The California Casa

This sumptuous and comprehensive volume embraces one of the most beloved house forms, the Spanish Colonial Revival, presenting at once a lavish portrait of the style as well as the definitive statement on the subject through more than three hundred color photographs. 

The Spanish style in architecture encompasses facets from a vast array of traditions, many of which are in evidence in these extraordinary houses. Elements include thickset, whitewashed stucco walls, deeply recessed doors, lushly planted courtyard gardens, intricate and colorful tile work, telescoping towers inset with Juliet balconies, elaborately traced wrought-iron window grilles, and richly appointed interiors heightened by drama in light and shadow cast by moody pendant lamps and low-burning fires. The houses featured are the very best of the type, both famous and little-known, and showcase the work of architects such as George Washington Smith, Bertram Goodhue, Wallace Neff, and Paul Williams, from the early twentieth century, to the work of contemporary practitioners, including Marc Appleton, Michael Burch Architects, and others. These homes are a fantasy for living made real in the Southern California sun."In The California Casa, Douglas Woods has authored a love letter of sorts to Spanish Colonial Revival. The book showcases several exceptional homes through more than 300 photographs, revealing the elements unique to the beloved architectural form." ~The Daily News

"This book bestows upon its audience the privilege of feeling like welcomed guests inside these beautiful abodes." ~Sonoma Index-Tribune
Douglas Woods, a Los Angeles native, is the author of Classic Homes of Los Angeles. Melba Levick is a widely published and exhibited photographer whose work for Rizzoli appeared most recently in Classic Homes of Los Angeles. Brian Tichenor, a principal at Tichenor & Thorp Architects, is an architect and historian based in Beverly Hills.