An exemplar of clarity and balance. . . a very successful 
work, relating Mexican colonial architecture to the political,
religious, social, and economic factors that helped to shape 
it . . . very useful to the general reader.
-Marcus Whiffen


It is the conjunto (the whole of the book, not just a few 
parts) of the various kinds of buildings, makers, users, and 
little studies of particular places that makes this a book to 
be read as well as a valuable source to consult.
-William B. Taylor


A passion for Mexican architecture drives James Early’s 
examination of the most notable post-Columbian architecture 
constructed on the American continent prior to the emergence 
north of the border of Henry Hobson Richardson, Louis Sullivan, 
and Frank Lloyd Wright.


In colorful and lucid prose Early introduces his subject with 
an overview of the city of Mexico and surrounding areas at the 
time of the first Spanish contact, discussing two great programs 
of building that followed and the patterns of living associated 
with them. The text is roughly chronological, with emphasis on 
the Baroque period and concluding with the Neo-Classical 
architecture of the nineteenth century.


Organized into chapters alternating between civic and sacred
architecture, Early looks at the grandeur of the religious 
edifices of New Spain "from the Gothic churches of the friars 
and the Renaissance cathedrals of the cities to the Baroque 
sacred chapels and Neo-Classical parish churches" and describes 
the great haciendas and magnificent city houses of some of the
enormously wealthy families such as the Condes del Valle 
de Orizaba. He places Mexico’s architectural developments in a 
cultural context, discussing, for example, convent life for nuns 
and the cults of the saints and the Virgin. In addition, Early 
includes a chapter on folk architecture describing the energy 
and imaginative vitality of Mexican viceregal ornamentation.


Early provides a lively analysis of such elaborately decorated 
churches as the Rosario Chapel in Puebla and the Jesuit buildings 
at Tepotzotlán. His enthusiasm for aesthetic elements such as
interlacing strapwork and rippling pediments is contagious. Early 
is eloquent in his descriptions of the splendid churches of
eighteenth-century Mexico that were grounded on the wealth of 
its silvermines, paying particular attention to the spectacular 
Church of Santa Prisca in Taxco and its remarkable patron, 
José de la Borda.


The first of only two histories written in English on Mexican
architecture in the entire colonial period, Early’s book 
sheds new light for North Americans on the diverse and changing 
society of the grand, alien scene of colonial New Spain. 
 

First published by the University of New Mexico Press in 1994.

________________________________________________________


JAMES EARLY is professor emeritus of English at Southern
Methodist University.  He and his wife, Ann, have spent many 
years exploring architectural sites in Mexico.  He is currently 
working on a study of Hispanic architecture and urbanization 
within the United States.