Welcome to Ralph Haverkate Real Estate, Specializing in Mid Century Modern Homes

Palm Springs is synonymous with Mid Century Modern architecture, an era that emerged in the post-war 1950s through the 1970s. A revival of modernism gained momentum in Southern California and has grown around the world for more than a decade.

It began in Palm Springs in 1992 when investment manager Brent Harris and his wife Beth, an architectural historian, bought Richard Neutra’s Kauffman House with the intention of restoring the historic house to its original design.

However, finding original or replacement sources for paint, cabinetry, fixtures, sheet metal and stone was a challenge, as were finding furnishings later on.

The Harrises hired Marmol Radziner + Associates to restore the house. The team went to such lengths as purchasing a metal crimping machine to reproduce the sheet-metal fascia that lined the roof and even re-opening a long-closed section of a Utah quarry to mine matching stone to replace what had been removed or damaged.

The restoration was critically acclaimed. Sourcing original products and materials helped create a new niche and demand for mid-century homes, fixtures and furnishings.  The project launched more than a resurrection of one important house: It launched the revival of an era.

Palm Springs’ Uptown Design District, a stretch of shops and galleries along North Palm Canyon Drive, has become a primary resource for authentic Mid-Century Modern designer chairs, tables, credenzas, couches, and outdoor furniture, as well as lighting, art and sculpture, housewares and even hardware, wallpaper, and building materials.

Many of the era’s great architects also designed home furnishings and products — chairs and couches by Ludwig Mies van der Rohe; armchairs, sofas and tables by Le Corbusier are among them.

Modernist product and interior designers — such as Charles and Ray Eames, Milo Baughman, Verner Panton, Arne Jacobsen, Frank Gehry, Herman Miller, Noguchi and many others — have created innovative furnishings, housewares and artwork that have found their way to Palm Springs’ design and estate stores.   A treasure trove of retro, modern and new furnishings are waiting discovery.

Here are some top resources:

Design Within Reach

840 North Palm Canyon

(760) 322-8750

www.dwr.com

DWR features furnishings by some of the world’s most important architects and designers including Le Corbusier, Mies Van Der Rohe, Charles and Ray Eames, Isamu Noguchi, Eero Saarinen, as well as contemporary designers such as Christopher Farr, Yves Behar and Nathan Yong.

The Palm Springs location is both a design studio and a “cult classic” warehouse outlet.  Customers can “test-drive” an assortment of modern living, dining, bedroom, outdoor and workspace options, as well as lighting and rugs, all available to order.  The outlet offers an assortment of returned and discontinued merchandise that changes constantly.

Organic Shapes

System 1-2-3- lounge chairs by Verner Panton, who developed the series in 1973, have since been rescued from the Panton estate archives and brought back into production.

Of his furniture, the late designer said, “I want to design furniture that grows up out of the floor; to turn the furniture into something organic, which never has four legs.”

Pushing materials to their limits was a passion of this Danish architect and designer, who always approached design challenges in unconventional ways, according to DWR’s website.

The Panton 123 Chair

This cantilevered chair delivers slightly springy, pleasing support and a gentle waterfall edge behind your knees. Each chair comes with a certificate of authenticity, and Panton’s signature is stamped into the base. Licensed manufacture by Verpan Aps. Produced under license from the Verner Panton Estate, Basel, Switzerland. Made in Denmark.

Space Age Styles

In 1957, The Soviet Union launched the world’s first man-made object to orbit the earth. The satellite was about the size of a beach ball, had whisker-like long antennas extending from one side, and each of its 1440 elliptical orbits around the Earth took about 98 minutes.

Its launch marked the start of the Space Age, led directly to the creation of National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA), and kicked off a worldwide fascination with space travel. It also inspired a design aesthetic based on these rocket-propelled devices, which brought new shapes to furniture, lighting and other household items.

While not constructed of hermetically sealed aluminum-magnesium-titanium, as the Soviets’ satellite was, the new Satellite Chandelier with 24 antennae arms captures the spirit and design ethos of the time.

Molded shapes and butterflies

George Nelson was the director of design at Herman Miller, Inc. from 1946 to 1972. His influence over those three decades is what made Herman Miller what it is today. Not only did Nelson recruit Charles and Ray Eames and Isamu Noguchi, but he also created a portfolio of work without which the history of modern design would be incomplete.

