Category: Preservation of Palm Springs Modernism

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Desert Modern Architect Craig Ellwood (1922-1972) Lecture at Palm Springs Museum

Palevsky Residence, Palm Springs, CA 1968
Palevsky Residence, Palm Springs, CA 1968

Craig Ellwood is credited with designing some of the most elegant modern homes built in California in the 1950s and 1960s, but he was not educated as an architect.  Greatly influenced by Mies van der Rohe as well as Charles Eames and Richard Neutra, Ellwood’s designs were characterized by exposed lightweight steel or timber framing, and by floating wall planes separated by a shadow line or “flash gap” detail.  Ellwood homes were spare, modernist and elegant.

On Saturday, April 2, 10 a.m.,  the Palm Springs Museum focuses on Ellwood’s work as the final seasonal lecture on the history of modernism architecture in Palm Springs.  A tour of Ellwood’s most significant Coachella Valley work, the Max Palevsky residence in Palm Springs, follows the lecture.  The late billionaire Palevsky was a computer technology pioneer, venture capitalist and philanthropist. Cost for the event is $25.  www.psmuseum.com.

An influential Los Angeles-based modernist whose career spanned the early 1950s through the mid-1970s, Ellwood was recognized for fusing the formalism of Mies van der Rohe with the more casual  California modernism, adapting the style into an accessible and fashionable vernacular. Continue reading “Desert Modern Architect Craig Ellwood (1922-1972) Lecture at Palm Springs Museum”

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Tenth Annual Alexander Weekend Continues Modernism Celebrations, Previews New Tribute Journal, The Alexanders: A Desert Legacy

Alexander Weekend tickets are now on sale!

The Alexander Weekend,  March 25-27, 2011, celebrates the 10th anniversary of the Palm Springs Preservation Foundation’s inaugural event in 2001 that first recognized the Alexander Construction Company’s significant contributions to modernist residential architecture in Palm Springs.

In conjunction with its first Great Alexander Weekend, the Palm Springs Preservation Foundation published a tribute journal entitled When Mod Went Mass: A Celebration of Alexander Homes. The weekend and tribute journal launched a growing appreciation of the seminal role the Alexander Construction Company played in the creation of Palm Springs’ “built environment.”  It also brought to the forefront the architectural importance of those Alexander-built tract homes designed by architects William Krisel and Donald Wexler.

This year, a new commemorative tribute journal devoted to the Alexanders is entitled The Alexander: A Desert Legacy and written by architect/author Jim Harlan. Continue reading “Tenth Annual Alexander Weekend Continues Modernism Celebrations, Previews New Tribute Journal, The Alexanders: A Desert Legacy”

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The Legacy of Steel and Shade Architect Donald Wexler Celebrated at Palm Springs Museum Through May 29

One of the highlights of this year’s Modernism Week is a continuing retrospective of architect Don Wexler’s 60-year career titled Steel and Shade: The Architecture of Donald Wexler at the Palm Springs Museum, on view through May 29.

A symposium on Wexler’s legacy will be on Saturday, February 26 from 9 a.m. to 6 p.m. at the museum.  Museum architecture and design curator Sidney Williams and co-curator Dr. Lauren Weiss Bricker will moderate a discussion of contemporary architects who continue in Wexler’s legacy of environmentally sensitive, innovative designs.  www.psmuseum.org/councils

Wexler’s iconic designs such as the folded plate roof lines of the Alexander Steel Homes, overhangs that shade walls of glass, clerestory windows that bring in natural light, and prefabricated all-steel structures are some examples of active and passive solar energy uses and sustainability that Wexler employed long before these concepts were trendy.

Celebrated as one of Palm Springs’ most prolific architects of this time, the exhibition features a full-scale sectional steel model illustrating Wexler’s prefabrication system, and which gives visitors the experience of inhabiting a Wexler-designed home.  Drawings, photographs and models from the architect and models built in collaboration with architecture students and Cal Poly Pomona are also part of the exhibit.   http://tmagazine.blogs.nytimes.com/2011/02/17/seeing-things-donald-wexler.desert-modernist

Wexler’s all-steel Alexander houses, designed in 1962 with structural engineer Bernard Perlin, were affordable, elegant and quick to assemble on site; the perfect answer to the postwar housing boon.

