case study houses palm springs

• Palm Springs Convention Center
• LGBTQ+ Travel

• Health & Happiness
• Aerial Adventures
• Arts & Culture
• Attractions
• Bike & Scooter Rentals
• Hiking/Rock Climbing
• Off Road Adventures
• Parks & Recreation
• Spa & Beauty
• Sports & Fitness
• Bars & Lounges
• Continental
• Italian/Pizza
• Mediterranean
• Mexican/Latin
• Vegetarian/Vegan/Organic
• Large Hotels
• Mid-Sized Hotels
• Small Hotels & Inns
• Vacation Rentals
• Gay Resorts
• Art, Galleries & Supplies
• Cannabis & Tobacco
• Clothing Accessories
• Department & Hardware Stores
• Floral Design & Shop
• Gifts, Collectibles & Souvenirs
• Grocery & Pharmacy
• Health, Nutrition & Beauty
• Home Décor & Furniture
• Pet Stores & Services
• Shipping & Printing Services
• Specialty Food & Wine
• Sporting Goods
• Vintage Shopping & Antiques
• Order Visitor Guides
• Getting Here
• Visitor Information
• Eat & Drink
• © Copyright 2024 Palm Springs Bureau of Tourism. All rights reserved.
• Privacy Policy
• Do Not Sell or Share My Info
• Site by Vrrb

Discover Palm Spring’s Mid-Century Modern Architecture

Palm Springs is a mecca for modernism, especially mid-century architecture and design. In fact, you can’t avoid seeing and experiencing this special style while in town.

Stay at a mid-century resort.

Orbit In  is a retro resort with lots of mid-mod style, designed by Herbert Bruns. You can even see the Frey House from the outdoor shower of their Frey Room. Its sister property is The Hideaway, located in the historic tennis neighborhood.

L’Horizon Hotel is the former vacation retreat of television producer Jack Wrather, who produced shows like “The Lone Ranger” and “Lassie.” It was designed by architect William F. Cody.

Del Marcos Hotel  was architect Bill Cody’s first Palm Springs commission, setting the tone for post-war modern motels.

Movie Colony Hotel was designed by Albert Frey. The exteriors still show his style, but the interiors are more 21st-century modern than mid-20th-century.

The Desert Star  looks like a classic 1950s motel, but each one-bedroom unit is individually owned. Some owners put their units up for rent when they’re not using them.

Hollywood came to Palm Springs to play and getaway from the cameras and fans. They came here to be themselves and spend time with their high-profile friends: stars, aristocrats, business elite, and artists, among others. At first, they stayed at the popular El Mirador Hotel and then at the famous Racquet Club. Later, they built winter homes and invited the era’s most visionary architects to build their homes, offering them full artistic reign. Their creations were suited to the desert landscape, with lots of glass and clean lines, using innovative materials to create indoor/outdoor living spaces.

Vista Las Palmas Neighborhood

The Vista Las Palmas neighborhood came together in the late 50s when The Alexander Construction Co. hired William Krisel and Charles Dubois (responsible for all the fab Swiss Miss A-Frames) to design over 300 homes that would sit at the base of Mt. San Jacinto. Some of these backyards are literally giant, rocky mountains (which is hard to see in these photos because it was so rainy and foggy the day I drove through). Famous residents over the years include Dean Martin, Peter Lawford, Dinah Shore, Kirk Douglas, Debbie Reynolds, and Marilyn Monroe. Now that’s some serious star power. This neighborhood is bordered by Mt. San Jacinto to the West North, Via Monte Vista to the East, Vista Chino to the North, and West Crescent Drive to the South. This is one of the most exclusive neighborhoods in Palm Springs.

Here are just a few homes to see:

The Alexander/May House – 424 West Vista Chino: Edward Fickett designed this home in 1951 for his friend and colleague George Alexander of The Alexander Construction Co., who sold it to Tom May of the May Department Stores.

The Marilyn Monroe House – 1326 Rose: this ultra-chic bungalow has all the style and glam of Marilyn herself. It is said to be where Marilyn lived several months before her death. She did not own this home.

The Dinah Shore Estate – 432 Hermosa: You may not be able to see much of this estate from the street, but you can see a modernist’s dream house made of glass and stone. This low-profile masterpiece was designed by Donald Wexler in 1964 and sits on 1.3 acres. This is what I call timeless mid-century modern. After Dinah Shore, Broadway composer and lyricist Jerry Herman lived here. Hello, Dolly indeed! Leonardo DiCaprio owns the home and rents it out when he’s not using it.

Anne Miller House—457 Hermosa: Just across the street is a classic, Spanish terra cotta-roofed house that once belonged to actress and singer Ann Miller, best remembered for her work in the musicals of the 1940s and 1950s. You can’t see much from your street view,  but admire it quickly and move on!

The Wexler Steel Homes

290 E Simms Road

Donald Wexler and Ric Harrison designed this stylish-looking house with the accordion-pleated roof. Combining prefab and on-site construction, they created homes that looked custom-built but took only a few days to assemble on-site. Seven of the so-called Steel Houses were built in this neighborhood. House Number 2 (3125 North Sunny View Drive) is on the National Register of Historic Places. The Wexler Steel Houses are also the only Case Study houses in Palm Springs. These are private homes and not open to the public.

House of Tomorrow

1350 Ladera Circle

The Alexander Estate was built for a local real estate developer and called the House of Tomorrow. The design is based on four circles on three levels. It’s known as the Elvis Honeymoon Hideaway, where Elvis and Priscilla Presley honeymooned in 1967.

Palm Springs Art Museum Architecture and Design Center

300 S Palm Canyon Drive

Palm Springs Art Museum’s Architecture and Design Center is in a 1961 Santa Fe Savings & Loan building crafted by pioneering desert architect E. Stewart Williams. The old vault is now part of the gift shop. The museum is in the middle of a midcentury business district that’s worth walking around. Walking about two blocks south of the museum, you’ll pass several other midcentury buildings.

Twin Palms Neighborhood

South of Ocotillo Lodge on East Palm Canyon

Twin Palms Estates was developed beginning in 1957. It was designed by William “Bill” Krisel of Palmer and Krisel and was built by Alexander Construction Company. Most of the houses had private swimming pools, and they all had precisely two palms for landscaping. Tract homes were a big hit in Palm Springs; about 90 were built in Twin Palms. With a price tag of about $30,000 in 1957, they were within reach for vacation homeowners.

You May Also Like:

Mid-century architecture self-guided tour, lawrence crossley makes mark in palm springs, more from architecture.

Architects Who Built Palm Springs: Dan Palmer & William Krisel

Palm Springs owes much of its unique charm to the vision and creativity of architects…

The Aluminaire House

A Modernist Marvel Finds its Forever Home at the Palm Springs Art Museum In 1931,…

Architects Who Built Palm Springs: A. Quincy Jones

Archibald Quincy Jones, whom most refer to as A. Quincy Jones, was an architect from…

Palm Springs Newsletter

Receive news and announcements from Palm Springs straight to your inbox

Cool cats and tiki treats: Inside the outrageous Midcentury Modern Shag House in Palm Springs

• Show more sharing options
• Copy Link URL Copied!

In a neighborhood filled with homogeneous Midcentury Modern residences, Brandon McBurney’s Palm Springs home stands out thanks to its 10-foot-tall lime green doors that face the street.

“I wanted something that would stand up to the history of the Palm Springs front door ,” says Josh Agle , the artist popularly known as Shag, who designed the house and chose the lively hue. “There’s no such thing as too cheesy.”

Agle was referring to the Shag House , McBurney’s four-bedroom home designed by architects Dan Palmer and William Krisel for the Alexander Construction Co. in 1958. The house started as a whimsical idea by branding guru John-Patrick Flynn in 2021: Purchase a run-down Midcentury Modern tract home in Palm Springs and invite Shag to reimagine it as one of his artworks.

The front patio and the outdoor lounge at the Shag House. (Mariah Tauger / Los Angeles Times)

On a recent sunny afternoon, Agle, whose colorful artworks depict cool cats, Hawaiian tiki gods and martini-sipping swingers, had just put the finishing touches on the house, which will be open to the public during Modernism Week , which runs Feb. 15-25.

12 don’t-miss home tours for Midcentury Modern fans at Palm Springs’ Modernism Week

During Modernism Week 2024, explore the Midcentury Modern homes that Elvis, Shag, John Lautner and others have made famous in Palm Springs.

Jan. 25, 2024

“We built it exactly to his specifications,” says Flynn, who found the house along with McBurney and Agle after looking at 22 others. “Josh created a piece of art, handed it to us, and said, ‘Build this.’ And we did.”

The process was sometimes challenging. For instance, when Agle designed an outdoor bar topped with a round roof, the contractors told the trio it was impossible to build. However, the 61-year-old artist insisted. “He stayed true to his design,” Flynn says of the bar, now ready for cocktail service.

