Spanish Style Homes: Architecture and Interior Design Guide
Spanish style living room at the Hedgerow Montecito Country House by Burnham Design. Image by Ye Rin Mok.
There's something magnetic about Spanish style homes. Maybe it's the way terracotta roof tiles glow in afternoon light, or how an arched doorway frames a glimpse of an interior courtyard. Perhaps it's the contrast—thick stucco walls that feel medieval paired with French doors that invite California sunshine.
These houses have captivated American homeowners for over a century, and their appeal shows no signs of fading. From the grand estates of Hancock Park to thoughtfully restored bungalows in San Antonio, Spanish style homes represent a particular kind of romance: theatrical but livable, rooted in history but utterly suited to contemporary life.
If you're drawn to Spanish style homes—whether you're buying one, restoring one, or simply want to understand what makes them work—this guide will walk you through everything that defines the style, from the architectural bones to the objects that complete these spaces.
What Defines Spanish Style Homes?
Spanish style homes aren't a single architectural style but rather an American interpretation of Spanish and Mediterranean influences, filtered through early-20th-century sensibilities. The most influential interpretation was Spanish Revival architecture, which emerged in the 1910s-1930s when architects in California and Florida began looking to Spain, Mexico, and the broader Mediterranean for inspiration.
These Spanish Revival homes borrowed from Andalusian farmhouses, Spanish Colonial missions, Moorish palaces, and Italian villas, then adapted those elements for American suburbs and sunshine.
What you get is instantly recognizable: low-pitched red tile roofs, white or cream stucco exteriors, arched openings, and interiors organized around courtyards or patios. These homes feel both grand and intimate, formal yet deeply comfortable.
Spanish style homes peaked during in popularity during the 1920s building boom, particularly after the 1915 Panama-California Exposition in San Diego where architects Bertram Goodhue and Carleton Winslow Sr. showcased Spanish Colonial Revival architecture to millions of visitors. Suddenly, Spanish style homes in the Spanish Revival manner were everywhere—the aspirational style for anyone building in warm climates.
Key characteristics include:
Exteriors: Stucco walls (usually white, cream, or earth tones), red clay tile roofs, minimal roof overhangs, decorative tile accents, wrought iron details, arched windows and doorways
Interiors: Plaster walls with visible texture, exposed wood beam ceilings (often dark-stained), terracotta or saltillo tile floors, arched doorways and niches, wrought iron fixtures and hardware
The Architecture That Makes Spanish Style Homes Distinctive
Exterior Features
Stucco and tile roofs are the foundation. Thick stucco walls weren't just aesthetic—they provided excellent insulation in hot climates, keeping interiors cool. The low-pitched tile roofs, typically in terracotta red, shed water efficiently while creating that unmistakable silhouette.
Arches appear everywhere: over front doors, around windows, framing covered porches (called "loggias"), and defining courtyard passages. These curves soften the overall form and create visual rhythm across the facade.
Courtyards and patios distinguish Spanish style homes from other period styles. Rather than placing all living space within four walls, these homes often wrap around an interior courtyard or extend to a rear patio, blurring the line between indoor and outdoor living—a concept that feels utterly contemporary today.
Wrought iron and decorative tile add layers of craft. Window grilles, balcony railings, light fixtures, and door hardware showcase ironwork that references Spanish Colonial and Moorish traditions. Decorative tiles—often hand-painted in blues, greens, and yellows—accent fountains, stair risers, and entryways.
Hedgerow Montecito Country House by Betsy Burnham Design — a Spanish Revival interior in Montecito, California, where arched plaster walls, terracotta floors, stair tiles, timber beams, and wrought iron details frame a double-height entry. Photography by Ye Rin Mok.
Interior Architecture
Step inside a Spanish style home and you immediately understand why these houses have such devoted admirers. The interiors possess a particular quality—substantial but not heavy, crafted but not fussy.
Plaster walls are the canvas. Unlike flat drywall, traditional plaster has subtle texture and depth. Hand-troweled and often slightly irregular, these matte surfaces diffuse light beautifully throughout the day. They create calm and make everything placed against them—art, furniture, ceramics—look better.
Timber beam ceilings add structure and drama. Dark wood beams against white plaster create rhythm and definition, drawing the eye upward and emphasizing the room's proportions. In larger homes, these might be substantial hand-hewn beams; in smaller houses, more modest but still effective.
