Irving lived in Granada and wrote his Tales of the Alhambra, first published in 1832, which spurred international interest in southern Spain and in its Islamic-era monuments like the Alhambra (an apartment of which he decorated in New England style). Other artists and intellectuals, such as John Frederick Lewis and Owen Jones, helped make the Alhambra into an icon of the era with their writings and illustrations during the 19th century. The Contreras family members continued to be the most important architects and conservators of the Alhambra up until 1907. During this period they generally followed a theory of "stylistic restoration", which favoured the construction and addition of elements to make a monument "complete" but not necessarily corresponding to any historical reality. They added elements which they deemed to be representative of what they thought was an "Arabic style", emphasizing the Alhambra's purported "Oriental" character. For example, in 1858–1859 Rafael Contreras and Juan Pugnaire added Persian-looking spherical domes to the Court of the Lions and to the northern portico of the Court of the Myrtles, even though these had nothing to do with Nasrid architecture. In 1868 a revolution deposed Isabella II and the government seized the properties of the Spanish monarchy, including the Alhambra. In 1870 the Alhambra was declared a National Monument of Spain and the state allocated a budget for its conservation, overseen by the Provincial Commission of Monuments. Mariano Contreras, the last of the Contreras architects to serve as director of conservation of the Alhambra, was appointed as architectural curator in April 1890. His tenure was controversial and his conservation strategy attracted criticism from other authorities. In September 1890 a fire destroyed a large part of the Sala de la Barca in the Comares Palace, which highlighted the site's vulnerability. A report was commissioned in 1903 which resulted in the creation of a "Special Commission" in 1905 whose task was to oversee conservation and restoration of the Alhambra, but the commission ultimately failed to exercise control due to friction with Contreras. In 1907 Mariano Contreras was replaced with Modesto Cendoya, whose work was also criticized. Cendoya began many excavations in search of new artifacts but often left these works unfinished. He restored some important elements of the site, like the water supply system, but neglected others. Due to continued friction with Cendoya, the Special Commission was dissolved in 1913 and replaced with the Council (Patronato) of