LOS EXPERTOS OPINARON

Hemos preguntado a algunos expertos en arquitectura norteamericana sobre la arquitectura de la Colonia Americana que acá no ha sido valorada, pero para ellos es una gran sorpresa.

Sus menciones tan solo describen los estilos de estas casas, y se muestran interesados en conocer más acerca de la ciudad. Lo que no saben aún, es que esto está siendo destruido en estos momentos.

Transcribimos directamente sus citas en inglés, para que veamos su opinión....

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Miércoles, 28 de Septiembre de 2005

All of these building, except one, appear to be what we call the California Mediterranean style. This style is characterized by a combination of Italian, Spanish, North African and Greek/ Middle Eastern elements. Sometimes the style is more strongly one or the other of these antecedents. In the case of your buildings, these appear to be closely modeled on the Italian villa precedents: hipped tile roof, stucco walls, arched windows, chimneys with prominent caps.

Johnston House: This appears to be the grandest of the villas, with its formal symmetrical front, broad terrace and grand stairway. The rear shows a sleeping porch on the second story, a common element in southern California houses from about 1900 through 1935. It was believed that sleeping in the open air was beneficial to the health, particularly as a cure or for prevention of tuberculosis, and most California houses had this feature.

Jones House: A much plainer version of the style. The wide overhanging eaves with brackets are Italian rather than Spanish, but were used in California to increase shade over the windows. The chimneys here look Spanish/Mexican, rather than Italian. The windows on below the upstairs bay resemble those sometimes used in the North American Prairie style from the Midwestern US. Again, there is a sleeping porch, now glassed in, clearly visible in the upstairs corner.

Houses of Colonia Americana: This looks more Spanish/Mexican than Italian, because of its low scale, somewhat adobe/ranch like lines. Again the windows look North American, double hung sash, which comes from Dutch/English tradition.

Casa de la Fuente: Proportion and details similar to Jones house. Windows look Midwestern Prairie style in building on right. Building on left appears to be built of adobe bricks? Also maybe true of building on right? Vertical proportions of this building and of Jones house are exaggerated, not typical of best 1920’s California Mediterranean style buildings.

Chapman House: This one is a real surprise. I saw the color photo first and assumed that it was a post World War II version of a Southern mansion in the US, but the 1928 photo shows that it is not much changed. The two-story arcade definitely relates it to the American South, and it’s style is Neo-Classical Revival.

Perhaps you know about ICOMOS, the international committee to protect historic buildings and sites. They might be able to help you save some buildings.

I hope this helps.
Best wishes,


Ann Scheid,
ArchivistGreene and Greene Archives,
The Gamble House
University of Southern California
Huntington Library1151 Oxford Road
San Marino, California 91108
Telephone: 626-405-2232
Facsimile: 626-796-6498

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I would be interested in having a look at the pictures. (de la Colonia Americana)
With thanks,

Christopher Vernon
Senior Lecturer Faculty of Architecture, Landscape and Visual Arts
The University of Western Australia
35 Stirling HighwayCrawley WA 6009
AUSTRALIAt 61.8.6488.1565
m 0403 890 412f 61.8.6488.1082
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Miércoles, 21 de Septiembre de 2005

I would be happy to try to help identify your buildings,
if someone else hasnot already done so.

Sonja Sokol Furesz,
Preservation Planner
BOLA Architecture + Planning320
Terry Avenue North Seattle, Washington
98109t 206.447.4749 f 206.447.6462
www.bolarch.com
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Lunes, 19 de Septiembre

I would be more than happy to help if you would like to e-mail me some images.
Sounds like a fascinating project.

Michael Houser Architectural Historian,
DAHP 1063 S. Capitol Way, Suite 106
PO Box 48343 Olympia, WA
98504 (360) 586-3076 (360) 586-3067 (fax)
Note New E-Mail: Michael.Houser@dahp.wa.gov
New web address: http://www.dahp.wa.gov
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Your thesis on la Colonia Americana in Los Mochis sounds very interesting.
I would be very interested in seeing pictures of la Colonia Americana and would be happy to help you identify the style of the buildings. You can email pictures to me at solom003@umn.edu
I look forward to seeing them and learning more about la Colonia Americana.

