The Mediterranean Style house is easily identified by red roof tile. This is not to say that it has a red tile roof. Rather, the bulk of most smaller houses is covered by a flat or low-pitched tar and gravel roof concealed behind a parapet or the front porch gable. Typically, it is only the porch, or parapet, which is covered in red tile, but the suggestion is enough to set the Mediterranean mood for the entire house.

Originally, when the semi-cylindrical tiles were handmade by peasants in the Spanish countryside, wet clay from the native soil was shaped over the workman's strong thigh. Today, the tiles are made in molds and held together with wire, but the installation process is basically the same and the textural effect almost identical. The tiles are placed in interlocking rows, alternately facing up and down. The water that runs off the rounded back of the top tiles is collected in the swale created by the U-shaped bottom tiles. There is a pleasing unevenness to the rows of overlapping pottery that even machine modules cannot regulate.

The Mediterranean Style house is invariably sheathed in stark white stucco, a dramatic counterpoint to the undulating tiles. There is little color on the house, save the terra cotta of the tile and the wood frames of the six-part casement windows which are painted burnt sienna, or occasionally, turquoise blue. The earthy red, clean white and bright aqua are a lively and attractive palette.

The ornamentation on the Mediterranean Style house is restrained compared to the explosive Victorian Styles, but a bit pompous compared to the ascetic Prairie School. Wood or wrought iron is used for second-story balcony railings on larger homes, or as window grills on cottages. On some houses, distinctive twisted columns support the front porch roof in post and lintel fashion, or frame the living room picture window. These twisted posts and similar baroque features characterize the "Churrigueresque" style (pronounced chi-ree-ga-resk), named after the Barcelona architect who first designed them in the 17th century, Jose de Churriguera. His decorative style, which dominated Spanish and Mexican architecture in his own time, was revived at the San Diego Panama Pacific Exposition in 1915 and incorporated in the vogue for Mediterranean architecture which followed.

The Hearst Castle at San Simeon has the most exaggerated examples of Churriqueresque towers and spires. Its architect, Oakland native Julia Morgan, was a practitioner of the Craftsman Tradition, but she was so prolific, with over 1000 commissions to her credit, that she was proficient in the Mediterranean Style as well. The Berkeley City Club she designed on Durant Avenue has a Hearst Castle flavor, but her residential work in Oakland and Piedmont show the flair and expression possible in the Mediterranean Style at a smaller scale.

We use the inclusive name "Mediterranean" for this style because the architectural elements are assembled from the lands which border the Mediterranean sea--Spain, Italy, and the Islamic world of North Africa. The coastal climate of California is classified as Mediterranean, one of only five such areas found in the world (The other three are the coast of Chile, southwest Australia, and southwest Africa.) Because climate determines the plants and animals that survive in a given environment, the natural setting of California is very much like that of the countries on the Mediterranean shore. As a result, the house style that derives from Spain, Italy and Northern Africa can look extremely convincing in California because it fits right in with the landscape.

If there's red roof tile, you can be sure there are arches on the house too. Either the porch, the front window, the front door, or all three, have an arched opening. The arch may be pointed, rounded, flattened, or a circle with a peak in the Islamic manner. Even the weep holes which stick out through the facade to allow the tar and gravel roof to drain, or the attic to air, are arranged in an inverted curve. Extending from the side of many Mediterranean Style houses is a stucco wing wall with another arched opening. This provides a gracious entrance to the backyard, when the arch is the size of a door, or a ceremonial entrance to the garage, when the arch is as wide as the driveway.

The front walk and the driveway are an abstract composition of paving stones cut at acute angles and installed in a random manner. To match the roof and trim, they are usually painted a brownish red, a strtling contrast to the patch of kelly green grass to either side. Originally, it was fashionable to paint the different stones assorted hues, and homeowners who enjoy striking color combinations have perpetuated the trend.

Inside the Mediterranean Style house the walls are covered with a rough, almost lumpy plaster that is either white, or an integral earth tone to simulate adobe. Dark wood beams are exposed across the ceiling. The Churrigueresque motif is picked up in staircase bannisters, and the arch--in whatever form it took outside--is used for a passageway between rooms. The fireplace is sheathed in white, integrated into the wall adobe-style, and surrounded by ceramic tiles. To either side there is an arched recess for display of candlesticks, keepsakes, or religious icons.

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