California's Mission Revival was one of the exotic modes that spread across the country during the first two decades of this century. Examples of this style were presented in the pages of The Craftsman magazine, and in many pattern books. The plan of these houses, especially the two-story version as we see in the Ford house, was essentially a rectangular box that could easily be adapted to create any number of images. The Ford house is sheathed in stucco and has a tile roof, parapeted scalloped gable ends, and deep round quatre-foil windows. Records indicate that the house was apparently built for Arthur H. Ford, a professor of engineering at the University of Iowa.