As the principal designer, Agle had the final say on the home’s design, with some input from McBurney, 46, who purchased the house in the Little Beverly Hills neighborhood of Palm Springs for $935,750 in 2021.

“I would do renderings, and they would often tell me it would be hard to do,” Agle says of the design and build process. “I changed some things. But I was unbending on the bar, especially since it was in the renderings, and they had shown it on social media.”

Although McBurney was OK with Agle’s tongue-in-cheek designs, including cat-, tiki- and Asian-themed bedrooms with velvet paintings and Googie-style lava lamps, he wasn’t initially sold on the home’s orange ceilings. But now he’s a fan. His only request? A hanging daybed and a Buddha statue overlooking the pool in the backyard.

Agle’s artworks tread between lighthearted joy and sincere nostalgia: Rat Packers spinning records and sipping martinis inside the John Lautner Compound in Desert Hot Springs; cocktail parties at Richard Neutra’s Kaufmann Desert House ; and a family picnic outside the Eames House in Pacific Palisades. His latest piece, “The Mammoth Martini,” was inspired by his father, who was in a fraternity at UCLA. The painting hangs over the bar in the game room and is fully realized in the Shag House’s backyard.

The 19 best stores to find Midcentury Modern furniture in L.A.

Looking for an Eames lounge chair or a Danish modern credenza? Here’s a list of the 18 best places to shop for Midcentury Modern furniture in L.A.

June 27, 2023

“I’ve always been a fan of Shag’s art,” says McBurney, an e-commerce executive for supermarket chain Kroger who has been coming to Palm Springs for more than 20 years. Originally from the Pacific Northwest, he lives in the desert full-time and hopes to open his home for fundraising and charity events.

“How can I not share this house?” says McBurney, decked out in a Palm Springs-appropriate pink and green floral blazer by Mr. Turk. (McBurney describes the renovation as a “million-dollar” project, including what he spent and donations from sponsors Ferguson Bath, Kitchen & Lighting Gallery, JennAir and California Closets, among others.)

He adds, sounding a bit wistful: “I’m so blessed to be able to live here. This house is iconic. It’s a beautiful representation of Josh’s art.”

Agle admits he wasn’t a fan of Palm Springs when he first came to the desert enclave in the 1980s. “It was pretty boring,” he says. “But the architecture was amazing — even the commercial buildings. You could see what it once was. I started painting not what it used to be but what I hoped it would become. I was painting the lifestyle I wanted to live, the parties I wanted to be at and the houses I wanted to live in.”

Today, past and present collide at the Shag House, which is a testament to sunny midcentury Palm Springs and the postwar optimism of that time. In fact, it’s hard to feel sad while experiencing the Shag House, which is a little like viewing a holiday light display: You can’t help but smile when you see it and wish it would stay open all year.

11 iconic L.A. homes you can tour IRL: Frank Lloyd Wright, Neutra, Eames and more

Is the quintessential L.A. home a Midcentury Modern dream, stately Craftsman or a colorful Spanish Colonial? Take a tour and decide for yourself.

Sept. 27, 2023

Like Palm Springs itself, the house has a casual vacation vibe. “I didn’t want to take the house too seriously,” Agle says as he walks by an Operation game-inspired artwork depicting a Hennessy Heart, Bacardi Brain and Ketel One Kidney.

Clad in a chartreuse sport coat, white pants and a vintage-inspired shirt made from a fluorescent print fabric, Agle says, “There is a strong alcohol theme throughout the house, which plays into my art as well.”

Agle doesn’t drink anymore — he drolly describes it as “career research” — but he still loves to paint alcohol-fueled party scenes. “It points to a mythical lifestyle that Palm Springs encapsulates,” Agle says. “People from L.A. and movie stars would come to Palm Springs and start drinking at noon, have drinks at the clubhouse, go out to Melvyn’s and have a couple more drinks. Because they weren’t working, they could live that lifestyle, if only for a weekend.”

Regarding the home’s colorful interiors, which feature a glossy orange and green kitchen, blue Case Study-style daybeds and an Eames lounge chair in a custom orange fabric, Agle wanted to fight neutral trends like cream-colored boucle. “Ten to 15 years ago, you’d walk into a Midcentury Modern shop in Palm Springs, and everything was turquoise and green,” he says. “The colors I chose for the house — mostly orange, green and blue — are appropriate for Palm Springs.”

Travel & Experiences

It’s the best time to visit Palm Springs. Here are 64 ways to enjoy L.A.’s beloved getaway

L.A.’s love affair with Palm Springs endures. Here’s where to go, stay and eat when planning a weekend trip to this desert escape.

Feb. 8, 2023

The result is an upbeat and happy home that feels like you have somehow touched down in a surreal version of one of Agle’s paintings.

“It is no surprise that Shag is an icon in Palm Springs,” says Elizabeth Armstrong, an independent curator and former director of the Palm Springs Art Museum, in an email. While Modernism Week takes historic preservation seriously, Armstrong adds, “Shag has created a new kind of concept house. A Retro-Futurist known for his nostalgic take on all things Midcentury Modern, visitors can immerse in a totally seductive and surreal 3-D version of Shag’s take on Camp Modernism. It’s Shagalicious.”

Colorful lights and a classic Shag mural set the scene in the dining room. The side yard hosts a ping-pong table. (Mariah Tauger / Los Angeles Times)

After two years of supply chain issues, labor disruptions and weather delays, the Shag House is finally ready to open its doors on Feb. 15. Representatives for Modernism Week estimate that more than 4,000 people will come through the house, in addition to it hosting special events and parties for more than 300 people. As Agle prepares for the unveiling, he hopes visitors will “have fun and don’t take it too seriously.”

True to their initial concept, the home is a timeless treasure from a forward-thinking team that worked to preserve its past.

“We added square footage, but you can still recognize that it’s an Alexander house,” says project manager Flynn. “I found a woman whose grandparents owned the house from 1968 to 1992, and I invited her and her stepbrother to come see the house. She stood there with tears and said, ‘I recognize my grandparents’ house. I see the magic that you have created.’”

Shag House events during Modernism Week

The Shag House Signature Home Tour, Modernism Week 2024: Feb. 15-25. Ticket: $40.

Poolside Fashion at the Shag House: The Style of Trina Turk: 11 a.m. Feb. 20. Ticket: $95.

Poolside Fashion at the Shag House: The History of the Caftan: 11 a.m. Feb. 21. Ticket: $125.

Swinging Mid Mod Cocktail Party: At the Shag House: 7 p.m. Feb. 21. Ticket: $250.

Poolside Fashion at the Shag House: The Style of Candice Held: 11 a.m. Feb. 22. Ticket: $95.

The Mammoth Martini Party at the Shag House: 8 p.m. Feb. 23. Ticket: $125.

For tickets to these events and more information, visit modernismweek.com .

Consider subscribing to the Los Angeles Times

Your support helps us deliver the news that matters most.

Become a subscriber .

More Palm Springs stories

Palm Springs guide: 64 things to do on a weekend trip 17 groovy shops to add to your Palm Springs bucket list Who wants a ’50s kitchen? This Palm Springs home reimagines Midcentury Modern for 2023 A neglected midcentury home is transformed into a Palm Springs showstopper It’s here. It’s queer. A guide to LGBTQ-friendly spots in Palm Springs He lovingly restored a midcentury gem. Now, you can tour it Restoring a neglected tract home to Midcentury glory in Palm Springs Inside a Palm Springs getaway that’s modern, hip -- and still kid-friendly

More to Read

America’s first all-metal-and-glass house is reborn in Palm Springs

March 26, 2024

If you walk around the reservoir, you know this house. See inside the modern remodel

Feb. 26, 2024

The best Palm Springs shops to find Midcentury Modern gems are stocked with surprises

Feb. 6, 2024

Sign up for our L.A. Times Plants newsletter

At the start of each month, get a roundup of upcoming plant-related activities and events in Southern California, along with links to tips and articles you may have missed.

You may occasionally receive promotional content from the Los Angeles Times.

Lisa Boone is a features writer for the Los Angeles Times. Since 2003, she has covered home design, gardening, parenting, houseplants, even youth sports. She is a native of Los Angeles.

Mariah Tauger has been a staff photographer with the Los Angeles Times since 2019. Prior to joining the team, she worked in the magazine, freelance and nonprofit world, specializing in lifestyle and features photography. For over a decade, she has covered everything from the Olympics to celebrity chefs and her work has been featured in almost every major American publication. She is currently working on a personal documentary project examining the meat industry. Originally from Colorado, Tauger is an avid environmentalist and outside of photography, her passion lies with animal rights and advocacy.

More From the Los Angeles Times

Classic film lovers: See James Dean’s apartment and more on new TCM tour at Warner Bros.

April 16, 2024

This iconic wildflower spot can be dazzling. Is it worth the trek from L.A. this year?

