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were formed of arches of fanciful shapes resting on twisted columns while the walls were covered with minute carving or exquisite workmanship but wholly irrational design. San Gregorio at Valladolid is an example of this period. The requirements of the luxurious and triumphant period that followed the discovery of the new world, but due to the importation and employment of Dutch and Flemish artists, the Renaissance style was introduced during this prosperous period. The importation of precious metals from the new world gave the arts of jewelry and silversmithing a new impulse which dominated all the other arts. The buildings took on an over ornate appearance, due to the minute, detailed and sumptuous decoration and hence it is usually referred to as Plateresque (i. e., from platero -silversmith). The classic elements of Italy imported via the low countries were mixed indiscriminately with Gothic-Moresque details, and the style is characterized by surface decoration covering broad areas, elaboration of openings, decorative pilasters, broken pediments and entablatures. The early Renaissance, or Plateresque, lasted from 1500 to 1556, and was followed by a reaction led by Herrera, who proposed to return to classic purity. How well Herrera succeeded may be judged by his Escurial. This reaction lasted until 1650, when it was followed by that most outlandish of all the Renaissance styles, the Churrigueresque. This style admittedly disregarded all architectural canons and plunged into a style. of unrestrained fancy and debased taste. It prevailed until the coming of the Italian designers in the latter half of the 18th century, resulted in a second step toward classical purity and correctness.

Such is the ancestry of the style of architecture that was introduced into America with the coming of the Spaniards into Mexico. Spain possesses no pure style such as are encountered in other countries. Her architecture like her people is cosmopolitan. Nevertheless there are certain claims which Spanish architecture has upon the attention of the world and there is a certain charm to it which speaks, after all, of the land where it developed. In so far it is national and hence has many admirers.

When the Spaniards came into Mexico they began to build in the fashion of their native home. Prescott relates that the pagan city of Mexico was destroyed and that a new city was built upon its site. The Spaniards appropriated little if any of the ancient Mexican architecture. Professor Hamlin of Columbia says, "Some extreme examples of this style (i. e., Churrigueresque) are to be found in the Spanish-American churches of the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries as at Chihuahua and many other cities in Mexico, at Tucson (Arizona) and other places. The least offensive feature of the churches of this period were the towers, usually in pairs at the west end, some of them showing excellent proportions in spite

of their abominable details." Thus we have an estimate of the Spanish ecclesiastical work of the time. The churches of Mexico were designed as nearly in imitation of Spanish churches as their designers could make them. The attempt ended often in a horrid hodge-podge of Rococco ornamentation. Among the most satisfactory of the Mexican examples is the Cathedral in the City of Mexico.

The Texan and Arizona churches being in lands more or less accessible from Mexico were built largely in the same fashion. In them we find the same attempt at magnificence and grandeur, the same over-decorated and the same bare walls. They have a certain oriental atmosphere due to the use of domes, and a visit to San Xavier del Bac is like a trip into some enchanted land of the Moslems, so oriental is the architecture. Certain influences of the Gothic are to be noted in the pointed arches of San Jose Mission near San Antonio, Texas. The Texan and Arizonan churches are much more elaborate both in outline and decoration than any of the California churches. Therein, perhaps, lies the chief charm of the Franciscan edifices of California simplicity and straightforward

ness.

California was comparatively inaccessible and it is fortunate that it was so, else we might have had a poorer architecture in California. Of course, the style is Spanish in general feeling, but there is also that in it which makes it truly and purely a product of this land, of this climate.

The arched corridors or arcades are not, as often found in Europe, a series of arches supported upon columns but are formed of arches supported on square piers. No exception to this rule is to be found. in California. The feature is Romantic, round, rythymic and suggests the arches of the Roman aqueducts found in Spain to this day. In the ruined state without roofs as they are found at San Juan Capistrano, the Roman aqueducts are immediately recalled to the beholder. Some writers say that elliptical arches were used. They were not used deliberately. With poor tools and poor workmen the pure circular curve one expects developed into an approximate ellipse, especially when an arch span was greater than others in the series.

The curved pedimented gables are a distinct and unique feature of the style. Similar details are found in Texas and Arizona, but the feature has no exact precedent in Spain. Curved gable ends are found in the German and Flemish cities, so that perhaps the germ of this detail came to Mexico through Spain from Germany or the low countries. Out of it was developed a feature that was absolutely different from any of its precedents. The curved pediment is beautiful in its simplicity and serves to supply a large part of our

interest in the mission style. It was more used in California than elsewhere in America.