“Steel, concrete and glass are ideal materials for the desert,” Wexler said. “They are inorganic and don’t deteriorate in the extreme temperatures of the desert.”  www.eichlernetwork.com/desert_chron12.html

Wexler’s innovative pre-fab system could be configured in a variety of ways, using a post-and-beam structural steel frame, a system of panelized opaque steel walls, and steel framed glass windows and doors.   Several prototype model homes were build and these relatively maintenance-free homes are still pristine after nearly 50 years.

Wexler attended the University of Minnesota School of Architecture in the years following World War II.  He graduated in 1950, one of the first generation of American architects trained in the concepts of modernism.

Wexler moved to Palm Springs in 1952 after working with acclaimed Modernist architect Richard Neutra in Los Angeles.  Wexler recalls that “there was a collective sense that we could do anything; we could accomplish anything; we could experiment.”

Wexler is all about logic and efficiency, according to a feature  by Morris Newman, The Quiet Elegance of Donald Wexler, in this month’s Palm Springs Life.

“His buildings fit together tightly, like parts of a machine.  Nothing seems out of place, and details rarely  distract from the whole.  His approach to building dates back several decades, when the elegance of architecture was supposed to be a byproduct of research and good thinking.  He is as interested in building technology as a general contractor and as aware of cost as a developer,” writes Newman.    www.palmspringslife.com/Palm-Springs-Life/February-2011/the-quiet-elegance-of-donald-wexler.

Just as his early work was influenced by Neutra, William F. Cody, Eichler and others, Wexler also inspires a young generation of architects such as Lance O’Donnell,  Taalman Koch Architecture, Narendra Patel and Ana Escalante.   www.mydesert.com (search under Wexler)

His work is still very visible and viable today in numerous public projects including his largest, the Palm Springs International Airport, a building that is both welcoming and functional.

“Can you imagine walking though the building’s doors and the first thing you see is Mount San Jacinto?” said Williams.

Wexler also designed the Palm Springs Police Department and Jail, the Larson Justice Center in Indio,  the Merrill Lynch Building in Palm Springs, the original Palm Springs Spa Hotel’s Bath House(a joint venture with Rick Harrison, William Cody and Pierre Koenig), the Desert Water Agency, El Rancho Vista Estates, Royal Hawaiian Estates (Palm Springs’ first residential historic district), Palm Springs Medical Clinic, Union 76 gas station, numerous schools and celebrity homes.

Wexler’s celebrity homes included the stunning Dinah Shore and Leff/Florsheim houses, actor Alan and Sue Ladd’s home, one that eventually became Ann and Kirk Douglas’, actress Andrea Leeds and her race-horse and Buick agency owner husband Bob Howard, and a project for Frank Sinatra.

Wexler hasn’t stopped working.  Currently under construction is Hamptons Modern, bringing California modernism to the East End of Long Island.  Developer Marnie McBryde has plans to build up to 50 Wexler-designed houses, which are adaptations of the 1964 Dinah Shore house.

Some fascinating books on Wexler available through Palm Springs Preservation Foundation include the Wexler Tribute Journal, and Donald Wexler: Architect by Patrick McGrew.

More Palm Springs Modern events coming up:  The 10th Alexander Weekend, March 25-27, 2011, celebrating the Alexander tract homes’ architectural importance. www.pspreservationfoundation.org.

Pamela Bieri

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Palm Springs Modernism Week Feb. 17-27 Celebrates Culture, Architecture

Palm Springs has long enjoyed international fame as a celebrity haven and world-class vacation destination.

But more than a decade ago, the exacting restoration of the Richard Neutra-designed Kauffman House in Palm Springs sparked renewed interest in Mid-Century Modern architecture, and since fanned the flames of national and international attention.

Palm Springs began attracting a new tourism niche for architecture and design buffs because of the astonishing concentration of significant Mid-Century works by such pioneer builders and architects as Neutra  www.neutra.org. Joseph Eichler, www.eichlernetwork.com.  Albert Frey, E. Stewart Williams, John Porter Clark, Bill Krisel, William Cody, www.psmodcom.com. ; John Lautner, www.johnlautner.org. Don Wexler, www.moderndeserthome.com. ;A Quincy Jones, www.aquincyjones.com. and many others. Continue reading “Palm Springs Modernism Week Feb. 17-27 Celebrates Culture, Architecture”

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Retro Martini Party, February 25, 2011 at the William F. Cody-Designed Jorgensen-Mavis House

Retro Martini Party, benefits go to the PS Preservation Foundation

Friday, February 25 from 5 to 8 p.m. at the Jorgensen-Mavis House, designed by Desert Modernist Architect William F. Cody, in Thunderbird Country Club.

