Casa California: Spanish-Style Houses from Santa Barbara to San Clemente Hardcover – by Elizabeth Mcmillian (Author), Melba Levick (Photographer) (Rizzoli)

Twenty-one private homes built between 1922 and 1991 in South California's eclectic and individualistic Hispanic mission and Mediterranean revival styles are vividly captured in this resplendent work. The book transcends Sunset Magazine-style coverage through a learned foreword by David Gebhard (art history, Univ. of California, Santa Barbara) and an informative introduction by former Architectural Digest editor McMillian, who also supplies captions and one- to two-page introductions to each home. Beyond their unique designs and ornamentation, the homes feature dazzling Spanish and Mexican folk art, antiques, tiles, fountains, and landscaping, all luxuriously photographed. Ownership, especially when tied to the area's movie industry, along with details of restoration and renovation, is noted and quotations from architects provided. Although more visual than analytical, the work delightfully captures the vitality and variety of Southern California's most important vernacular architecture. Recommended for regional and interior design collections.
. Exteriors and interiors are displayed in sharply focused color, furnishings are described, and a sense of the original architect's intended statement is conveyed. Many of the homes have been converted into museums; still, their architecture amply shows the good and bad sides of Spanish style. 

Elizabeth McMillian's Casa California, survey of the architectural history and development of the Spanish-style house in Southern California, provides both a regional approach and an artistic examination of the evolution of a style unique to the area. Full-page color photos of interior and exteriors showcase Southern California's most historically significant structures, while descriptions examine the Spanish revival trend. Karen Hearn edits Dynasties (1940-X, $60. 00), an impressive display of paintings in Tudor and Jacobean England from 1530-1630. Histories of individual works and their overall relationships to paintings of the times present intriguing facts and some speculations when full information is not available. An excellent overview with full pictorial embellishment.