in the
region often brought small reminders of home up the trail from Mexico, like mirrors to reflect light into the
dark rooms and maybe a silver spoon, cup or even a chair.8
Few outside visitors came to these colonial outposts before the early part of the nineteenth century.
Those who did were often transient trappers or traders who were not inclined to build permanent homes.
That changed in 1821 when Mexico gained its independence and opened up the territory for trade with the
norteamericanos.9
Territorial Style
The new trade routes, especially the Santa Fe Trail, greatly influenced architecture in the region and
brought many new settlers. The trail provided a conduit for building materials like tin for roofs and glass
for windows, as well as strong metal tools that could be used to work wood for new buildings.
In the late 1840’s, Mexico ceded the southwest states, including New Mexico, to the United States.
Subsequently, the United States government set up army forts and outposts in the territory to protect the
new arrivals from the increasingly displaced native peoples. The Army outposts also had a significant
influence on the style of architecture in the new territory. As the Army moved into the region in the 1850s,
they incorporated the Greek Revival style into the adobe structures of their new outposts.10
This style had been popular along the Eastern states between 1830 and 1850 as an evocative depiction
of Greek democracy in the new nation.11
Some of the Greek Revival architectural details incorporated into the Territorial Style included sharp
building corners, pedimented windows, doors with windows or side lights, and brick dentil cornices along
the top of the traditional adobe parapet. This last feature also served to increase the durability of the adobe
structures by protecting the wall from water damage.
In northern New Mexico, and other areas that had more rain and snowfall, low pitched gabled tin roofs
came into vogue.
The Territorial Style was not to last long, however. When the railroads arrived in the region in the
1880’s, inexpensive milled lumber became available and territorial and Hispanic building styles were
largely abandoned in favor of wood-framed, Victorian-style structures.
6
7
8
9
10
11
Stedman, Adobe Architecture. P.1
McAlester, 132.
Reeve, p. 15.
Reeve, p. 15
McAlester, Field Guide, p130.
McAlester, Field Guide, 177.
5
Territorial Revival Style
The Victorian period lasted from about 1880 to the 1920’s. Around 1910 there was a movement
in the country toward architectural styles that demonstrated craftsmanship and historic precedence and
downplayed the overly ornate traditions of the Victorian period.
This movement created the Mission and Craftsman styles as well as the Pueblo Revival, which
has also been called “Pueblo-Spanish Revival” and a variation appearing in Santa Fe in 1920 called the
Territorial Revival.12
The Territorial Revival Styleincorporated many of the features of the original Territorial Style,
including fired brick along the parapets and windows and doors in the Greek Revival motif.
One of the key figures in the development of the Territorial Revival style was Santa Fe architect John
Gaw Meem, who designed many homes for doctors, politicians, lawyers and others influential in Santa
Fe society between the 1920’s and 1940’s. Many of the examples of architectural details on the following
pages are taken from houses he designed.
Meem incorporated traditional elements of the previous regional styles with Beaux-Arts training, a
Romantic aesthetic and modern sensibility, opening up interior spaces and carefully considering the flows
of progression and light through his houses as well as the interaction between the interior and exterior
of the homes.13 The Romantics emphasized the importance of the individual’s aesthetic experience of a
place, including beauty through symmetry and proportion, the sublime through experiencing contrasts,
vistas and massing, and the picturesque through novel, exotic or irregular designs.14
Although many of Meem’s houses were made of authentic adobe bricks, he also used hollow terracotta tile blocks for construction, but ensured they were finished with stucco to appear like traditional
adobe with “irregular contours of its wall surfaces and silhouettes”.15
The Pueblo Revival and Territorial Revival styles are today often interchangeably known as the
Santa Fe style. Indeed, Santa Fe codified this as the official architectural style of the city in 1957,
providing a brand identity for the New Mexico city, although most of the new construction is commonly
known among locals as ‘faux-dobe’ since it is essentially a rounded stucco veneer over concrete block or
wood frame construction.
12
13
14
15
McAlester, Field Guide. 435.
Wilson, Chris. Facing Southwest: The Life and Houses of John Gaw Meem. 128
Wilson. Facing Southwest, 21-22.
Wilson, Facing Southwest, 19.
6
Design Examples
Styles of Adobe Construction
7
Portal
Hooks on beams can
be used for plants or
chimes
Sturdy wooden furniture enhances
the sense of the portal as a room
Attractive tin lanterns add
visual warmth in the evening
I recommend squared, dark stained
viga supports with chamfered edges
and simple raised details at the capital
of the column.
A traditional fojon corner fireplace should
be used in the portal to add warmth in evenings year-round. It can be built to blend
in to the walls of the house.
