here's what i know: there was a period in the early 20th century when a lot of people in hollywood thought it was a good idea to build fantasy houses, borrowing liberally from spanish or mexican or norman or british or arabic architectural styles. i don't know if this period has a name, nor do i know if legitimate architectural writers/bloggers look at this period with awe and love or disdain and more disdain.
i also know that as a non-legitimate architectural writer/blogger i look at this period with awe and love, especially when compared and contrasted with the beige generic cat-vomit period that typifies a lot of l.a architecture from 1970 to 2013.
this particular house is clearly modeled on arabic/north-african architecture (i say 'clearly' because i've clearly seen arabic and north african buildings that kind of look like this house. so, 'clearly' is a completely subjective and non-academic term. to be clear). and it's beautiful.
'beautiful' is also a completely subjective and non-academic term. but as i'm a self-proclaimed non-legitimate architectural writer/blogger i reserve the right to use terms that would be anathema to any legitimate architectural writer. like, 'beautiful', or 'pretty' or 'generic cat vomit'.
maybe if this were my day job i'd be a little more academic in my criticisms. but i'm just a guy with a laptop, so: this building is beautiful and i love it and i wish the owners would invite me over to drink tea in those little bitty silver tea cups that you think of when you see a souk.
ok, i hope you had a nice weekend.
thanks,
moby