This Storybook cottage’s native plant wonderland shows how gorgeous no grass can be

April 15, 2024

How to have the best Sunday in L.A., according to Tia Mowry

April 12, 2024

Find anything you save across the site in your account

Tour the Most Beautiful Homes from This Year’s Modernism Week In Palm Springs, California

By Nick Mafi

In many ways, Palm Springs, California, is an architectural oasis. Located a mere two hours from Los Angeles, the desert city was developed as a midcentury haven for Hollywood’s biggest stars— Marilyn Monroe , Frank Sinatra , Ava Gardner , Liz Taylor , and Elvis Presley, to name a few, found themselves in Palm Springs at one time or another. A half-century later, and the homes they left behind are still adored by many. Every February since 2005, the best of midcentury-modern design, architecture, art, fashion, and culture are showcased during Palm Springs’ Modernism Week . The 11-day affair is rich with tours of iconic homes, architectural walks, and double-decker bus tours, as well as lecture and film series, among other design-focused events. This year’s show, which runs through February 21, is expected to draw more than 60,000 visitors from around the globe. Here, Architectural Digest takes a look at some of the most fascinating midcentury homes featured during the event.

Shown: Referred to by some as the Camp David of the West, Sunnylands has entertained politicians and celebrities alike. It was built in 1966 by architect A. Quincy Jones.

Desert Eichler House, designed by the renowned postwar developer Joseph Eichler.

M. W. Indian Wells was the former winter residence of President Eisenhower.

Steel House by Donald Wexler, an influential midcentury-modern architect.

By Sarah Archer

By Katherine McLaughlin

By Sunshine Flint

Built in 1965 and designed by Albert Frey and Robson Chambers, the Tramway Gas Station was listed on the National Register of Historic Places in 2015.

Raymond Loewy House by Albert Frey, the architect responsible for establishing much of the style that came to be known as desert modernism.

Seva House was designed by modernist architect Hugh Kaptur, who went on to build more than 200 residences in the area (including houses for actors Steve McQueen and William Holden).

When Frank Sinatra moved to Palm Springs in the 1940s, he transformed the sleepy town into a hot spot for Hollywood stars. The Sinatra House is where the singer lived during some of his most publicly turbulent years.

Best Restaurants

Nightlife Guide

Best Time to Visit

Weather & Climate

Palm Springs Airport Guide

Best Hotels

48-Hour Itinerary

Day Trips From Palm Springs

Guide to Joshua Tree National Park

Top Things to Do

Where to Shop

Best Museums

Architecture Guide

The Best Mid-Century Modern Sites in Palm Springs, California

TripSavvy / Taylor McIntyre

The word "modern" often comes up when people talk about Palm Springs. It's a modern mecca for visitors. It's also a living museum of mid-twentieth century architecture, where homes and buildings look as if they could have been designed last week instead of in the last century.

In fact, you can't avoid seeing mid-century architecture in Palm Springs, and many people go there just to revel in it. This short self-guided tour will take you to some of the city's most gorgeous places, which are easy to see from the street or to get inside. 

Why Is There so Much Modern Architecture?

If you were a movie star in the middle of the twentieth century and wanted to escape the hustle and bustle for the weekend, Palm Springs was the place to go. It was a practical matter: Palm Springs is as far away from Hollywood as a contract actor could get and still be back at the studio within two hours when they were needed.

The Hollywood A-listers hired the era's most visionary architects to design sleek, modern Palm Springs homes that embraced the desert environment. Their creations were suited to the desert climate, with lots of glass and clean lines, using innovative materials to create spaces for indoor/outdoor living.

Try This Trick to Get Inside a Modernist House

Before you set out, try this trick to get inside a modernist house without paying a penny. All you have to do is find property for sale where they're having an open house. 

If you're using Zillow's mobile app, search for Palm Springs, click down arrow next to For Sale and apply these filters: for sale, built 1945 to 1960, by agent, open houses. 

Modernism Apps

You might think of trying an app for your modernism tour, but unfortunately, none are super useful. The Palm Springs Modern App, for example, is difficult to navigate with, and it hasn’t been updated since 2014.

Tramway Gas Station

If you drove into Palm Springs from the north on Palm Canyon Drive, you went right past this unusual structure. In fact, it was designed to be the first building people would see on their way into town. It was originally an Enco gas station, designed by architects Albert Frey and Robson C. Chambers.

The wedge-shaped canopy is hard to miss, and the design is classic modernist architecture at its best. Frey also designed the buildings at the Palm Springs Tramway just up the road, and you could take a side trip to ride the tram before continuing your tour.

The visitor center is a good place for a restroom stop, or to ask questions and get advice.

Address:  2901 N Palm Canyon Drive

Wexler Steel Houses

This stylish-looking house with the accordion-pleated roof was designed by Donald Wexler and Ric Harrison. If you thought pre-fabricated homes from companies like Blu Homes and Turkel Design were a new concept, these guys were way ahead of you. Combining prefab and on-site construction, they created homes designed to look like they were custom-built but took only a few days to assemble on-site.

Seven of the so-called Steel Houses were built in this neighborhood . House Number 2 (3125 North Sunny View Drive) is on the National Register of Historic Places. The Wexler Steel Houses are also the only Case Study houses in Palm Springs.

Address: 290 E Simms Road

House of Tomorrow

The Alexander Estate was built for a local real estate developer and called the House of Tomorrow. The design is based on four circles on three levels. The identity of its architect is still a mystery.

Today, it's known as the Elvis Honeymoon Hideaway , the place where Elvis and Priscilla Presley honeymooned in 1967, and it's open for tours. Whether you're an Elvis fan or not, this house offers one of the easiest ways to see inside an original mid-century house in Palm Springs.

Address:  1350 Ladera Circle

Mid-Century Business District

Palm Springs Art Museum’s Architecture and Design Center  is in a 1961 savings-and-loan building crafted by pioneering desert architect E. Stewart Williams. It's in the middle of a mid-century business district that's worth taking a walk around. If you walk about two blocks south from the museum, you'll pass several other mid-century buildings.

Address:  300 S Palm Canyon Drive

Twin Palms Estates is one of the most exciting mid-century neighborhoods in Palm Springs . The housing development started in 1957, designed by William "Bill" Krisel of Palmer and Krisel and built by Alexander Construction Company. Most of the houses had private swimming pools, and they all had exactly two palms for landscaping.

Tract homes were such a big hit in Palm Springs that more than 2,500 of them were eventually built, about 90 in the Twin Palms neighborhood. With a price tag of about $30,000 in 1957 (a little more than $250,000 in twenty-first-century dollars), they were within reach for vacation homeowners.

A local realtor owns this house, and as you can see, it's mid-century right down to the cars parked in the driveway. And you've gotta love that exuberant landscaping. 

Just down the around the corner is 1840 Caliente Drive, pictured at the beginning of this guide.

Address:  1070 Apache Road

More Mid-Century

Modernism Week  is the annual mid-century extravaganza in Palm Springs. It happens in February. The week always includes a few tours that get you inside some of Palm Springs' modernist icons.

Among the houses frequently on tour during the week is the Frey House II by Albert Frey, an early-day tiny house that was both the architect's home and studio, Tours in previous years have also included the Edris House and the home of designer Christopher Kennedy . The house tours sell out fast, and you need to be ready to reserve as soon as ticket s go on sale, which is usually in August (for the February show).

Mid-Century Shopping

If seeing all those mid-century modern creations gets you in the mood to buy something for your home, try the Uptown Design District on North Palm Canyon Drive between Alejo Road and Vista Chino. In that short stretch, you'll find boutiques selling modernist-inspired furniture, crafts, housewares, and art.

Guided Mid-Century Tours

Several tour companies in Palm Springs feature modern architecture. You can reserve a tour with any of these companies:

• Palm Springs Modern Tours  
• Palm Springs Mod Squad  

The Palm Spring Art Museum offers an architectural icon walking tour, but dates are limited. You can also take a docent-led tour at the museum's architecture design center.

Notable Modernist Houses That Aren't Easy to See

If you look at lists of the most important modernist structures in Palm Springs, it's easy to get excited. Unfortunately, in reality, some of them are seemingly impossible to get more than a glimpse of. And a few are completely hidden.

The Kaufmann Desert House above was designed by architect Richard Neutra in 1946. That view is all you'll get from the street, and that dreamy-looking swimming pool is completely hidden from sight. To see more, you're better off to browse the photos of it at Architecture Daily .

The Edris House is up the hill from the Kaufmann and also hard to see because it's elevated above the street. John Lautner's Palm Springs creations, the Bob Hope House and the Elrod Circular House are both tucked away behind an entry gate that keeps visitors from getting in.

