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THE INFLUENCE OF LOCAL AND IMPORTED FACTORS ON THE DESIGN AND CONSTRUCTION OF THE SPANISH MISSIONS IN SAN ANTONIO, TEXAS A Thesis by NANCY E. CROWLEY Submitted to the Office of Graduate Studies of Texas A&M University in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of MASTER OF SCIENCE December 2005 Major Subject: Architecture THE INFLUENCE OF LOCAL AND IMPORTED FACTORS ON THE DESIGN AND CONSTRUCTION OF THE SPANISH MISSIONS IN SAN ANTONIO, TEXAS A Thesis by NANCY E. CROWLEY Submitted to the Office of Graduate Studies of Texas A&M University in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of MASTER OF SCIENCE Approved by: Chair of Committee, Anat Geva Committee Members, John Alexander Sylvia Grider Interim Head of Department, Mardelle M. Shepley December 2005 Major Subject: Architecture iii ABSTRACT The Influence of Local and Imported Factors on the Design and Construction of the Spanish Missions in San Antonio, Texas. (December 2005) Nancy E. Crowley, B.A., University of Massachusetts, Lowell Chair of Advisory Committee: Dr. Anat Geva San Antonio, Texas, is home to several eighteenth-century Spanish Franciscan missions, which represent some of the best examples of Spanish colonial mission architecture in the United States and which together comprise the city’s historic Chain of Missions. This study traces the history of four of these missions: Mission Nuestra Señora de la Purísima Concepción de Acuña, Mission San Jose y San Miguel de Aguayo, Mission San Juan Capistrano, and Mission San Francisco de la Espada. Founded by Franciscan friars, who traveled from Spain to Mexico and ultimately to Texas to christianize native populations of the Americas, and built by craftsmen transplanted from Mexico, the missions are an amalgam of diverse cultures and decades of evolving architectural styles. This study examines the cultural, religious, and environmental factors that influenced the design and construction of the original mission structures. Specifically, it analyzes the vernacular architecture of eighteenth-century Spain and Mexico, as well as the traditions of local Native American groups of the iv period, and studies the effect of these cultures and San Antonio’s environmental conditions on the resulting vernacular construction of the San Antonio missions. Each of the four missions in this study is examined within the context of three main factors: (a) the unique combination of broad cultural factors—both local and imported—that influenced the architectural forms of the missions; (b) the religious prescriptions of three cultural groups and their effect on the structure of the missions; and (c) the impact of the specific environmental conditions of the San Antonio area. The goal of this study was to identify the multiple forces that contributed to the creation of a vernacular architectural form—Spanish mission architecture—in Texas. The findings suggest that the design and construction of the San Antonio Missions were most strongly influenced by Mexican religious factors, followed by Spanish cultural factors. Environmental conditions of the area were not highly influential. v TABLE OF CONTENTS Page ABSTRACT .................................................................................................................. iii TABLE OF CONTENTS............................................................................................... v LIST OF FIGURES ....................................................................................................... vii LIST OF TABLES......................................................................................................... viii CHAPTER I INTRODUCTION AND SIGNIFICANCE ............................................. 1 II BACKGROUND AND LITERATURE REVIEW .................................. 4 Cultural Background of the Builders ........................................... 11 Religions..................................................................................... 16 Physical Environmental Conditions of San Antonio .................... 23 III CONCEPTUAL MODEL AND HYPOTHESES .................................... 29 IV METHODS EMPLOYED FOR THE STUDY AND BRIEF HISTORY OF THE MISSIONS............................................................................... 31 Notes on Data Collection............................................................. 31 Method of Analysis..................................................................... 31 Brief History of Each of the Missions.......................................... 34 V ANALYSES AND RESULTS ................................................................ 46 Mission Nuestra Señora de la Purísima Concepción de Acuña..... 46 Mission San Jose y San Miguel de Aguayo ................................. 65 Mission San Juan Capistrano....................................................... 83 Mission San Francisco de la Espada ............................................ 95 Summary of Findings.................................................................. 108 VI DISCUSSION AND CONCLUSIONS ................................................... 114 ENDNOTES.................................................................................................................. 124 vi Page REFERENCES.............................................................................................................. 125 VITA............................................................................................................................. 129 vii LIST OF FIGURES FIGURE Page 1 Conceptual model for thesis study..................................................................... 29 2 Map of the San Antonio chain of missions ........................................................ 33 3 Mission Concepción west elevation, showing church and convento................... 36 4 Mission San Jose church façade ........................................................................ 39 5 West elevation of Mission San Juan church....................................................... 42 6 Mission Espada church façade .......................................................................... 45 7 Mission Concepción church portal .................................................................... 56 8 Plan of Mission Concepción structures, illustrating some of Lechner’s design with climate strategies ...................................................................................... 61 9 Mission San Jose church portal ......................................................................... 67 10 Rose Window of the sacristy at Mission San Jose ............................................. 70 11 Mission San Jose site plan, illustrating some of Lechner’s design with climate strategies.............................................................................................. 79 12 Mission San Juan site plan ................................................................................ 87 13 Mission San Juan church façade, showing espadaña......................................... 88 14 Mission Espada church portal, showing herradura............................................ 97 15 Mission Espada site plan................................................................................... 101 viii LIST OF TABLES TABLE Page 1 Cultural and religious features of Mission Concepción...................................... 62 2 Summary of cultural and religious features of Mission Concepción .................. 64 3 Cultural and religious features of Mission San Jose........................................... 81 4 Summary of cultural and religious features of Mission San Jose ....................... 82 5 Cultural and religious features of Mission San Juan .......................................... 93 6 Summary of cultural and religious features of Mission San Juan....................... 94 7 Cultural and religious features of Mission Espada............................................. 105 8 Summary of cultural and religious features of Mission Espada.......................... 107 9a Summary of cultural features of all San Antonio missions................................. 108 9b Summary of religious features of all San Antonio missions............................... 108 10 Percentages of influence for all San Antonio missions ...................................... 109 11 Materials use at the San Antonio missions......................................................... 110 12 Design with climate strategies employed at the San Antonio missions............... 111 1 CHAPTER I INTRODUCTION AND SIGNIFICANCE The overall goal of this study is to trace the history of the builders of four of San Antonio’s eighteenth-century Spanish missions—namely Mission Nuestra Señora de la Purísima Concepción, Mission San Jose y San Miguel de Aguayo, Mission San Juan Capistrano, and Mission San Francisco de la Espada (hereafter collectively known as the missions)—in order to identify the specific factors that influenced the design and construction of the missions, resulting in a vernacular architecture on the Texas frontier. These four missions, along with Mission San Antonio de Valero—better known today as the Alamo—comprise San Antonio’s historic Chain of Missions. This study aims to examine the original structures and functions of the missions, and, as such, it will not include an examination of the Alamo. The remaining four San Antonio missions are the focus of the study, as they represent the original mission structures (and, while they no longer function as missions,