In the eighth and ninth centuries, Moorish armies from North Africa crossed the Mediterranean Sea and conquered the Iberian Peninsula in Spain. The Moors where Islamic and introduced wrought iron work, the art of decorating with tiles, ornamental plasterwork (adobe), and fortified palaces and compounds. It was because of the Spaniards inability to conquer the fortified palaces that the Moors ruled Spain for so long. In 1492, the Spaniards finally overthrew the Moors and banished them from Spain. Because of the Moor’s influence, the Spanish also built fortified missions in the Americas to rule the territory conquered. Most of these missions were located from California to Texas down into Mexico and were built with the help of the Indians. They had high walls, heavy doors, and few windows and were simple and unsophisticated. The buildings and furniture, was bulky and heavy with some ornate carving that resembled the Moorish culture.

As the West grew and became more popular, the Spanish style, even though very prevalent in the West, was influenced by other styles like those from the Orient and the East. The Victorian style was very popular in colonial America and its influence became stronger in the Southwest with the rush to find gold in California. But the Mission style started to revive in the 1880’s. This revival came about by American writers publishing western stories and capturing the attention of the American audience. One such writer was Helen Hunt Jackson who admired the beauty of the Southwest and its architecture, landscape and history. After she visited the Southwest, she was inspired to write Ramona, which was a nation-wide hit. Another man, who became a writer for Los Angeles Times, was assigned to walk across the whole United States and keep a journal of his experiences. When he reached the Southwest and saw the missions, he was so impressed with the need to preserve them that he spent the majority of his life seeking to do so.

In the early 1900’s the Spanish Colonial Revival took place and the Spanish style became even more popular. By this time the Victorian style was fading out while the Mission style began to rise in popularity. The Mission style started to lean more towards simplicity—removing the Moorish ornament and having a mission form with smooth surfaces.

The Craftsman movement, popular in England, impacted the Mission style at this time. It’s focus was craftsmanship, high quality natural materials and simple design that reflected nature in its colors, patterns, and texture. These two styles become so much like each other that their names, Mission and Craftsman, could be used interchangeably. Both styles mixed and borrowed ideas from the other. They began to blend to form the style we know today as being the Mission style. The Mission style today reflects the Moorish, Spanish, Spanish Colonial, Arts and Crafts, Native American, Japanese, and Shaker influences of the past.

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