Mid-Century Accommodations

Homes and businesses weren't the only things under construction in Palm Springs during the 1950s and 60s. You'll also find quite a few places to stay that have that great mid-century style. Try one of these to top off your day of touring:

Mid-Century Lodging in Palm Springs

• Orbit In  is a retro resort with lots of mid-mod style, designed by Herbert Bruns. You can even see the Frey House from the outdoor shower of their Frey Room.
• L'Horizon Hotel is the former vacation retreat of television Jack Wrather who produced shows like "The Lone Ranger" and "Lassie," designed by architect William F. Cody.
• Del Marcos Hotel  was architect Bill Cody's first Palm Springs commission, setting the tone for post-war modern motels.
• Movie Colony Hotel  was designed by Albert Frey. The exteriors still show his style, but interiors are more 21st century modern than mid-20th-century.
• The Desert Star  looks like a classic 1950s motel, but each one-bedroom unit is individually owned. Some owners put their units up for rent when they're not using them.

Mid-Century Lodging in Desert Hot Springs

• Miracle Manor Retreat is a 1948 motel remodeled by architect Michael Rotondi that is now a bed and breakfast with a pool fed by a natural hot spring.
• The Lautner  is a collection of properties designed by architect John Lautner.  You can stay in rental units at The Lautner, stay in the Ranch House, or host an event in The Park.

Vacation Rentals

You can also find some amazing mid-century vacation home and apartment rentals in Palm Springs. Recent changes in the city's regulations cut down on the number of properties available through Airbnb, but it's still worth a look. You can also check VRBO and VacationRentals.com.

You can even  rent Frank Sinatra’s first Palm Springs residence (if you can afford it).

The 10 Best Museums to Visit In and Around Palm Springs

Palm Springs Guide: Planning Your Trip

15 Things to Do in Palm Springs

15 Los Angeles-Area Road Trips and Getaways

48 Hours in Palm Springs: The Ultimate Itinerary

Best Places to Honeymoon in March and April

The Best Time To Visit Palm Springs

The Best Palm Springs Shopping Spots

House Museums in Los Angeles

A Self-Guided Tour of Parisian Architecture

Historic Home Museums in Los Angeles

The Best Small Town in Every State

The 12 Best California Attractions

Top 11 Architecture Sights in San Francisco and Northern California

The Complete LGBTQ Travel Guide for Palm Springs

San Francisco Museum of Modern Art Guide

• Skip to primary navigation
• Skip to main content
• Skip to primary sidebar

Retro Road Trip: Mid-Century Modern Homes in Palm Springs

February 19, 2021 by Kimberly Us Leave a Comment

A Beginners Guide to Appreciating Mid Mod Architecture “The Alexanders”

From the moment I saw them as a kid while visiting my great aunt, I loved the mid-century modern homes in Palm Springs. I loved them long before I knew the term “Mid Mod” or Modernism. 

As an adult, it can feel intimidating to explore architecture because it seems like everyone knows more than you. This is especially true about something hip like Modernism.

Luckily, the folks on the Palm Springs Modern Committee, in collaboration with Palm Springs Life magazine, designed an app to help. It is called Palm Springs Modern: Mid-Century Architecture Tours . The app organizes self-guided tours of desert architecture by sections of Palm Springs and architects.

Touring “The Alexanders” designed by Architect William Krisel 

I took baby steps towards becoming a Mid Mod maven by following the tour of architect William Krisel . It had five stops, including four neighborhoods of homes affectionately called “The Alexanders,” named after the construction company. The last stop was the futuristic, “House of Tomorrow,” the personal residence of the Alexander family.

Tract Homes Built for Returning G.I.s and the Post-War Boom

“After World War Two most Americans had a vision of a better life just ahead. At the core of it was owning one’s own house…the vision started to become a reality: Suburbia.” David Halberstam, The Fifties

Tract homes relied on modern concepts such as prefabrication, modularization and mass production. They also utilized workers differently. Instead of relying on master craftsmen, tract homes assigned workers to specific teams. The teams had standardized tasks to complete and moved from house to house. This was similar to the assembly line developed by Ford Motors.

Modernism Embedded into Many Tract Homes of California

In California, architectural critic John Entenza, and his fellow editors at Los Angeles based  Arts & Architecture magazine, wanted to encourage the creation of a distinctive style for mass housing in California. They wanted to move beyond the classic ranch house of post-war housing. Arts & Architecture magazine launched the 1944-1960s Case Study houses.

“The idea was simple: commission the best modernist architects of the region to create houses that would serve as prototypes for postwar development.” Kevin Starr, Golden Dreams: California in an Age of Abundance 1950-1963

The Case Study series included 36 houses and apartment buildings, mostly built in Southern California. Some of the most important designers and architects of the area including Charles and Ray Eames, Richard Neutra, and Pierre Koening participated.  

“Case Study houses favored horizontal rhythms of glass, aluminum, wood, stone, and tile at once simple in design and industrial in materials, yet possessed as well of the poetry of place and an ambience of new beginnings after wartime.” Kevin Starr, Embattled Dreams: California in War and Peace 1940-1950s

Alexander Homes

Alexander Construction Company (ACC), was named after its founder George Alexander and his son, Bob. They had built residential tracts and apartments in Los Angeles for the past 15 years. 

Construction in Los Angeles was highly competitive and the desert had both an unmet housing demand and plenty of open space. The Alexanders, with their wives, relocated to Palm Springs in 1955. 

“…They (the Alexanders) learned–and here is the lesson for today’s developers–that excellent design and successful development can go hand in hand…The pragmatism of Modern production did not conflict with the idealism of good design in saving money and increasing profits.” Allan Hess, The Alexanders: A Desert Legacy

Influenced by the Case Study houses, the Alexanders and made good design part of their business plan. Key to their success were the architects of Palmer & Krisel, Donald Wexler and Charles DuBois.

How the Alexanders Created a Custom Look for Tract Homes

The Alexander Mid-Century Modern developments on the tour were Twin Palms, Vista las Palmas and Racquet Club Road Estates. 

“But while the… (houses) were certainly very stylish and contemporary, what the Alexanders were really marketing was a lifestyle. Beautiful, eye-catching brochures promised sun, leisure and cocktails.” James R. Harlan, The Alexanders: A Desert Legacy

Walls of glass and clerestory windows let in views of the San Jacinto Mountains, palm trees , and blue skies. A pool and fenced rear yard came standard. Two palm trees grew in every front yard at Twin Palms Estates.

William Krisel had both architecture and landscape architecture degrees. His designs brought the outdoors in and created homes where the patio and yard merged with the interior. 

To avoid the monotonous look of tact home developments, the Alexanders offered many variations. Rooflines came in flat, butterfly and gable. Vista las Palmas offered Bermuda and Hawaiian roof styles too.

In Vista las Palmas, “Swiss Misses,” by architect Charles Dubois, had Alpine-inspired A-Frame rooflines. These are also reminiscent of Hawaiian canoe sheds, which I explore in Adding a Tiki Twist to Midcentury Architecture . 

Exterior facades were important in creating a custom look. Available facades included concrete block, stone, stucco, conwood panels and wood siding. Krisel loved shadow block, which is a raised pattern on concrete tiles that changes its appearance with the sun’s angle. Breeze block, concrete squares with patterns cut through them, provided privacy, shade and ventilation.

Front doors, with their explosion of individualized paint colors, could be oriented facing the street or the side. Atriums and breezeways changed the look of homes with identical floorplans.

“Imaginative fireplaces…shoji screen partitions…luxurious Italian tile” Advertisement quoted in The Alexanders: a Desert Legacy .

Alexander houses featured post-beam construction which allowed for open floor plans with walls of glass. The HVAC (Heating, Ventilation and Air Conditioning System) was placed beneath the concrete pad so that there was no need for soffits and the entire home could have high ceilings. 

House of Tomorrow

The tour ends at the personal residence of the Alexanders, which they called “The House of Tomorrow” at 1350 Ladera Circle . Unfortunately, the home is undergoing a construction project and it is fenced off. 

The house, designed by William Krisel, was made of four perfect circles floating on three different levels around a center living area. The original floor plan is in The Alexanders: a Desert Legacy . It was 5,000 square feet and included four bedrooms and five bathrooms. It was built in 1959.

Pictures show a giant couch that wrapped around the wall, beneath the front windows. It also had a conical “floating fireplace” that hung in the center of the room from the ceiling. Rock walls, terrazzo floors and a sunken living room add to the walls of glass and peanut brittle stonework to create the indoor-outdoor living feel. 

The house had circular floating steps leading up to the front door. The backyard included a pool, stage, private garden, tennis court and fruit orchard.

Bob Alexander commissioned Palmer & Krisel to design the house, but was concerned that it might not appeal to his wife. She loved it! The Alexanders lived in the home until their tragic death in an airplane accident in 1965.

The home later became famous as Elvis and Priscilla Presley’s Honeymoon Hide-a-Way. Elvis’ manager, who had a home in Palm Springs, rented the house for a year for the Presleys.

William Krisel

William Krisel   (1924-2017) attended USC School of Architecture following WWII. He designed more than 40,000 living units throughout Southern California. Krisel became known as the architect that brought Modernism to the masses. 

Palm Springs Modern Committee awarded Krisel a Lifetime Achievement Award in 2006. A film on his life and contributions called William Krisel, Architect, premiered at the 2010 Palm Springs Modernism Week. 