Tickets are $125 per person and benefit the Palm Springs Preservation Foundation.  Pre-paid tickets are available only at www.pspreservationfoundation.org. Attendees will receive a complimentary William F. Cody Tribute Journal.

Dress in your swankiest “rat pack” threads!

One of Palm Springs’ noted Mid Century Modern architects, William Cody left his indelible mark throughout the desert and Southern California with dozens of public buildings, country clubs and private homes. Continue reading “Retro Martini Party, February 25, 2011 at the William F. Cody-Designed Jorgensen-Mavis House”

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Albert Frey Established Palm Springs As Mecca for Mid-Century Modern Style

 

Rare Chance to Visit the Clark/Frey Designed Stephens House on December 11, 1 – 3 p.m.

Join The Palm Springs Preservation Foundation on Saturday, December 11, 2010 from 1-3PM to experience the Stephens House (1949), an early example of modernist residential architecture by the firm of John Porter Clark and Albert Frey.

For students of both American popular culture and architecture, the Stephens House is particularly remarkable as it appeared in the September 1955 issue of House Beautiful where it helped introduce the idea of “The Family Room” to post-war America.

Sited on a huge triangular lot in the Palo Verdes Tract, the deceptively large, single-story home has rarely ever been available for touring. Members of the Stephens family are scheduled to attend the event. Light hors d’oeuvres and non-alcoholic beverages will be served. Tickets are available at http://www.pspreservationfoundation.org/stephenshouse.html .

Swiss-born architect Albert Frey’s contributions to modern architecture in the Palm Springs desert region significantly established the area as a progressive mecca for innovative design.  Frey’s work, and that of his colleagues John Porter Clark and Robson Chambers, became known as desert modernism, creating a regional vernacular for the style that originated in Europe and translated into the American post war psyche. http://mid-century-modern.net/albert-frey/. Continue reading “Albert Frey Established Palm Springs As Mecca for Mid-Century Modern Style”

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Tennis Club and Sunnylands – Architect A. Quincy Jones Work Continues Relevant in This Century

 

Tennis Club Pool Part of Palm Springs Art Museum  Symposium November 21; Sunnylands Undergoing Restoration as Art and Education Center


The Palm Springs Art Museum at www.psmuseum.org,  is sponsoring a two-day education event, Backyard Oasis Symposium: The Swimming Pool In Southern California Photography, 1945-1980, Nov. 20 and 21.  A tour of significant Palm Springs pools on the second day of the symposium concludes with a reception at the A. Quincy Jones-designed Tennis Club pool.

The event is sponsored by the museum’s Architecture and Design Council, but is open to the public.  Cost is $125 for non members.  For information, contact Brooke DeVenney at (760) 322-4818 or [email protected].

In 1947, Jones and associate Paul R. Williams collaborated to redesign the Tennis Club, then owned by Palm Springs pioneer Pearl  McCallum McManus.  Initially, the project was to renovate and expand club’s kitchen, swimming pool and tennis courts.  But it grew to include creating a new dining room — the Bougainvillea Room which is literally carved out of the mountain’s rock face –as well as a snack bar, cocktail lounge and terraces for outdoor dining and relaxing. Continue reading “Tennis Club and Sunnylands – Architect A. Quincy Jones Work Continues Relevant in This Century”

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Indulge Your Passion for Desert Modern Homes at the 2010 Home Tour

 

Those with a passion for Desert modern architecture can indulge their senses at the Palm Springs Modern Heritage Fund’s 2010 Annual Home Tour (www.psmodernheritagefund.com/events.html) on Saturday, Nov. 6.   This year’s tour will cover residences in Rancho Mirage and Palm Springs with the rare opportunity to discover magnificent estates behind the gated hillside community of Thunderbird Heights, open for the very first time to tour guests.

The day-long, self driving tour includes eight homes and concludes with a poolside wine and cheese reception.  Cost is $125 and only a limited number of tickets will be available online for purchase at   www.psmodernheritagefund.com. Tour details will be provided to registrants only.

“Home tours like these are a great way to get acquainted with the superb collection of modern homes that we have here in Palm Springs,” said Ralph Haverkate.