The terraced bell tower is a feature found in many of the churches found in the United States, but the variety used in California is peculiar to California and resembles in no sense the towers used in the states to the east of us. The three examples at Santa Barbara, San Luis Rey and San Buena Ventura are distinctly Roman in feeling. This is not the case with a tower such as is found at Carmel, which by virtue of its egg-shaped dome has a peculiar oriental flavor.

The pierced campaniles are original and unique in design, but not in idea. Other examples of a similar nature or usage are to be found in Mexico and Texas. The belfry at Capistrano built after the great church was demolished by the earthquake of 1812 serves the double purpose of a wall and a belfry and is unique in this respect. The free standing campanile at Pala chapel is perhaps the only example of that usage in the world. The variety at San Gabriel is well known to every Californian and is a beautiful and interesting detail.

The patio is an old Spanish feature and is not original at all as a feature of mission architecture. It is found as well in the private dwellings in most of the Mediterranean countries and dates back to the earliest times in warm countries. Its use in California nevertheless has been varied and unique in many respects. At Capistrano and San Luis Rey the patio is one of the most interesting parts. At Capistrano the patio has no two sides of the same length. This will be noted from the plan. It was probably due to the fact that the padre in charge stepped off the distances between the piers and places sixteen arches on a side regardless of span.. It would seem that the builders came out a little short at the southeast corner, as one of the spans there is strikingly short. The sides of the patio at Capistrano approximate 200 feet each. There are three openings into the patio, one on the north one on the south called the "Zaguan,” meaning vestibule and the gate near the southwest corner. When the mission was at its height the patio presented, no doubt, an appearance ever of vari-colored activity. As will be noted, the patio was surrounded on all sides by the buildings themselves, so that in times of danger all hands might be gathered into the patio and the guard mustered for action. That the layout was admirably adapted to the needs of such a community I think all will agree. The only objection, it would seem, was that the church at Capistrano was detached from the patio, but as this same scheme was employed at San Luis Rey, it would seem that the padres considered it necessary to have the worshipping place a little way removed from the busy centre of the work-a-day life.

The broad, undecorated wall faces are a feature of practically all of the missions north of Mexico and of the churches in Mexico, except the west front and the space around the openings. This idea has its precedent in the Moorish practice of lavishing the decoration upon the interior and leaving the exterior walls blank and bare. In this respect the Saracenic of Spain differs from the Saracenic of Persia, Egypt, Turkey or India.

The wide spreading eaves are a feature of the California style and come about as a direct effect of the climate. The intense sunshine requires a wide spreading eave. This feature is not found in Texas or Mexico. The low sloping roofs are likewise not a feature of the Mexican, Texan or Arizonan and may be attributed likewise to the climate of California. They are a feature of the domestic architecture in Spain, however.

MEXICAN LAND GRANTS IN CALIFORNIA

BY CHARLES C. BAKER.

The tenth article of the famous treaty of Guadalupe Hidalgo, as concluded February 2, 1848, concerned the status of the titles to private land grants in the territories acquired by the United States from Mexico. It was, however, stricken out on the passage of the treaty by the United States Senate. In the protocol signed at Queretaro on May 26, 1848, by the commissioners of the United States who came "with full powers from their Government to make to the Mexican Republic suitable explanations in regard to the amendments which the Senate and Government of the said United States have made in the treaty of peace," was included this explanation: "The American Government by suppressing the Xth article of the treaty of Guadalupe did not in any way intend to annul the grants of lands made by Mexico in the ceded territories. ***. Conformably to the law of the United States, legitimate titles to every description of property, personal and real, existing in the ceded territories are those which were legitimate titles under the Mexican law in California * * * up to the 13th of May, 1846 ** From a study of the United States patents covering the old grants, it may be learned how our government kept its promises of confirmation.

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Of the patents recorded in Los Angeles County, 79 entries are of those issued by the United States confirming titles to private grants. I use the word entries advisedly, as there were but 78 instruments issued, one being twice recorded. The first of these patents, and the first patent recorded in this county, was for the Potrero Grande, recorded April 3, 1860. On December 7, 1897, the last patent covering a Los Angeles County land grant was recorded, it being for the Las Virgenes. Some of the grantees waited long to have their patents recorded. The patent for the Simi was twenty-four and a half years old when recorded, that for the Cañon de Santa Ana twenty-four years old, for the Potrero de Felipe Lugo eighteen years old, and for the Las Virgenes fourteen years old. Many were only recorded when a portion of the old grant was sold, the purchaser requiring it.

The oldest patent is that for the Rancho San Pedro, dated December 18, 1858, and signed by President Buchanan; the latest is for the Santiago de Santa Ana, dated December 21, 1883, and signed

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