Thursday, July 5, 2012

Texan Heraldry

Today is the 4th of July, the most important holiday in the United States. We congratulate all Americans on the Independence day from what used to be the Province of Tejas in the New Extremadura, Viceroyalty of New Spain (Virreinato de Nueva EspaƱa).



Today I want to share some heraldic art located in Texas, hoping someone will help me to identify who was the owner of these shields. These heraldic pieces are located at the Highland Pak Village shopping mall.

Highland Park is a city designed in 1906 by Wilbur David Cook, the same landscape designer who had planned Beverly Hills in California. The city continued growing and in 1931 Highland Park Village shopping mall was constructed. The developers were inspired by the Spanish tradition in Texas and designed it as a shopping center that could function as a town square, the developers traveled to Barcelona and Seville, Spain as well as to Mexico and California, studying the architecture in order to plan the building. These are the Heraldic pieces we are discussing today.