“Palm Springs contains one of the largest concentrations of mid-century modern homes and buildings that you’ll find anywhere,” said Haverkate.  “The desert landscape here inspired such world-famous architects as Richard J. Neutra (www.neutrafoundation.com), Donald Wexler (www.moderndeserthome.com/index.php/architects.donald), Albert Frey, William F. Cody, Bill Krisel and Stewart E. Williams (www.psmodcom.com) who put their own stamp on mid-century modernist aesthetic.  It is so distinctive, in fact, that we now have a separate term for it  — desert modernism.”

Mid-century modern architecture, from approximately the 1940s through the 1960s, was partly fueled by the economic and housing boom of post World War II.  Desert modernism, a regional approach to International Style architecture, capitalized on the sunny skies and warm climate of the Palm Springs area, incorporating rocks, trees and other landscape features into the design.

A haven for captains of industry, Hollywood celebrities, and a burgeoning population of middle-class American families in the mid-20th century, Palm Springs was unique in place and time in that many talented, world renowned architects found their niche creating visionary, innovative civic buildings, custom and tract homes through both private investors and public commissions.

Characterized by open floor plans, extensive use of glass, steel and concrete, and seamless transitions from indoor to outdoor spaces, Palm Springs mid-century modern homes have been enjoying a revival of interest over the past decade or more.

“These day, buyers who have an eye for design are very much in the market for modern homes in Palm Springs,” said Haverkate  “With these homes now recognized for the historic and architectural treasures that they are, it’s no surprise that they are now among the most sought-after properties in the Greater Palm Springs area’s real estate market.”

The Heritage Fund was established as a 501 ( c ) 4 organization specifically to support local political candidates who share preservationists’ views about Palm Springs’ historic modern architectural heritage.  While tickets to the home tour are not tax deductible, funds go toward political endeavors to protect this heritage.

Pamela Bieri

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All About Mid-Century Modern

What is Mid-Century Modern?

Mid-Century modern is an architectural, interior and product design form that generally describes mid-20th century development in modern design, architecture and urban development from roughly 1933 to the late 1960s (www.en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mid-century-modern).

The term, coined by Cara Greenberg for her book, Mid-Century Modern: Furniture of the 1950s, published in 1983 by Random House, is now recognized by scholars and museums worldwide as a significant design movement.

What is Modernism?

Before World War II, architecture and furniture styles emphasized hand craftsmanship — ornate detail and traditional materials like dark, heavy woods.  However, decades earlier, the visual arts, painting and sculpture had already been influenced  by a movement called “modernism” with a visual emphasis on clean lines, contrast, elevation and innovative style and form.

French Impressionists, such as Matisse, Picasso, and symbolists in literature, Ezra Pound, T.S. Elliott, were among the early modernist artists and writers.

Modernism “questions the axioms of the previous age,” and is a cultural movement of changes in Western society beginning in the late 19th and early 20th centuries.  It reflects  a trend of thought that human beings can create, improve and reshape the environment through practical experimentation, scientific knowledge and technology.   Along with new artistic and philosophical trends, social, political and economic were forces at work – industrialization (en.Wikipedia.org//wiki/Modernism).

Post War Life Style

Continue reading “All About Mid-Century Modern”

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Just Listed: A Walter White Architectural Gem in South Palm Desert

Welcome to Ralph Haverkate’s Real Estate Blog, Specializing in Mid-Century Modern Homes

Just Listed:  Architectural Gem in South Palm Desert by California Modern Inventor, Industrial Designer and Architect Walter White www.73271Buckboard.com

During the 1950s and 60s when many architects and developers first came to the desert, the area’s unique terrain, climate and rugged beauty provided exciting challenges as well as new vision for a generation of modernist thinkers.  Some gained fame and fortune in the desert; their many contributions are clearly visible in tract and custom developments, public and community projects throughout the area.

Others, such as California Modernist Walter S. White, created only a few precious gems that are still quietly tucked away in quality neighborhoods, just beginning to receive the recognition they deserve.

One of White’s unique homes, built in 1958 in the Silver Spur residential enclave at 73221 Buckboard Trail, overlooking Palm Desert, is now on the market.

Architectural block, glass walls that create a compelling indoor/outdoor relationship, interior floating walls and clerestory windows are a Walter White signature.  The home’s authentic mosaic bath tiles and pebble stone entry have been lovingly restored.  The newer pebble tech salt-water pool and spa are surrounded by spacious lawns, open patio areas and custom decorative block screen. Continue reading “Just Listed: A Walter White Architectural Gem in South Palm Desert”