The Spanish Colonial Revival home
Spanish Colonial Revival is an expression of the architecture brought with the Spanish when they explored the Americas. In 1915 the Panama-California Exposition in San Diego featured several exhibit halls built in this style, which sparked its popularity. Originally found in Florida and California, it quickly spread around the United States.
Essential design elements
Spanish Colonial Revival homes typically feature light-colored stucco exterior walls and chimney finishes, with low-pitched red Mission or Spanish tile roofs with little or no overhanging eaves. They include asymmetrical massing and facades with one or more arched entrance doors or principal windows, and wrought iron grillwork for windows, doors and balconies.
Quintessential doors
Main entrance doors in Spanish Colonial Revival style homes usually feature heavy plank doors, often with arches, heavy iron hinges and hardware. Balconies and terraces often use narrow, paired French doors.
Quintessential windows
Although a variety of window types can be found in Spanish Colonial Revival homes, the most common is the French casement window. The individual casement cash is typically tall and narrow, and often divided into horizontal panes, which is unusual for a traditional architectural style.
Style options
Colors & finishes
When the Spanish Colonial Revival style first became popular in the Southwest and Florida, dark brown was the most common color for this style's windows. In other areas of the country, a variety of other colors were also used, and are now common throughout all parts of the country.
The window frame, sash and trim is usually one color and is intended to contrast with the very light color of the adjacent exterior stucco or interior plaster.
The window frame, sash and trim is usually one color and is intended to contrast with the very light color of the adjacent exterior stucco or interior plaster.
Exterior color palette
Cocoa Bean
Colony White
Flagstone
Mallard Green
Sage
Country Blue
Cinnamon Toast
Interior wood species
Oak
Pine
Mixed Grain Douglas Fir
Vertical Grain Douglas Fir
Interior stain colors
Espresso
Cinnamon
Mocha
Russet
Hardware style
Window hardware is typically iron and is almost always black or a very dark color. The hardware usually has an unadorned appearance.
French casement window hardware
Newbury® Door Hardware
Newbury® hardware features clean lines and suggests the practicality for which the American Farmhouse style is known.
Hardware finishes
Black
Oil Rubbed Bronze
Grille patterns
Most French casement window sash are narrow and use grilles that create horizontal panes that extend the full width of the sash. Occasionally, however, fewer grilles are used to create pane shapes that are more square and less horizontal.
If the sash is wide, vertical grilles are sometimes added to the horizontal grilles to create two columns of panes in the sash. In these cases, the grilles usually create panes with a vertical orientation.
If the sash is wide, vertical grilles are sometimes added to the horizontal grilles to create two columns of panes in the sash. In these cases, the grilles usually create panes with a vertical orientation.
Horizontal
Traditional
More on this home style
Pattern books from the Andersen Style Library present quintessential details of the most popular American architectural styles, with an emphasis on window and door design. The result of years of research, they exist to make it easier to create homes with architectural authenticity.