Share
twitterlinkedinfacebook
Image 1 of 1
sp104.jpg
El Alisal (“Place of the Sycamore”), the home of Mission Revival booster Charles Lummis, provides a curious example of the dichotomy that can exist between deeds and doctrine.  Lummis was among the most vocal proponents of the Mission Revival aesthetic; however, when he designed and built his own residence on the west bank of the Arroyo Seco near Los Angeles between the years 1898 and 1910, he departed markedly from his own teachings.  The stone campanario and bell visible in this view are about the only features that evoke the Mission Revival; Craftsman and Pueblo influences (the peripatetic Lummis had spent two years living with the Pueblo Indians in New Mexico) play a more obvious role.  Eschewing adobe, Lummis built El Alisal of concrete faced with boulders from the Arroyo.  The house and its extensive gardens were acquired by the State of California and designated an Historic Landmark in 1941.  Since 1965, it has been the headquarters of the Historical Society of Southern California.