In "Comentarios sobre el nacimiento de la arquitectura hispano-americana," Argentinean architect, art historian, and writer Martín Noel asserts that colonial architecture represents the foundation of the Latin American architectural styles that followed. Noel describes the sophistication of Incan art, weavings, and pottery in the New World before the arrival of the Spanish. This arrival introduced the forms of Spanish architecture to Peru, resulting in colonial cities characterized by the Plateresque ornamentation and Moorish arches that replaced the Incan structures made of stone and adobe, with roofs of mud and straw. Noel argues, however, that the use of local materials and indigenous craftspeople to build colonial structures resulted in an alteration in the proportions and ornamentation of these buildings that conforms to the landscape and culture of the New World. Noel describes colonial churches, palaces, and monasteries adorned with intersecting carvings of garlands, lace patterns, flowers, branches, and other local elements. He lists the Convent of San Francisco, the home of the marquee Torre Tagle in Lima, the church of the Compañía de Jesús, and the mansion on San Francisco Street in Arequipa as examples of excellent colonial architecture that incorporate indigenous styles and motifs. Noel also cites the arbitrary and irregular proportions of Cuzcan colonial buildings and the bright colors of colonial structures in Lima as vestiges of Incan architecture and arts. He admires Incan craftspeople for their ability to impose their own imagery upon imported Spanish architectural styles, and argues that the nations of Latin America should each have a distinct and coherent architectural platform applied to all structures great and small. According to Noel, the point of departure for these unique architectural styles should be the study of colonial architecture.