Terracotta floors ground everything. Whether original 1920s tiles worn smooth by decades of foot traffic or newly installed reclaimed pavers, these earthy red-brown surfaces anchor the brightness above. They're practical (cool underfoot in summer, durable, forgiving of spills) and beautiful.
Arched openings and built-in niches create opportunities for display and flow. Doorways curve gracefully rather than meeting at hard right angles. Niches carved into plaster walls become natural spots for sculpture, ceramics, or simply a play of light and shadow.
Fireplaces serve as focal points, often framed with decorative tile or carved stone, sometimes incorporating seating niches (called "banco seating") on either side—a Moorish-influenced detail that's both beautiful and functional.
Regional Variations in Spanish Style Homes
Spanish style homes adapted to local climates, building materials, and cultural influences as the style spread across the United States.
California Spanish Colonial Revival
The most refined and influential version. Santa Barbara developed a particularly elegant strain, championed by architect George Washington Smith, who studied actual Spanish and Andalusian buildings and translated them with remarkable authenticity traveled to Spain in 1914 and modeled his designs after Andalusian farmhouses he observed there. After building his own home, Casa Dracaena, in Montecito in 1917, he helped establish the Spanish Colonial Revival style in California and is often called the "founding father" of the movement. Los Angeles embraced the style enthusiastically during the 1920s boom—today, neighborhoods like Hancock Park, Los Feliz, and the Hollywood Hills are filled with Spanish style estates and bungalows.
California examples tend toward: lighter, more Mediterranean palettes; generous use of decorative tile; integration of courtyards and outdoor rooms; larger proportions (especially in estate homes).
Florida Mediterranean Spanish
Florida's version absorbed more Italian and Mediterranean influences alongside Spanish elements. Coral Gables, Palm Beach, and Miami showcase architect Addison Mizner's vision—often more ornate, with Venetian Gothic touches influences from Venice and the Mediterranean, elaborate ironwork, and tropical landscaping integrated into the architecture.
Florida examples feature: more decorative elements; adaptation to humidity (covered loggias, cross-ventilation); lighter color palettes; integration of tropical gardens.
Southwest and Texas Variations
In Arizona, New Mexico, and Texas, Spanish style homes blended with local Pueblo and Territorial traditions. The result: slightly more rustic interpretations, often with thicker walls, smaller windows, and more restrained decoration. San Antonio's Monte Vista neighborhood preserves excellent examples.
Southwest examples include: earthier color palettes; integration of local materials; simpler, more geometric forms; connection to Spanish Colonial mission architecture.
A 1927 Spanish style home on Las Palmas in Hancock Park, Los Angeles — once the private residence of architect William Hefner. Spanish Revival interior design by Noel Pittman, home represented by Jenna Cooper with vintage Fajalauza ceramic lebrillos from Granada, Spain above the fireplace.
Interior Design Principles for Spanish Style Homes
Understanding the architecture is the foundation. Styling these homes authentically requires respecting what the architecture offers while adding layers that bring warmth and personality.
The Spanish Revival Palette
The color story is deceptively simple: white or cream plaster walls, terracotta floors, dark wood beams, black wrought iron—and then strategic accents in cobalt blue, emerald green, ochre yellow, and warm terracotta.
This restrained foundation lets architectural details shine while allowing carefully chosen objects to become focal points. The palette references the Spanish landscape: whitewashed villages, red clay earth, deep Mediterranean blues, the green-gray of olive groves.
Materials That Belong
Spanish style home interiors work because they layer honest, handmade materials:
Wood: Carved doors, turned balusters, beamed ceilings—preferably with visible grain and age
Iron: Hardware, light fixtures, grilles—hand-forged or appearing hand-forged
Tile: Decorative accents on stair risers, fireplace surrounds, fountains
Leather: Upholstery, especially for dining chairs or library seating
Natural textiles: Linen, wool, cotton—nothing synthetic or overly slick
The Role of Decorative Objects
Here's what many people miss: Spanish style homes create a nearly perfect backdrop for objects, but they demand the right objects. The rooms have enough character that you don't need to fill every surface, but they also feel incomplete without pieces that speak the same aesthetic language.
This is where ceramics become essential.
Spanish ceramics—from the cobalt and emerald glazes of Granada to the sculptural lamps of Valencia—aren't just decoration in these interiors. They're the historical continuation of the architectural tradition. The same Moorish influences that shaped those arches and tile patterns also shaped Spanish pottery. The same craft values that motivated hand-troweled plaster also produced hand-painted majolica.