“Midcentury Modernism is not a style, it’s a language. It stays the same whether it’s spoken in 1955 or 2005. It’s a language that will always be spoken.” William Krisel

In 2016, USC awarded Krisel a Distinguished Alumnus. This video gives a great overview of his incredible career.

I supplemented my tour with a booklet purchased from the Palm Springs Visitor Center called The Alexanders: A Desert Legacy . The booklet was created by the Palm Springs Preservation Foundation . The Palm Springs Visitor Center has many other titles for sale about local architecture.

I’ve only begun to work my way through the list of twelve architects featured on the Palm Springs Modern Mid-Century Architecture Tour App. 

Sign up for my newsletter for more articles about Palm Springs and the mid century.

Related posts.

More than Just an Instagram Photo Op Stretching up the hills on both sides of the San Gorgonio Pass, the windmills welcome visitors to Palm Springs and the Coachella Valley.…

Fan palms are the only palm tree native to California. They are the iconic palms of Palm Springs. Learn the Cahuilla origin myth and ecology of the fan palm.

10 movies with midcentury settings and topics that should be added to the binge list of every Mid Mod guy or gal.

Explore a Tiki neighborhood in San Diego that was developed with Polynesian themes.

Reader Interactions

Leave a reply cancel reply.

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *

Save my name, email, and website in this browser for the next time I comment.

Subscribe to my newsletter.

Be the first to get updates and more!

• First Name *
• Email Address *
• Email This field is for validation purposes and should be left unchanged.

California Case Study Houses

In January 1945 John Entenza, the editor and publisher of Arts & Architecture magazine, announced the Case Study Houses Program (CSHP), which was envisioned as a creative response to the impending building boom expected to follow the housing shortages of the Great Depression and World War II. 

Case Study House #22 Los Angeles by Pierre Koenig | Photo © Julius Shulman

Entenza encouraged participating architects to use donated materials from industry and manufacturers to create low-cost, modern housing prototypes that might foster a dialogue between architectural professionals and laymen. The Case Study Houses were built between 1945-1966 mostly in LA by Richard Neutra , Raphael Soriano, Craig Ellwood , Charles and Ray Eames , Pierre Koenig and Eero Saarinen . 

Case Study House #8 at the Pacific Palisades in LA. | Photo via Wikipedia

The Eames House is a landmark of mid-20th century modern Architecture and was constructed in 1949 by Charles & Ray Eames to serve as their home and studio.

The Eames House consists of two glass and steel rectangular boxes: one is a residence; one a working studio. | Photo © Herman Miller

The design was first sketched out by Charles Eames with Eero Saarinen in 1945 as a raised steel and glass box projecting out of the slope and spanning the entrance drive before cantilevering dramatically over the front yard. 

The house emphasise connection to the desert landscape while offering shelter from harsh climatic conditions. | Photo via Blenheim Gang

The Kaufmann Desert House in Palm Springs was designed by Richard Neutra in 1946. It is one of the most important examples of International Style architecture in the United States

With a simple rectangular design, the house is divided into two separate sections. | Photo via Urbipedia

The Case Study House #18b was the more successful in the series of Craig Ellwood. One of the most significant improvements was the preconstruction factory structure and combining this with other pre-built elements such as walls, floors. Another standard feature was the sliding doors in the living spaces of the house that overlooked the terrace and a pool for entertaining guests or family.

The design emphasizes harmony of materials and balance between interior and exterior through the use of terraces, water and skylights. | Photo via The City Project

In the Case Study House #21 , an early-career exploration, Pierre Koenig used a constrained set of industrial materials—primarily steel and glass—to execute a pure expression of his design approach. His philosophy of functionality and honesty in aesthetics manifests in a structure that appears simple but contains complexity in plan and organization.

Case Study House #22 in the Hollywood Hills was designed by Pierre Koenig. The house is considered an iconic representation of modern architecture in Los Angeles during the 20th century. 

The house was made famous by a photo of Julius Shulman showing two women leisurely sitting at a corner of the house with a panoramic view of the city through the floor-to-ceiling glass walls at night. | Photo © Julius Shulman

The highly publicized program ran from 1945 to 1964, spanning thirty-six individual designs, many of which were never constructed. The initial program announcement stated that “each house must be capable of duplication and in no sense be an individual performance” and that “the overall program will be general enough to be of practical assistance to the average American in search of a home in which he can afford to live.”

• International edition
• Australia edition
• Europe edition

Saving America's most architecturally stunning homes

Created by the masters of modernism, the mid-century homes of California are too small for today’s super-rich – hence a conference about how to preserve them

O n 21 February, the George Sturges house in Brentwood, California, was put on the block at Los Angeles Modern Auctions ( LAMA ). It is the only example of Frank Lloyd Wright ’s Usonian style in a city that boasts four of his earlier, textile block-style houses. Built in 1939, around the time of Fallingwater , it was owned in the 1950s by the late Jack Larson , who played Jimmy Olsen on TV’s Adventures of Superman . Bidding began at roughly $2.5m but when the smoke cleared, the house was still without a buyer.

It might be purchased and razed to make room for a larger house. Or it might fall into the hands of a professional athlete who wants to add a gym, or a celebrity chef who requires a bigger kitchen. Then again, it might be remanded to a lover of fine architecture committed to restoring it to its former glory and preserving it for the future.

“It’s about finding the right owner. It’s very difficult when somebody loves a house but wants it to be a different house than it is,” says Los Angeles Conservancy CEO Linda Dishman about the dangers of selling modest-sized iconic homes to affluent buyers who cherish opulence. “Most of the Case Study houses tend to be middle-class size. That certainly is an issue.”

Dishman spoke about preservation at the recent Iconic Houses 2016 Conference at the Getty Center , where curators of landmarks from around the world came to hear lectures with titles such as Taking Cues from the Schindlers, and Bauhaus on the Beach: Saving a Modern Legacy on Cape Cod.

In all, the group toured about 15 homes, including a Palm Springs excursion to A Quincy Jones ’s Sunnylands , commonly considered the Camp David of the west after Obama’s recent diplomatic summits there. Homes in the Los Angeles area included buildings by pioneers such as brothers Charles and Sumner Greene , Rudolph Schindler , and Richard Neutra , whose son Raymond tagged along, helpfully pointing out examples of his father’s work along the way.

The conference’s guest speaker, Harry Gesner , was one of the few remaining mid-century mavericks, whose Scantlin house sits a few steps away on the Getty campus, restored at the request of museum architect Richard Meier who lived there during construction. Still raucous and vital at 91, Gesner invited attendees to his Sandcastle and Wave houses, two fantastical structures sitting side by side on the beach in Malibu. The surging roof of the latter, with three sloping copper-green breakers turning back against the surf, is said to be the inspiration for Danish architect Jørn Utzon’s Sydney Opera House .

Gesner designed it while sitting on his long board, waiting for the right wave. The nephew of aircraft designer Jack Northrop , he survived Normandy during the second world war and studied briefly under Wright at Taliesin . “I was only there three days. During that time, we talked and I thought, ‘No, this is not the type of person I want to study under.’ Too strong and opinionated,” he says of Wright. “I thought I’d better do it on my own, rather than become another little Frank Lloyd Wright.”

His current project is named the Autonomous Tent, and is what he calls informal architecture – which means, as with his Sandcastle house, it has no formal foundation. “You could put it there in a matter of a day or two, and you could depart and leave no trace of where it was,” he says of his latest design, which is biodegradable and resistant to floods, forest fire and winds of up to 200 mph. “I’m keeping it as small as I can and as utilitarian as I possibly can with all of the materials we have developed.”

It may sound futuristic, but in many ways the Autonomous Tent ties Gesner to the mid-century tradition. At the core of the movement was the Case Study series commissioned by Arts & Architecture magazine. The objective was to use modern, low-cost materials newly available after the war to build sensible middle-class homes for returning soldiers. And while a gravity-defying cliffside home in the Hollywood hills may sound expensive, such sites sold cheap because they were deemed impossible to build on.

Since then, the value of that real estate has skyrocketed and today’s buyers tend to be affluent and accustomed to luxury. While many mid-century houses come with a prestige factor, they are usually less spacious and less luxurious than their neighbors, which is one of the reasons the Sturges house had trouble finding a buyer in a neighborhood where modern-day anonymous-looking structures would command much higher prices than a modest one by an American master.

One measure for safeguarding such a house would be through contract stipulations, which according to Dishman are often hard to enforce. Another way is to have the structure designated a cultural monument, which means any planned alterations would face review by the cultural heritage commission staff. But while designation brings public enforcement, it doesn’t protect the house in perpetuity. What Dishman recommends is a conservation easement, a federal program by which an owner can donate the rights to any alterations to a non-profit preservation group.

