AROUND HOME : The Missions of California
BY STANLEY YOUNG
PHOTOGRAPHY BY MELBA LEVICK (Chronicle Books; 1988)
THE MOST ENDURING and pervasive architectural tradition of California, particularly Southern California, is the Hispanic, its roots having started about 200 years ago in the mission churches that marked the region’s settlement. Fashioned by untrained priests and built by unskilled laborers, the missions combine the classical and churrigueresque- styled ecclesiastical designs of an idealized Mexican and Spanish motherland, albeit in available materials. Capturing the idealized spirit of the 21 missions built between 1770 and 1850 is this attractively designed guide, with light histories of each by Stanley Young, and resplendent, studied color photographs by Melba Levick. There also is a brief foreword, by architectural historian Sally B. Woodbridge, that touches upon the romantic image and influence of the missions. ($14.95)
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