Mediterranean Home Architecture

Mediterranean Home Architecture gained global attention between 1918 and 1940. Builders added unique details unfamiliar to the American population. This architecture style imitates trends from historic Mediterranean regions like Spain, Italy, and France. Builders often use red tiles on low-pitched roofs. Mediterranean house plans feature open layouts, large exterior windows, and stucco or brick siding. Architects design these homes to suit warm climates, making them highly popular in such regions.

Mediterranean homes emphasize open flow, so furniture features short, supple pieces, functional or formal. Craftsmen turn legs and feet ornately. They add heavy hardware, often polished. Designers texture walls as a key style element. Fireplace mantels and table countertops often have bull nose edges. North American Mediterranean homes showcase Spanish haciendas, red roof tiles, textured surfaces, arches, and plaster walls.

North American Mediterranean homes feature Spanish New World haciendas, red roof tiles, textured surfaces, arches, and plaster walls.

Key elements:

The typical Spanish roof tiles resembled half pipes. Clay was molded likewise so as to facilitate easy water shedding. This in turn was inspired by Spanish and Mexican missions, which were made out of clay pots and bricks. The tiles were finished to be fireproof. The resulting air pockets between the tiles after laying resulted in keeping the air cool inside the structure.
A stucco wall is a defining feature in Mediterranean structures. It protects the exterior surfaces from the strong direct sun, consistent downpours and spiking temperatures, which are quite common in Mediterranean climate.
Arches are repeated at many points in this style. This component was first noted in Roman architectural style. It basically self-supports itself as well as mounting elements, therefore resulting in a lighter weight building with sturdier walls.
Houses generally display ornamental details ranging from huge, heavy wooden doors with intricate wooden carvings as ornamentation, to the use of multicolored tiles(usually porcelain) at the risers of staircases.