When real estate investor James Goldstein purchased his Beverly Crest home, designed by John Lautner in 1972 and made famous by its use in fashion shoots and The Big Lebowski, there was little concern about preservation. The mostly steel and concrete house cost only $185,000 at the time. But last month he donated it along with its contents to Lacma at an estimated value of $40m. Goldstein made adjustments to the house, working with Lautner until the architect’s death in 1994. Today a nightclub and a tennis court have been added to the property and work continues on a lap pool and entertainment center, while the original house remains free of significant changes.

“Mr Goldstein has done an amazing job at understanding the vision of Lautner, but still making it his house,” notes Dishman. “He has taken the original vision of the Sheats family, working with Lautner, and really built on that. But he’s done it in a way that is respectful to the original house.”

Lacma CEO Michael Govan was overjoyed to accept the Sheats-Goldstein house and the $17m endowment that comes with it. And although he concedes that caring for a painting is not the same as maintaining a classic home, he believes public institutions such as Lacma are a sound preservation option. The house will be open for limited tours to the public for as long as the septuagenarian Goldstein continues to reside there, offering just some of what Dishman believes is essential to future preservation.

“A lot of this has to do with education both of realtors and the general population,” she says, “and really creating a market for these houses as they are, to understand what they’re buying is as much a piece of art as a painting on the wall.”

• Architecture

Comments (…)

Most viewed.

• Subscribe Today
• Gift Subscriptions
• Subscription Services

• Calendar of Events
• Submit Events
• Health & Wellness
• Top Dentists
• Top Doctors
• Arts & Entertainment
• Attractions
• Best of the Best
• Food & Drink
• Fashion & Style
• Valley Shopping
• Shop El Paseo
• El Paseo Store Directory
• Hotels & Resorts
• Home & Design
• Top Realtors
• More…

Meet The Beadle!

A midcentury master finally finds his way to palm springs..

Pilar Viladas February 1, 2017 Modernism

It’s no secret that Palm Springs is a mecca for 20th-century modernist architecture, as indicated by the hordes of design aficionados who head to Modernism Week every winter. They can revel in buildings, mostly residential, 
by a pantheon of architectural gods: Richard Neutra, Albert Frey, Donald Wexler, A. Quincy Jones, 
William F. Cody, and William Krisel, to name just a few. But one notable architect whose work never made it to Palm Springs was Alfred Newman Beadle.

Based in Phoenix, Beadle (1927-1998) gained fame in Arizona for houses, commercial structures such as the IBEW Building, and apartment buildings like the Executive Towers, all of which translated the rigorous, steel-and-glass vocabulary of modern masters like Mies van der Rohe into a warmer, more relaxed — but no less elegant — desert idiom. Beadle’s 1963 Triad Apartments, a clean-lined complex that is perhaps his best-known work, is the only dwelling in the legendary Case Study program located outside California.

So it’s good news that one of Beadle’s house designs is near completion in the Desert Palisades subdivision, in the Chino Cone area at the foot of the San Jacinto Mountains. It was developed and built by Mike Yakovich, the owner of the construction firm Better Built Inc., with Palm Springs–based Lance O’Donnell as project architect and Ned Sawyer, a Scottsdale architect who worked with Al Beadle for 10 years in the 1960s and ’70s, as a consultant.

The project grew out of a series of fortuitous encounters. Yakovich — who was the contractor for the Donald Wexler–
designed house in Palm Springs that was featured at 
Modernism Week last year — was at the house when he met Scottsdale realtor Patrick Rice, who urged him to “come to Phoenix and see Al Beadle’s work.” Yakovich was “more than intrigued” by Beadle’s houses — sleek, simple boxes that sit lightly in their desert settings. He had already approached O’Donnell about collaborating on a development project, and O’Donnell had suggested Desert 
Palisades. “A light went on in my head,” Yakovich recalls. “This was the perfect place for an Al Beadle house.” In addition to working on the Beadle project, O’Donnell — who was also involved in last year’s Wexler project — designed and built a house on another lot in Desert Palisades.

PHOTO COURTESY BEADLE ARCHITECTURE Here, Al Beadle poses in front of the “Hawk’s Nest” Novak residence, North Phoenix, 1994. The former Navy Seabee was known to be tough-minded and impatient with anyone who did not share his design vision.

By sheer coincidence, Yakovich met Claudio Vekstein — a professor of architecture at Arizona State University, where the Beadle archives reside — in Palm Springs, and invited him back for Modernism Week. Vekstein, a native of Argentina who lives in Beadle’s Executive Towers, and who has long admired what he describes as “the innovative communal facets” of Beadle’s housing and his “authentic and eloquent” interpretation of modernism, was impressed by Yakovich’s “engaged approach” to modernist houses. When Yakovich called Vekstein to say he was headed to Phoenix and wanted to see Beadle’s work, Vekstein took him on a tour. On the second visit, Vekstein introduced him to Nancy Beadle, the architect’s widow, who had run her husband’s office while raising five children. When Yakovich told her he wanted to build a Beadle house in Palm Springs, “she had a bit of a chuckle,” he recalls. Once she realized that Yakovich was serious, she gave him her blessing, and he asked Vekstein to comb through the Beadle archives for a suitable design. The one Vekstein chose was an unrealized plan from the mid-1970s for a house on a rocky hillside in Paradise Valley, Arizona. Vekstein describes it as “a very vigorous and expressive structure, not common in Beadle’s work.” When he showed it to Yakovich, Vekstein says, “Mike was convinced by the simplicity, abstract, blunt nature” of the design, which featured a sleek rectangular volume set on a pedestal-like ground floor.

Nancy Beadle requested that Ned Sawyer consult on the project, since he had worked with her husband and was a friend of the family. As Nancy Beadle puts it, “Ned would know what Al wanted.” For his part, Sawyer was glad to be able to help realize this project four decades after it was designed. He feels it embodies “Al’s focus on simplicity” and the way the architect adapted modernist architecture to the desert’s harsh climate and rugged terrain.

BEADLE HOUSE PALM SPRINGS

YEAR BUILT: 2017 DEVELOPER & BUILDER: Mike Yakovich, Better Built, Inc. PROJECT ARCHITECT: Lance O’ Donnell CONSULTANTS: Ned Sawyer, Nancy Beadle RESEARCHER: Claudio Vekstein

Even though the house, which cantilevers out 14 feet from its ground floor, was designed for a location in Arizona, Sawyer sees it as “a natural for the site Mike had,” since the landscape is similar to the original setting. The house is true to Beadle’s concept, while incorporating ideas that are more in tune with the way people live today. On the main floor, with its central living-dining area and deep porches on either side, what was to have been an enclosed kitchen in a corner of the house has been opened to face the dining area. One end of the house contains a master suite, while the opposite end has another bedroom and bath and a study. The ground floor, which was originally designed to contain storage space, now boasts two more bedrooms and two-and-a-half baths. The spiral staircase that was supposed to connect the ground-floor entrance to the main floor no longer conformed to building codes, so a U-shaped stairway took its place.

Perhaps the most striking alteration to the original design is the substitution of steel panels on the exterior for the plaster panels Beadle had envisioned. Yakovich is particularly enthusiastic about the change, because the rusty color of the steel “blends with the rocky hillside — it was the first material that came to mind. It’s not considered a typical Beadle material,” he notes, but, as Sawyer explains, it was one that Beadle had actually considered for this house. Sawyer adds that two sculptures by Beadle — one in rusted steel, the other with a powder-coated finish — will sit outside the house. “Al started doing sculptures for his houses as part of his idea of total design,” Sawyer says, explaining that Beadle’s homes would sometimes be designed down to the furniture and door handles.

RENDERINGS BY HELLOVON Tours of the Al Beadle home are being conducted daily during Modernism Week, February 16-26. For tickets, visit modernismweek.com .

While the house is on the market, its interiors will be furnished with a selection of 20th-century pieces by a who’s-who of modern design from the collection of Peter Blake, the Laguna Beach gallerist who is known for his emphasis on California Light and Space artists, but who is also passionate about furniture and objects. Blake loves the desert — he and his wife, Stephanie, are founding members of the site-specific art exhibition Desert X, which is on view in the Coachella Valley until April 30th. And he’s excited about having furniture and objects by designers like Neutra, Charlotte Perriand, Pierre Jeanneret, the Brazilians Sergio Rodrigues and Joaquim Tenreiro, and the Italian master of marble Angelo Mangiarotti shown in a house with a desert setting. “When we were collecting these pieces,” Blake recalls, “my wife and I would imagine how they’d fit into an imaginary home.”

Although Yakovich built this house in order to sell it, he says he’ll still feel a pang when he parts with it. “This is a very personal project for me — this project is mine,” he says. “Nothing’s been easy about this.” But his efforts, and those of O’Donnell, Sawyer, Vekstein, and everyone else involved, will add another landmark to Palm Springs’ storied architectural landscape.

PHOTO COURTESY OF MODERN PHOENIX LLC For nearly 50 years, Beadle made a mark on both residential and commercial architecture in his adopted city. In the ’60s, he gained national fame for his 
22-story Executive Towers, The Boardwalk, and the Triad Apartments (aka Case Study Apartments #1). White Gates, Beadle House #6 on 
the south slope of Camelback Mountain, 1954.

