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There are a number of famous architects that shared in the building of the United States’ rich architectural history. People are continually fascinated by the diversity of US architecture for its great variety, history, and richness. There are plenty of architects that have contributed to the multiplicity of styles and materials, and each different style and material seems to tell a different tale of where the US has been and where it’s going. Part of this tale told by the buildings of the US simultaneously tells the tale of the ages. Its trials and tribulations, decades of ups and downs are told with every brick and stone of the US, and when you take a trip down some famous city streets, like St. Louis, you too can experience this history first-hand. It’s important to never lose sight of the men and woman that created this history, and their own personal stories of prosperity and growth. George Washington Smith provides a great example of a US architect with an interesting life story that all at once merges with the history of an extraordinary style of architecture. George Washington Smith was born in Pennsylvania in 1876 on George Washington’s birthday. He was the son of a famous Pennsylvania engineer, and studied painting at the Pennsylvania academy of Fine Arts. He later made his way to Harvard University where he studied in architecture, but was unable to graduate due to his family’s financial difficulties. He was then employed as a draftsman in a Philly architectural firm, and soon became unhappy with the lifestyle. Smith then went into bond trading and experienced an increased financial success. Due to his newfound financial success, Smith quit his work in 1911 and fully devoted himself to painting and art. He moved to Europe with his new wife Mary Catherine Greenough and studied his favorite artists Paul Cezanne and Paul Gauguin. Smith traveled all throughout Europe, painting landscapes and studying in Rome at the Julian Academy and also in Paris. After three fruitful years in Europe, Smith returned to the US at the beginning of World War I. After his paintings received much recognition in New York, Smith moved to California and designed and built his own home in Montecito, modeled after the Spanish farmhouses he so admired in Andalusia. The house he built, known as Casa Dracaena was beautifully successful, and images of the property were used as adds to sell certain kinds of tile and cement for other building projects. His neighbors started to want to live in similar buildings, and Smith became a full time architect to fulfill the demand. He became one of the most famous architects in the United States. Smith is credited as the father of the Spanish Colonial Revival Style. His original Montecito home, as well as "Casa Del Greco", his second self-designed residences next door, built in 1920, are still extant today as family residences. The Spanish style is always in high demand in the United States, as seen across the nation in other forms of Spanish style, like the Spanish mission style. A great example is the Spanish Mission Deco style that was a style-fusion that happened in the 1920’s. T.P. Barnett’s Spanish Deco building in St. Louis on the famous Washington Ave. is a great example of that.
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Mark Bradley is a real estate historian and investor. Specializing in renovating historic architecture. For a 15 page historic report on Mark’s Spanish Mission Building at 3207 Washington Ave St Louis Mo 63103 go to www.3207washington.com.
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