Mission Revival vs Pueblo Revival

Pueblo Revival is the cross-discipline counterpart of Mission Revival — a roughly contemporary Southwestern revival; Pueblo leans Indigenous-adobe while Mission leans California-mission.

Santa Fe Depot, San Bernardino — Mission Revival

Mission Revival

A turn-of-the-century American style inspired by California's Spanish colonial missions — smooth stucco walls, curvilinear shaped gables, arcaded porches, and red-tiled roofs.

  • Curvilinear, scalloped 'mission-shaped' gables and roof parapets
  • Smooth, plain stucco wall surfaces with minimal ornament
  • Arcaded porches and loggias with wide round arches
  • Low-pitched roofs of red clay (mission) tile with wide eaves
  • Mission accents: bell towers/espadañas and quatrefoil windows
Full Mission Revival guide →
La Fonda on the Plaza, Santa Fe — Pueblo Revival

Pueblo Revival

An earth-toned Southwestern revival that reinterprets ancestral Puebloan and Spanish-colonial adobe building in stepped, sculptural masses with projecting roof beams.

  • Battered, rounded adobe-like stucco walls in earth tones
  • Projecting vigas (round roof beams) emerging through the wall face
  • Stepped, asymmetrical multi-level massing
  • Flat roofs concealed behind irregular parapets
  • Deeply recessed openings with carved wood lintels and corbels
Full Pueblo Revival guide →

At a glance

Mission RevivalPueblo Revival
Era1890–19301905–1940
DisciplineArchitectureArchitecture
RegionUnited States (California & Southwest), Florida, MexicoNew Mexico, Arizona, American Southwest
FamilyRevivalRevival
Formal traitsshaped-gable, stucco, arcaded, tile-roofadobe, vigas, stepped, earth-tone

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