Adobe-like walls, red tiled roof, hand-hewn woodwork, and ironwork define the Spanish Colonial Revival style of the Allied Arts Complex. Each of the clay roof tiles was formed over the thigh of the craftsman. The swayback roofline was intended to create Old World charm.

Magnificent Moroccan oil vessels frame the entrance to the walkway under the Rose Arbor. The huge pots, nestled into the earth, are held firmly in place by elongated, pointed bottoms.

The building on the left housed the original Guild Potters. Wall pocket pots hung from the iron hooks on the walls of the building.

The building on the right is the site of the original Photoengraver's Studio. Working from this studio, Ansel Adams took the first photographs of the Guild in 1932. The ironwork around the windows was produced at the Guild Forge and used to support heavy canvas shades.

The icon of the Virgin of San Juan de los Lagos stands at the entry to the Court.

Three vividly colored frescoes by Maxine Albro, a student of Diego Rivera and creator of some of Coit Tower's frescoes, reinforce the Court of the Potters theme.

Notice the shards of pottery imbedded in the floor of this room and the carved ceiling beams. The door to the south is believed to be the entrance to the original space of the Guild Weavers.

Yellow blossoms surround the yellow and blue tiled fountain in this beautiful garden. The large painted and etched pots are original work by Guild Potters, instructed by Pedro de Lemos.

Pedro deLemos' daughters, Esther and Margaret, created these mosaics in 1929 and 1931 using the cement and tile mosaic process developed by their father. The mosaics depict the explorer Gaspar de Portolá's first interaction with Native Americans in California.

As you leave the property, notice the fresco on the Arbor Road wall of the building. This original work by Maxine Albro depicts the Patron Saint of the Arts surrounded by medallions of artisans at work. The fresco was restored in 1990 by Lucienne Bloch Dimitroff and Stephen Pope Dimitroff.

This building was the original 1800s wooden farmhouse. It was, under the direction of Pedro deLemos and architect Gardner Dailey, remodeled to achieve a Spanish Colonial appearance. Notice the carved woodwork on the staircase and support beams. The ironwork here and throughout the Complex was forged on site.

The paths at Allied Arts are poured cement, carved while wet to look like stone and tile. Using boughs of cypress branches from the garden, the "stones" at the base of the Archway Building staircase were distressed to appear rutted by the frequent passage of wagons.

This fragrant and colorful pathway leads toward the oldest structures on the property.