Haciendas: Spanish Colonial Houses in the U.S. and Mexico (Hardcover)

~ (Author), Ricardo Vidargas (Photographer)

Editorial Reviews

Review

"...Linda Leigh Paul highlights 25 dwellings that uphold their cultural influences. Both old and new residences...are presented in photographs that capture the essence of the design aesthetic." ~Phoenix Home & Garden

Product Description

Haciendas features traditional and modern hacienda architecture in Mexico and southwestern United States. Sumptuous photography portrays the increasing fascination with hacienda architecture today, as evidenced by the movement to renovate classic adobe homes, the abundance of new hacienda designs, and the inspiration Spanish colonial architecture provides to homeowners, designers, and architects worldwide. The estate hacienda was traditionally the family home for Spanish nobles in the newly settled Mexican territories and included farmed land, orchards, stables, livestock, and servants. These extraordinary homes, many of which are owned by descendants of the original owners, are being meticulously preserved, or carefully transformed, into popular inns and tourist attractions. Today, the style is influencing residences throughout North America.With more than 250 photographs, Linda Leigh Paul presents the best haciendas, representing past and present designs: From large country estates to small adobe hideaways, the rugged beauty, rich color palette, and natural materials of the hacienda are brought to life in a book that is as delightful as a walk through the adobe arches and cool, tiled rooms of a Spanish colonial casa.

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Product Details

• Hardcover: 224 pages
• Publisher: Rizzoli; 1st edition (October 7, 2008)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0847830993
• ISBN-13: 978-0847830992
• Product Dimensions: 11.3 x 9.3 x 1.1 inches
• Shipping Weight: 3.4 pounds (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 3.7 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (3 customer reviews)
• Amazon.com Sales Rank: #244,240 in Books (See Bestsellers in Books)

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

7 of 8 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars HACIENDA IS WHERE THE HEART IS, October 22, 2008

By	Gail Cooke (TX, USA) - See all my reviews (TOP 10 REVIEWER)    (REAL NAME)    (COMMUNITY FORUM 04)

Hacienda by definition is a house on a large estate or ranch. True. However, it is more than that as for many it is an idea of home, evoking thoughts of comfort, relaxing spaces, a welcoming ambience, color, and beautiful decor. All of these aspects and more are found between the pages of this beautifully photographed volume.

Twenty-five haciendas in the United States and Mexico are featured, all accompanied by descriptive text. While every home is l gorgeous, each is totally different, representing the owners individuality and passion in architecture, landscaping, and interior design.

Paul opens her informative introduction with, "There must have been a multitude of gods to dream the hacienda." Indeed. And the abodes presented are undoubtedly some dreams that have come true.

We first visit the DeGolyer Hacienda which sits amid forty-four acres on the shores of White Rock Lake in Dallas, Texas. Mr. DeGolyer described his home as "A Beverly Hills architect's idea of what a Texas oilman thinks a Texas hacienda should look like." An apt description as it includes an arcaded loggia inspired by the mission at San Juan Capistrano.

An admitted lover of Mexico my eyes are captured by the Mexican haciendas shown in luminous photographs by Ricardo Vidargas. Vibrant colors pop from the pages and fire glows in the hearth of Hacienda del Angel. The home was named for the owner's collection of angels and archangels, which are found throughout the property. It is an adobe, solar, recycled-water-use house filled with wonders - a collection of pre-Columbian artifacts and figurines, the owner's great-grandmother's matrimonial bed, and heirloom oriental rugs. Behind the house are orchards, vegetable gardens, herbs, and flowers. Also on the property are a gardener's cottage, a barn, and a garage for carriages and horse trailers.

Hacienda Galena, which is near San Miguel, Mexico, is a veritable paradise of greenery embracing the courtyard entrance, and rising up into the center of the building. Cool colors, natural wood, and stone are perfect foils for the ferns and vines that enliven interior rooms.

If every man's home is his castle, I'd prefer a hacienda. "Haciendas" is not only a must-have for architects and interior designers but a wonderful book for most of us to dream on.

Highly recommended.

- Gail Cooke

14 of 18 people found the following review helpful:

1.0 out of 5 stars a different kind of book, October 16, 2008

By	B. Olson (Brookline, MA USA) - See all my reviews (REAL NAME)

If you are looking for a book that shows the beautiful, old historic haciendas of Mexico ... with all of their charm and history .. this is NOT the book for you. However if you enjoy Architectural Digest magazine, and want to know the names of owners and their interior decorators who have eliminated all the patina and original beauty .. buy it. This book portrays rich folks and has nothing to do with architecture or history. I am still waiting for someone to document the REAL haciendas of Mexico.

1 of 1 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars one of the best ever, April 17, 2009

By	j. j. molloy "oreganus" (Bloomington, Indiana) - See all my reviews

Linda Leigh Paul's new book is simply an outstanding example of providing architectural (and cultural) information through brilliant design and photography. Once again, Paul has succeeded in capturing the essential spirit of places and people through architecture.

The photographs are spectacular. Many have a marvelous and rare sense of depth--because of the photographer's seemingly intuitive sense of light and shade. These images would be moving in any setting, but here they bring out what lies beyond the mere surfaces of things.

This book should not lie flat on a coffee table--it should stand proudly upright on a library shelf.