Adobe Houses: Homes of Sun and EarthAlluring adobe brick houses of California here hint at the charms of a bygone age while offering, at the same time, a vision for home today. Adobe residences from the Spanish and Mexican eras were the original California houses. Architects, designers, builders, and homeowners today, as in the past, look to their simple, utilitarian featuressuch as plain, whitewashed walls, beamed ceilings, and intimate open air courtyardsand try to emulate their forms