January, 2003 Volume 34, Issue 1

Red Tile Style Discovery
The Book Launch

SANDÉ LOLLIS

From the first step across the threshold the excitement was palpable. All of us in line conversed as old friends suddenly united architecturally through the event unfolding in the entryway. The open beams stretched across the wide corridor inviting me along past bedrooms on one side and windows on the other; a glass door opened out upon a courtyard. The tiled terrain of the corridor led downward gradually with a step here and there ending up in the living room, with its corner fireplace seemingly formed and carved out of adobe baked in the sun. Finally through double doors the covered patio was softly lit and set with tables of intriguing hors d’oeuvres and wine, crowded with guests greeting each other and shaking hands, enjoying the ambiance.

After a time we were gathered together just outside the entryway once again for the tour led by Jim Kelley-Markham. He spoke of the thick inset doorway, low profile roof line, and almost barricade-like facade as being characteristic of May’s work, and that once inside the house you were a world away from the outside. The layout of the house made it easy to flow from room to room, and then out again to where the courtyard stood open to the sky and completed the circuit. Jim seemed comfortable and spoke easily of this most interesting house and a most interesting architect, who typically conjured up this illusion of thick adobe walls with niches carved into them; he put a curve on every corner inside and out, it was all so textural and so alive.

I sat in the front row for the slide show and lecture; I didn’t want to miss a thing. Doug Keister and Arrol Gellner played off each other as any good team will and carried me right along with them. We traveled back in time to Spain and to the roots of Spanish Revival architecture here. And then on to learn that those roots went even further back into northern Africa and to a time when the Moors had conquered Spain and dwelt there for over 500 years, leaving a mark so deep that we still bear it and cherish it here.

All in all, it was quite an enjoyable evening, even inspiring, it made me want to be an architect.