PHOTO COURTESY OF MODERN PHOENIX LLC Beadle House #4

PHOTO BY PETER SHIKANY, PS: STUDIOS Beadle’s own architectural studio Midtown Phoenix, 1978.

PHOTO COURTESY OF LISA SETTE GALLERY Professional offices.

• Hispanoamérica
• Work at ArchDaily
• Terms of Use
• Privacy Policy
• Cookie Policy

Julius Shulman (1910-2009)

• Written by David Basulto
• Published on July 17, 2009

Case Study Houses was a residential experiment sponsored by the Arts & Architecture magazine, introducing the modern movement ideas for affordable and efficient housing during the post-war years in the US.

The result? Amazing houses by Richard Neutra, Raphael Soriano, Craig Ellwood, Charles and Ray Eames, Pierre Koenig and Eero Saarinen, built between 1945-1966 mostly in LA.

Most of you already know about this… mostly due to the incredible photos that registered this houses, reflecting more than just pure architecture, a lifestyle. And the man (genius) behind the lens was Julius Shulman, who passed away yesterday July 16th, 2009.

A selection of his photos after the break.

• Sustainability

世界上最受欢迎的建筑网站现已推出你的母语版本!

想浏览archdaily中国吗, you've started following your first account, did you know.

You'll now receive updates based on what you follow! Personalize your stream and start following your favorite authors, offices and users.

• Random Project
• Collaborate

Kaufmann House

Introduction.

Did you find this article useful?

Really sorry to hear that...

Help us improve. How can we make this article better?

Palm Springs, CA

You Can Eat Breakfast Beside Boulders in This $4.2M Desert Home

There’s a Boulder in the Living Room of This $8.7M Palm Springs Midcentury

Construction Diary: In the Mojave Desert, a First-Time Builder Takes On a Tricky Prefab Home

The Circuitous Journey of an Early Prototype for U.S. Affordable Housing

Where the Vintage Trailer Fanatics Are

Budget Breakdown: She Turned a Joshua Tree Shack Into a Homestead for the Long Haul With $456K

Is This $768K Compound the Most Colorful Home in Joshua Tree?

This $3.5M Palm Springs Home Has Major “Barbie” Vibes

One of Albert Frey’s Only Tract Homes Asks $1.2M in Palm Springs

Zsa Zsa Gabor’s Palm Springs Home Is Back on the Market—With a New Paint Job and Price Cut

For $675K, This Turnkey Off-Grid Getaway Could Be Your Great Escape

Near Joshua Tree, a Sublime Desert Home Embraces Shadows and Sunlight

Asking $1.3M, This Palm Springs Midcentury Checks All the Retro Boxes

Listed for $1.5M, This 45-Acre Pioneertown Property Is an Off-Grid Paradise

Designing Your Home With a Photographer’s Eye

Near Joshua Tree, a Trio of Minimalist Tiny Homes Seeks $664K

Joshua Tree or Palm Springs? This $499K Midcentury Sits Smack in the Middle

Budget Breakdown: For $404K, a First-Time Renovator Revives a Joshua Tree Midcentury

One Night in a Tiny Cabin Designed for Remote Work in the Mountains of Southern California

This $549K Joshua Tree Home Comes With a Hot Tub and a Cowboy Pool

This $5.1M Palm Springs Stunner Is All About the Pool

They Run Hedley & Bennett. Naturally, Their Yucca Valley Airbnb Is Simple But Stylish Too

Near Joshua Tree, a Fully Furnished Desert Getaway Seeks $699K

Seeking $525K, This Darling Cabin Is an Idyllic Escape Near L.A.

In the Coachella Valley, a Former Equestrian Ranch Seeks $4.4M

Before & After: The Yucca Valley Rancher That Changed This Designer’s Life

These $350K Cabins Are “Predesigned” for Joshua Tree. Is That a Good Thing?

Budget Breakdown: A Dilapidated Desert House Springs Back to Life for $165K

Zsa Zsa Gabor’s Palm Springs Palace of Kitsch Hits the Market for $3.8M

Inside the Big Business That Is Palm Springs Modernism Week

This Trippy Dome Compound Might Just Be the Most Joshua Tree Listing of All Time

The Instagram Infamous “Invisible House” in Joshua Tree Is for Sale

Warning: This Palm Springs Pad May Make You Crave Summer Even More

One Night in Joshua Tree’s Multicolored, Cubist Monument House

Just Imagine the Pool Party You Could Throw at This Palm Springs Stunner

This Overhauled Airstream Feels Less Like a Trailer and More Like a House

112 more articles

Cookie banner

We use cookies and other tracking technologies to improve your browsing experience on our site, show personalized content and targeted ads, analyze site traffic, and understand where our audiences come from. To learn more or opt-out, read our Cookie Policy . Please also read our Privacy Notice and Terms of Use , which became effective December 20, 2019.

By choosing I Accept , you consent to our use of cookies and other tracking technologies.

Site search

• Los Angeles
• San Francisco
• Archive.curbed.com
• For Sale
 in LA
• For Rent in LA
• Curbed Comparisons
• Neighborhoods
• Real Estate Market Reports
• Rental Market Reports
• Homelessness
• Development
 News
• Transportation
• Architecture


Filed under:

• Laurel Canyon
• Historic Landmarks
• Midcentury Modern

Thorough restoration—not demolition—underway on Case Study House No. 21

One of the most important homes in Los Angeles was starting to slip downhill

Built between 1956 and 1958, Case Study House No. 21, also known as the Bailey House , features walls of glass, reflecting pools, and sliding doors. The boxy residence was designed by Stahl House architect Pierre Koenig and, seen from the street, the landmarked dwelling resembles a quintessential midcentury modern home.

But it was one of a just a handful of houses in the influential program orchestrated by Arts & Architecture magazine . So when neighbors and onlookers noticed drastic work underway on the site in Laurel Canyon , they feared for the future of the iconic home.

“Drove by the Bailey House and only found her bones,” one Instagram user who photographed the construction site posted on Monday.

Far from being harmed, the house is actually being rescued, says designer Mark Haddaway . He was hired by the new owner—a trust linked to Alison Sarofim, a film producer and daughter of billionaire Fayez Sarofim—who purchased the property in February for $3.26 million.

Case Study Houses were meant to be inexpensive, reproducible homes for the middle class—a solution to the postwar housing shortage. The Bailey House was built out of prefabricated steel and topped by a corrugated metal roof.

View this post on Instagram Bailey House - Case Study House #21 | Pierre Koenig, 1959 Drove by the Bailey House and only found her bones. So sad. I can't find anything about this online but since the steel frame remains, I hope that means it will be renovated as per the original. . . . . #casestudyhouse #casestudyhouse21 #pierrekoenig #california #californiamodern #midcenturymodern #baileyhouse #LAarchitecture #losangeles #modernarchitecture #architecturephotography #archilovers #steelframe A post shared by Vanessa Guillen (@vassilisag) on Jul 21, 2019 at 10:04am PDT

But as Haddaway told the the city’s cultural heritage commission in June, “because the budget for the project was small, the foundations for the house were minimal.”

Those foundations are now an issue.

Haddaway said that when contractors lifted up the concrete slab over the living room floor, they found an 18-inch gap between the ground and where the room’s floor had hovered. The soil had subsided, sliding out under the rest of the foundation.

In other words, it appeared Case Study House No. 21 was starting to slip downhill.

The solution Haddaway’s team has come up with involves inserting a grid of “helical anchors” under the living room with the goal of stabilizing the house and preventing any further slippage. In some places, Haddaway says, the house has moved two inches off its original elevation. The anchors wouldn’t undo that, but they would halt any new movement.

In a phone interview, Haddaway says the improvements are needed to ensure the home’s survival for decades to come.

In addition to the foundation work, Haddaway also plans to restore the original yellow kitchen (the one in the house now is from 1997), reform and waterproof the pools that make up the original water features, and replace the original white vinyl tile with white terrazzo—a switch that would leave the door open for a future owner to put the vinyl tiles back in if they wanted to, Haddaway told commissioners.

Speaking at the June meeting, Lambert Giessinger of the city’s office of historic resources, told the commissioners that the project had initially sparked concern in the community because work had begun on the removal of the 1990s-era kitchen—before the city had been given a chance to weigh in. Now, however, the two groups are working together, Giessinger said.

Haddaway has worked on the house before and was, for a time, its owner. He has restored a number of other midcentury homes and is also working now on John Lautner’s Elrod House in Palm Springs.

Next Up In Historic Landmarks

• 1930s Spanish Colonial Revival on century-old citrus orchard asking $1.15M
• To save potential landmarks, LA wants more notice of demolitions
• Western novelist’s former Altadena estate for sale $4M
• Architect John Parkinson’s Santa Monica home on the market for $20M
• Cliff-hugging castle overlooking the sea can be yours for $27M
• Craftsman bungalow with incredible woodwork in Riverside asking $1.2M

Loading comments...

