NONFICTION - May 9, 1993

ESTANCIAS: The Great Houses and Ranches of Argentina by Maria Saenz Quesada, photographs by Xavier A. Verstraeten (Abbeville: $65; 200 pp.) With style books published ad infinitum chronicling the interior design and architecture styles of Western Europe, “Estancias” is confirmation that, yes, Virginia, there are lands other than Great Britain and France rich in domestic beauty. This should particularly appeal to Angelenos, for the Spanish colonial style of Argentina’s rural architecture is similar to the vernacular architecture of Los Angeles.

The country’s estancias, or country estates, are the foundation of the country’s agricultural economy--producing meat and grain--and there is nothing shabby about the way in which wealthy ranchers lived. Originally Spanish land grants, today estancias represent land holdings of more than about 1,000 acres, each parcel studded with a house filled with ancestral portraits, heavy wood colonial furnishings and tile-lined kitchens filled with gleaming copper utensils. Edged with colonnaded loggias and patios arranged with wickerwork furniture, the great house overlooks stately barns and outbuildings filled with riding gear and modern gauchos at work.

As with most books of the genre, this one is a far better look than read, perhaps partially because something literally got lost in the translation of author Maria Saenz Quesada’s Encyclopaedia Britannica text. (“Estancias” was originally printed in Spanish.) Xavier A. Verstraeten’s thrilling photographs do more than justice to 24 of Argentina’s largest estancias, unveiling the beauty of both the country’s terrain--the dreamy and vast pampas--and its idiosyncratic architecture and interiors, both rustic and formal at the same time.

For house lovers, it’s disappointing that Quesada devotes most of her text to histories of each estancia and estanciero (estate owner) rather than to the evolution and intricacies of design. However, don’t overlook captions. They reveal nuggets, such as the lowdown on the rosy shade of pink typically found on a house’s exterior. The hue was originally made from mixing bull’s blood with whitewash.