Lookiloos has a terrific profile on Michael Borbely's gorgeous Mission Revival home in San Jose, California. The tile, beams, fixtures - everything is spot-on and a really nice example of the style.
The stark white house at the end of Plaza Drive in San Jose's
historic Palm Haven neighborhood takes you by surprise. It's small in
scale, a single story on a corner lot. But its domed tower and
decorative parapet across the roofline force you to take a second look.
This is Michael Borbely's mini masterpiece - a recently completed
Mission Revival house of stucco and tile that took years of research to
create, plus help from San Jose's Fireclay Tile to reproduce
century-old details.
Borbely, 45, is an architectural activist of sorts who spearheaded
an effort several years ago to restore the pillars at the entrance to
the 1930s Palm Haven in Willow Glen to their original Mission Revival
style. So when he was ready for a new project after selling his Prairie
style house in the neighborhood, "I looked for the house in the worst
condition that had the most impact on the neighborhood." He decided on
a tiny Spanish style house for sale nearby in need of a major remodel.
He wanted the house to fit into the streetscape and, taking some cues
from the pillars and an original Mission Revival house in the
neighborhood, decided to reinvent a scaled-down version.