When you place authentic Spanish ceramics in a Spanish style home, you're not imposing unrelated objects into the space. You're completing a conversation the architect began.
Why Spanish Style Homes Remain Timeless
A century after their peak, Spanish style homes continue to command premium prices and devoted followings. Why?
They're built to last. Thick walls, tile roofs, plaster interiors, quality materials—these houses age gracefully, often improving with patina.
They suit contemporary living. Open floor plans, indoor-outdoor flow, emphasis on natural light—the features that make Spanish style homes work today are the same ones that made them appealing in 1925.
They offer romance without pretension. Unlike some period styles that feel museum-like, Spanish style home interiors invite you to actually live in them. They're theatrical enough to feel special, but comfortable enough for daily life.
They're architecturally distinctive. In an era of builder-grade sameness, these homes have genuine character—something money can't easily replicate in new construction.
Spanish style villa home in Hancock Park, Los Angeles, with a living room that reflects the hallmarks of Spanish Revival interiors — timber beam ceilings, a white plaster fireplace with green tile, and vintage Fajalauza ceramic lebrillos from Granada, Spain. Design by Noel Pittman.
Completing Your Spanish Revival Interior
If you own a Spanish style home—or dream of owning one—the question becomes: how do you honor the architecture while making it yours?
The answer isn't reproduction furniture or filling rooms with generic "Spanish-style" accessories bought in bulk. It's about understanding what these spaces ask for and responding thoughtfully.
Spanish style home interiors succeed through:
Quality over quantity - A few excellent pieces rather than many mediocre ones
Authentic materials - Handmade objects that share the architecture's craft values
Appropriate scale - Pieces substantial enough to hold their own against high ceilings and generous proportions
Historical continuity - Objects that reference the same cultural traditions that inspired the architecture
This is precisely why Spanish ceramics work so powerfully in these interiors. They check every box: handmade, historically appropriate, available in the right scale, and rooted in the same aesthetic traditions.
Ready to go deeper?
Our comprehensive guide to Spanish Revival interior design explores exactly how to style these homes with authentic Spanish ceramics—from understanding regional traditions (Fajalauza, Manises, Sargadelos) to knowing where to place pieces and what to look for when buying.
→ Read the complete guide to Spanish Revival interior design with authentic ceramics
Looking for lighting that honors both history and function? Explore our collection of one-of-a-kind table lamps, handcrafted from antique Spanish and Spanish-style ceramics—each piece transformed into functional art perfect for Spanish style homes.
→ Browse handcrafted Spanish ceramic lamps
FAQ
What are Spanish style homes?
Spanish style homes is a broad term encompassing various architectural interpretations of Spanish and Mediterranean design in America. The most prominent is Spanish Revival (1915-1940s), along with Spanish Colonial Revival and Mission Revival styles. These homes share common features like stucco walls, red tile roofs, arched doorways, timber beams, and courtyards, but vary in ornamentation and details depending on the specific architectural movement and region.
What's the difference between Spanish Revival and Mediterranean style?
Spanish Revival specifically references Spanish and Spanish Colonial architecture, while Mediterranean style is broader, incorporating influences from Italy, Greece, and the French Riviera alongside Spanish elements. They overlap significantly and are often used interchangeably.
Are Spanish style homes expensive to maintain?
Generally no. Tile roofs last 50-100 years, stucco is durable and relatively easy to repair, and plaster walls age beautifully. The main considerations are preserving original details (decorative tile, ironwork, wood elements) and ensuring proper drainage to protect stucco.
Can you add Spanish style to a non-Spanish home?
Architectural elements like arches, decorative tile, and beam ceilings can be added, but the results vary. The style works best when it's structural rather than applied. Interior styling with appropriate materials, colors, and objects (especially Spanish ceramics) can evoke the aesthetic more successfully than surface-level architectural changes.
Where are the best examples of Spanish style architecture?
California (Santa Barbara, Los Angeles, San Diego, Pasadena), Florida (Coral Gables, Palm Beach, St. Augustine), Texas (San Antonio, Austin), and Arizona (Phoenix, Tucson). Santa Barbara is often considered the gold standard for refined Spanish Colonial Revival.
What should I look for when buying a Spanish style home?
Original details (tile, ironwork, plaster walls, wood beams, built-ins), evidence of quality construction, intact floor plans that emphasize indoor-outdoor flow, and whether previous renovations respected the original style. Many of these homes have been poorly remodeled—original or sensitively restored examples command premiums for good reason.