Share this story.

U.S. Supreme Court

Us supreme court rules idaho to enforce gender care ban.

House Bill 71 signed in 2023

BY MIA MALDONADO | The U.S. Supreme Court has allowed Idaho to enforce House Bill 71, a law banning Idaho youth from receiving gender-affirming care medications and surgeries.

In an opinion issued Monday, the  U.S. Supreme Court  granted the state of Idaho’s request to stay the preliminary injunction, which blocked the law from taking effect. This means the preliminary injunction now only applies to the plaintiffs involved in Poe v. Labrador — a lawsuit brought on by the families of two transgender teens in Idaho who seek gender-affirming care. 

Monday’s Supreme Court decision enforces the gender-affirming care ban for all other trans youth in Idaho as the lawsuit remains ongoing in the Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals.

The American Civil Liberties Union and the ACLU of Idaho, both of whom represent the plaintiffs, said in a press release Monday that the ruling “does not touch upon the constitutionality” of HB 71. The groups called Monday’s ruling an “awful result” for trans Idaho youth and their families.

“Today’s ruling allows the state to shut down the care that thousands of families rely on while sowing further confusion and disruption,” the organizations said in the press release. “Nonetheless, today’s result only leaves us all the more determined to defeat this law in the courts entirely, making Idaho a safer state to raise every family.”

Idaho Attorney General Raúl Labrador in a press release said the state has a duty to protect and support all children, and that he is proud of the state’s legal stance. 

“Those suffering from gender dysphoria deserve love, support and medical care rooted in biological reality,” Labrador said. “Denying the basic truth that boys and girls are biologically different hurts our kids. No one has the right to harm children, and I’m grateful that we, as the state, have the power — and duty — to protect them.”

Recap of Idaho’s HB 71, and what led to SCOTUS opinion

Monday’s Supreme Court decision traces back to when HB 71 was  signed into law  in April 2023.

The law makes it a felony punishable for up to 10 years for doctors to provide surgeries, puberty-blockers and hormones to trans people under the age of 18. However, gender-affirming surgeries are not and were not performed among Idaho adults or youth before the bill was signed into law, the Idaho Capital Sun  previously reported . 

One month after  it was signed into law, the families of two trans teens sued the state in a lawsuit alleging the bill violates the 14th Amendment’s guarantee of equal protection under the law.

In late December , just days before the law was set to take effect in the new year, U.S. District Judge B. Lynn Winmill blocked the law from taking effect under a preliminary injunction. In his decision, he said he found the families likely to succeed in their challenge.

The state of Idaho responded by appealing the district court’s preliminary injunction decision to the Ninth Circuit, to which the Ninth Circuit denied. The state of Idaho argued the court should at least enforce the ban for everyone except for the plaintiffs. 

After the Ninth Circuit’s denial, the Idaho Attorney General’s Office in February sent an emergency motion to the U.S. Supreme Court,  the Idaho Press reported . Monday’s U.S. Supreme Court decision agrees with the state’s request to enforce its ban on trans health care for minors, except for the two plaintiffs.

******************************************************************************************

Mia Maldonado joined the Idaho Capital Sun after working as a breaking news reporter at the Idaho Statesman covering stories related to crime, education, growth and politics. She previously interned at the Idaho Capital Sun through the Voces Internship of Idaho, an equity-driven program for young Latinos to work in Idaho news. Born and raised in Coeur d’Alene, Mia moved to the Treasure Valley for college where she graduated from the College of Idaho with a bachelor’s degree in Spanish and international political economy.

The preceding piece was previously published by the Idaho Capital Sun and is republished with permission.

The Idaho Capital Sun is the Gem State’s newest nonprofit news organization delivering accountability journalism on state politics, health care, tax policy, the environment and more.

We’re part of  States Newsroom , the nation’s largest state-focused nonprofit news organization.

Supreme Court appears skeptical of arguments to restrict abortion pill access

Featured Local Savings

You may like.

Appeals court strikes down W.Va. transgender athlete ban

A.I., TikTok, big tech, and the 2024 elections: Experts break down the risks

Decision expected by June

Hearing oral arguments on Tuesday in FDA v. Alliance for Hippocratic Medicine, the U.S. Supreme Court appeared skeptical of arguments to curtail access to the abortion pill mifepristone.

A decision in the case is expected to come in June. The court’s most conservative justices, Samuel Alito and Clarence Thomas, signaled their support for the anti-abortion plaintiffs, who seek to prohibit telemedicine prescriptions and distribution of the pill by mail.

A ruling in their favor could also undermine the ability of the U.S. Food and Drug Administration to exercise its expert judgment on the safety and efficacy of medications without interference by courts — which, by and large, are not qualified to adjudicate these questions.

Such concerns were relayed even by justices like Neil Gorsuch, who was appointed by former President Donald Trump, and who warned on Tuesday that the case might stand as “a prime example of turning what could be a small lawsuit into a nationwide legislative assembly on an F.D.A. rule or any other federal government action.”

Mifepristone was first approved in the year 2000. The drug, taken together with misoprostol, is the most commonly used method of terminating pregnancies in the U.S.

The justices’ questions also showed their skepticism toward plaintiffs’ arguments that concrete harms will result if the medication remains widely available. For instance, Gorsuch and Justice Ketanji Brown Jackson noted healthcare providers are already permitted to opt out of providing care to which they have moral objections.

Even if the Supreme Court rules in favor of the government, preserving access to mifepristone including through telemedicine and mail-order prescriptions, more than a dozen conservative states have banned the drug and implemented near-total abortion bans pursuant to the court’s 2022 decision in Dobbs v. Jackson Women’s Health Organization.

Supreme Court declines to hear case over drag show at Texas university

Students argue First Amendment protects performance

The U.S. Supreme Court on Friday declined to hear a First Amendment case over a public university president’s refusal to allow an LGBTQ student group to host a drag show on campus.

The group’s application was denied without the justices providing their reasoning or issuing dissenting opinions, as is custom for such requests for emergency review.

When plaintiffs sought to organize the drag performance to raise money for suicide prevention in March 2023, West Texas A&M University President Walter Wendler cancelled the event, citing the Bible and other religious texts.

The students sued, arguing the move constituted prior restraint and viewpoint-based discrimination, in violation of the First Amendment. Wendler had called drag shows “derisive, divisive and demoralizing misogyny,” adding that “a harmless drag show” was “not possible.”

The notoriously conservative Judge Matthew Kacsmaryk, who former President Donald Trump appointed to the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of Texas, ruled against the plaintiffs in September, writing that “it is not clearly established that all drag shows are inherently expressive.”

Kacsmaryk further argued that the High Court’s precedent-setting opinions protecting stage performances and establishing that “speech may not be banned on the ground that it expresses ideas that offend” was inconsistent with constitutional interpretation based on “text, history and tradition.”

Plaintiffs appealed to the 5th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals, which is by far the most conservative of the nation’s 12 appellate circuit courts. They sought emergency review by the Supreme Court because the 5th Circuit refused to fast-track their case, so arguments were scheduled to begin after the date of their drag show.

Alito renews criticism of the Supreme Court’s landmark marriage equality ruling

Obergefell decision allowed same-sex couples to marry around the country

Conservative U.S. Supreme Court Justice Samuel Alito on Tuesday renewed his criticism of the landmark 2015 ruling in Obergefell v. Hodges that established the nationwide constitutional right to same-sex marriage.

His remarks came in a 5-page order that was written in connection with the High Court’s decision not to hear Missouri Department of Corrections v. Jean Finney — a dispute over whether a juror’s position that “homosexuality, according to the Bible, is a sin” can be the basis for striking him from an employment discrimination case that was brought by a lesbian.

The conflict, Alito argued, “exemplifies the danger” he foresaw in the Supreme Court’s same-sex marriage ruling, which was decided by a 5-4 majority with Alito among the justices who dissented.

Specifically, Alito raised concern in his statement that “Americans who do not hide their adherence to traditional religious beliefs about homosexual conduct will be ‘labeled as bigots and treated as such’ by the government.'”

“The opinion of the court in [Obergefell] made it clear that the decision should not be used in that way,” the justice wrote, “but I am afraid that this admonition is not being heeded by our society.”

Brittney Griner, wife expecting first child

News is Out, Word In Black and Comcast NBCUniversal welcomes 16 journalism fellows to cover Black and LGBTQ+ communities

Indian political parties for the first time include LGBTQ rights in election platforms

Ugandan activists appeal ruling that upheld Anti-Homosexuality Act

Congolese lawmaker introduces anti-homosexuality bill

Five transgender, nonbinary ICE detainees allege mistreatment at Colo. detention center

First lady warns Trump is ‘dangerous to the LGBTQ community’ at HRC event

New book offers observations on race, beauty, love

Hot fun in the desert sun: Your Palm Springs guide

Sign up for weekly e-blast, follow us @washblade.