Architecture of the California missions

The architecture of the California missions was influenced by several factors, those being the limitations in the construction materials that were on hand, an overall lack of skilled labor, and a desire on the part of the founding priests to emulate notable structures in their Spanish homeland.

Although the missions were considered temporary ventures by the Spanish hierarchy, the development of an individual settlement was not simply a matter of "priestly whim."

The founding of a mission followed longstanding rules and procedures; the paperwork involved required months, sometimes years of correspondence, and demanded the attention of virtually every level of the bureaucracy.

[1] Once empowered to erect a mission in a given area, the men assigned to it chose a specific site that featured a good water supply, plenty of wood for fires and building material, and ample fields for grazing herds and raising crops.

The padres blessed the site, and with the aid of their military escort fashioned temporary shelters out of tree limbs or driven stakes, roofed with thatch or reeds.

The majority of mission sanctuaries were oriented on a roughly east–west axis to take the best advantage of the sun's position for interior illumination; the exact alignment depended on the geographic features of the particular site.

The basic, common elements found in all of the Alta California missions can be summarized as follows:[5] The Alta California missions as a whole do not incorporate the same variety or elaborateness of detail in their design exhibited in the structures erected by Spanish settlers in Arizona, Texas, and Mexico during the same T.V period;[clarification needed] nevertheless, they "...stand as concrete reminders of Spanish occupation and admirable examples of buildings conceived in the style and manner appropriate to the country in which they were built.

"[6] Some fanciful accounts regarding the construction of the missions claimed that tunnels were incorporated into garden the design, to be used as a means of emergency egress in the event of attack; however, no historical evidence (written or physical) has ever been uncovered to support these wild assertions.

[8] Adobes (mud bricks) were made from a combination of earth and water, with chaff, straw, or manure added to bind the mixture together.

A convenient, level spot was chosen near the intended building site and close to a suitable water supply (usually a spring or creek).

The ground was dug up and soaked with water, whereupon bare-legged workers would stomp the wet earth and binders into a homogeneous consistency fit for carrying to, and placing in, the brick molds.

[10] Facilities for milling lumber were almost non-existent: workers used stone axes and crude saws to shape the wood, and often used logs which only had their bark stripped from them.

Indians used wooden carrettas, drawn by oxen, to haul timber from as much as forty miles away (as was the case at Mission San Miguel Arcángel).

According to the accounts of Father Estévan Tapís of Mission Santa Barbara, some thirty-two Native American males were required to make 500 tiles each day, while the women carried sand and straw to the pits.

[17] Aside from their obvious advantage over straw roofs in terms of fire retardance, the impermeable surface also protected the adobe walls below from the damaging effects of rain.

There is some evidence to indicate that the initial structures at some of the outposts were produced by setting wooden posts close together and filling the interstitial spaces with clay.

[21] The Spaniards had various types of rudimentary hoists and cranes at their disposal for lifting materials to the men working on top of a structure.

At some of the missions the padres were able to hire professional stonemasons to assist them in their endeavors; in 1797, for example, master mason Isidoro Aguílar was brought in from Culiacán, Mexico to supervise the building of a stone church at San Juan Capistrano.

Doors were made of wood cut into planks at the carpintería, and most often bore the Spanish "River of Life" pattern or other carved or painted designs.

Carpenters used a ripsaw (or "pitsaw") to saw logs into thin boards, which were held together by ornate nails forged in the mission's blacksmith shop.

[30] In addition to the domes, vaults, and arches, and the Roman building methods used to create them, the missions inherited several architectural features from mother Spain.

The overhang created by the arcade had a dual function: it provided a comfortable, shady place to sit after a hard-day's work, and (more importantly) it kept rainfall away from the adobe walls.

The design of chapels overall followed that of Christian churches in Europe, but tended to be comparatively long and narrow due to the size of lumber available along the California coast.

These elements are frequently included in the exterior finish of modern buildings in California and the Southwest, and are commonly referred to as Mission Revival Style architecture.

The inclusion of these features in whole or part into otherwise ordinary commercial buildings has been met with varying levels of acceptance, and is regarded among some critics as "mission impossible", a phenomenon that is seen most brashly in the fast food emporiums of Taco Bell.

When well-done, a mission style building will convey an impression of simplicity, permanence, and comfort, with coolness in the heat of the day and warmth in the cold of night (due to a phenomenon known as the thermal flywheel effect).

Generous use of materials leads to heavy and solid furnishings, giving an impression of "groundedness", through simplicity, functionality and stability.