8
Pilaster & Wall Cap
Brick wall cap in one of John Gaw
Meem’s original drawings
A three or four course brick cap on
walls, columns and pilasters incorporating a dentil pattern is in keeping
with the Territorial Style.
9
Guardrails & Balusters
In the Territorial Style, wood balusters and guardrails are usually more
suitable than wrought iron. However,
wrought iron might be used for the
guardrails of the Starling residence
to be in sync with the wrought iron
railings specified on the second floor
windows above the bedrooms.
10
Arbor (Ramada)
The ramada was traditionally a temporary structure built of rough lumber to shelter cattle. Carved corbels
and functional joinery are used to
increase the strength of the structure
by distributing the load of the beam
over a greater area.
Some Territorial Style homes used
very ornate painted arbors, but
I don’t think this is wise for the
Starling residence because of the
increased maintenance needed for
the painted surfaces and my recommendation to use stained wood for
the vigas and guardrails.
11
Flooring
Patterned brick or flagstone could be
used for the portal and patio. I recommend either the brick pattern to the
left or the sandstone flagstone below.
Stamped, colored concrete could also
be an alternatve to flagstone.
12
Stairs
Here are two options for the stairs. The
example above uses blue tiles in the risers
to provide a highlight and brighten the
experience. The stairs to the left use two
courses of rough cobbles as the riser.
Both stairs use slabs of sandstone as the
tread, which I reccomend for traction and
durability.
13
Furniture, Planters & Pottery
Terra cotta planters should be used to hold
perennial and annual flowers and herbs in the
garden. Visual interest can be added to bare
walls by using interesting planters like this one.
Raised concrete bases on
portal columns may be
useful in addressing the
grade change between
the bedrooms and the
portal, as well as providing water protection to
the bases of the wood
columns.
I recommend using cast
aluminum furniture with
all-weather pillows for
the portal and the area
around the ramada. Cast
aluminum provides lighet
weight and durability
14
Accent Colors
Vivid colors should be used as highlights in the patio since they
will not tend to fade under the harsh Colorado sunshine. Evergreens should also be used to provide some vegetative color during winter months.
15
Water Features
Originally found in Islamic gardens and courtyards, the
Spanish Colonial style often incorporated a well or fountain in the patio to add interest, color, sound and texture.
Fountains also serve to create a cooling microclimate and
attract birds to the garden.
The two images above show spring and summer views of
a fountain in a home designed by John Gaw Meem in the
1930’s. Note the effect of vegetation growth on the feel
of the place, as well as the use of bright colored tiles to
add interest to the space.
Fountains can be very attractive in courtyard settings, but
they do require ongoing cleaning and maintenance and
may develop undesirable patinas like the mineral deposits visible in the image at top right.
16
Territorial Style References
Bix, Cynthia. New Mexico: The Spirit of America State by State. New York, Harry N. Abrams,
Inc. 1998.
– Small guide book to the arts and history of New Mexico.
Nucomb, Duane G. The Owner-Build Adobe House. New York, Charles Scribner’s Sons. 1980.
– Shows construction techniques for building your own adobe house, including an outdoor oven
or horno.
Mather, Christine. Santa Fe Houses. New York, Clarkson Potter/Publishers. 2002.
– Primarily covers the interior design and décor of Santa Fe houses.
McAlester, Virginia and Lee. A Field Guide To American Houses. New York, Alfred A. Knopff,
Inc. 1990.
– Excellent resource for understanding historical precedents and details of many styles of American houses.
Reeve, Agnesa. The Small Adobe House. Layton, Utah, Gibbs Smith. 2001.
– Brief history and contemporary examples of adobe architecture in the United States, primarily
in the Southwest.
Theroux, Paul. “Architectural Digest Visits Senator and Mrs. John McCain – Southwestern Style
for their Phoenix Family Home”. Architectural Digest,. New York, Conde Nast Publications. Vol
62, No.7, July 2005
– Interior and exterior photos and descriptions of the McCain family’s Pueblo Revival style
home.
Stedman, Myrtle and Wilfred. Adobe Architecture. Santa Fe, Sunstone Press. 1978.
– Appears to be a reprint of a collection of Territorial Revival house plans from the 1930’s
and’40’s with annotation and sketches of house details.
Wilson, Chris. Facing Southwest: The Life & Houses of John Gaw Meem. New York, W. W.
Norton & Company. 2001.
– Excellent resource for photos and design ideas about the preeminent designer of Santa Fe’s
Territorial Revival and Pueblo Revival style houses. Well written and beautifully put together.
17