With all best wishes,

Kate Solomonson
University of Minnesota, Twin Cities
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Viernes, 16 de Septiembre de 2005

Dear Sir,
Prof. Bargellini's suggestion to consult people at the Instituto de Investigaciones Esteticas is a very good suggestion. Try to contact those experts first. If they cannot help you, you may send the pictures to me and I will try to help you. You may send them to Prof. Carol Krinsky Fine Arts -303 Silver - NYU 100 Washington Square East New York, NY 10003-6688 USA But I recommend contacting the Instituto first because you can speak Spanish to the people there, so that your description and their answers may therefore be easier for everyone to understand.

Cordially, Prof. Carol Krinsky
New York University
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Can you e-mail me images of Los Mochis?
Your message to the SAH about the town is very interesting to me. I am an editor at Preservation magazine, published in Washington, D.C.
Also, do you have any additional information that you can send?
Thanks.

Arnold Berke
Executive Editor
Preservationarnold_berke@nthp.org
(202) 588-6075
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What a fascination project. I hope that you consider participating in theVernacular ArchitectureForum and consider publishing your information with the VAF.
More info is at www.vernaculararchitectureforum.org.

I really appreciate your interest, If you are still looking for resources on the style, you will probably be ableto type in things like spanish revival architecture or french american architecture. The styles you have are most like that design. You may want to buy The Field Guide to American Architecture by Virginia and Lee McAlester. Its quite a good book that will provide the necessary information on stylistics. Good luck and let me know how I else I might be able to help.

Aaron Marcavitch
http://www.marcavitch.com

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Domingo, 28 de Agosto de 2005

Thank you for sharing this fascinating story, as well as the photographs.
The architecture seems to be an eclectic mix of Mediterranean Revival and Prairie style (??). You might be interested in Margaret Crawford's book, _Building the Workingman's Paradise: The Design of American Company Towns_, which would give you some background on American company housing. She's particularly interested in this time period.

Good luck with your project--it's fascinating!

Kim Hoagland
Michigan Technological University
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Viernes, 26 de Agosto de 2005

I wrote my dissertation on an early 20th-century garden-style workers' village adjacent to a textile factory and would be interested to see the photos of the houses you mention in your inquiry.

Christine Tate, Ph.D.
814 West 22nd Street Wilmington, DE
19802-3302 home: 302-575-1575 cell: 302-575-0123
tate@post.harvard.edu
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Lei con mucho interes tu e-mail. Algo sabía yo de Santa Rosalía porque acabo de estar ahí y me impresiono su arquitectura y la fábrica, pero no me imaginaba que los Mochis estuviera más o menos en la misma situación. Con relación a las fotos que me enviaste, cheque en el libro de Scully y la verdad no viene nada, pero en el de la arquitectura Australiana lo que encontre que más se asemeja es al estilo inter-war georgian revival que se da al menos alla entre 1915 y 1940. Por ello te envió fotos del libro de este estilo y del que sería su antecesor el Old Colonial Georgian style 1788-1840. En general en todas las colonias británicas o ex-colonias tomaron como modelo la arquitectura inglesa por lo que más o menos son semejantes sus arquitecturas. Espero esta información te sea de utilidad y si te es posible después cuentame como vas con tu investigación.

Saludos.

Lucia Santa Ana.
UNAM, Universidad Nacional Autónoma de México
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ESTAS SON TAN SOLO ALGUNAS OPINIONES DE MUCHAS QUE HEMOS RECIBIDO AL RESPECTO. ELLOS OPINAN ESTO......

LAS AUTORIDADES, EMPRESARIOS Y PUEBLO DE LOS MOCHIS....... ¿QUE PENSAMOS?

¿VALDRÁ LA PENA CONSERVARLO??

FUENTE: LOSMOCHISDESTRUIDO