To honor this legacy, Michigan-based Herman Miller is re-issuing Nelson’s 1961 molded-top Tray Table (1961/2011) with a special design inspired by Nelson’s Flock of Butterflies clock. Forming the sunburst are hand-selected veneers of walnut and santos palisander wood inlaid into white ash.

A La Mod-Mid-Century Shop

768 N. Palm Canyon Drive

(760) 327-0707

www.alamod768.com

Formerly known as Palm Springs Consignment, a La Mod is a new name and location offering mid-century furniture, artwork and accessory items.

Owners are Miguel Linares, an architect who grew up in the desert and  has a passion for Modern; and  James Claude, who grew up in Victorville where he opened his first store, the 2×4 Toy Box, at the ripe age of 15.  In 1996 he opened what became a La Mod Mid-Century Modern and teamed with Linares in 1997.

With a eye for good design, Linares and Claude are always on the lookout for new items for the store, such as this glass vase by Vicke Linstrand for KOSTA.

Trina Turk Residential – Home Furnishings & Accessories

895 North Palm Canyon Drive

(760) 416-2856

www.trinaturk.com

Trina Turk has drawn constant inspiration from the poolside-cocktail-party lifestyle of the desert, so it was fitting that the first Trina Turk boutique opened in March 2002 in Palm Springs in a modernist building designed by Albert Frey.  In May, 2008, Trina Turk Residential opened next door to the original boutique.

You’ll find new mid-century modern style furniture: sofas, chairs, side tables, plus planters and accent pillows designed with bright, bold patterns for which Trina Turk is known.

Galleria Shops

457 North Palm Canyon

(760) 323-4576

The Galleria is an open-air window-shopping style vintage Palm Springs building that contains several shops the cover a range of mid century style design.

Proprietor Jim Gaudineer’s hand-selected art and accessories are from Mid-Century masters and well as talented unknowns.  The well-edited store goes well ”beyond Eames,” and strives for high-end vintage midcentury modern with 60 percent new items.

Modern Way

745 North Palm Canyon

(760) 320-5455

www.psmodernway.com

One of the first Palm Springs Mid-Century Modern shops in business for more than 10 years, Modern Way specializes in unique and high quality vintage 70s modern furniture, retro outdoor patio furniture, loungers, tables, artwork, rugs, Lucite furniture, dining tables, sofas and rare “mod” items.

Miloe Baughman Chaise Lounge

This Milo Baughman blue chaise lounge is one of many famouns-name designer pieces that may be found at Modern Way.

Illusions Interiors

803 North Palm Canyon

(760) 325-0300

www.interiorillusionshome.com

Chic, sexy and sophisticated, Illusions Interiors offers a complete line of Calvin Klein home designs as well as furnishings from other talented designers.  From seating, dining, tables, and bedroom furnishings to lighting, media shelving, and outdoor environments, Illusions Interiors offers high end quality and service.

Interior Designer Shane Elmore, who recently closed his Asylum design store on North Palm Canyon, has joined Illusions offering full design consultation, space planning, custom and ready-made furniture.

If you’re in the market to buy one of Palm Springs’ spectacular Mid-Century Modern homes, contact Ralph Haverkate at ralph@RHaverkate.com for a personal tour of quality homes currently for sale in the California desert area.

– Pamela Bieri

Welcome to Team Haverkate Real Estate Specializing in Mid Century Modern Homes

Long before Palm Springs came to treasure its Mid Century Modern heritage, architectural photographer Julius Shulman began documenting California’s postwar contemporary homes and buildings with a mission to “sell architecture” and the idealized vision of California’s casual, sunbathed indoor-outdoor lifestyle to the readers and editors of consumer and architectural magazine.

Shulman’s iconic photography spread California Mid Century Modern throughout the world.

His roster of clients is an impressive “who’s who” in pioneering contemporary architecture: Rudolf Schindler, Gregory Ain, Frank Lloyd Wright, Charles and Ray Eames, Raphael Soriano, John Lautner, Albert Frey, Pierre Koenig, Harwell Harris and many others.

Shulman’s work was contained in virtually every book published on Modernist architects and that trend continues.

Two new books on the late photographer were just released this spring:  Julius Shulman Los Angeles: The Birth of a Modern Metropolis by Sam Lubell and Douglas Woods, published in April, 2011 by Rizzoli International ; and Julius Shulman: The Last Decade by Thomas Schirmbock and Shulman’s business partner Juergen Nogai, published March 22 by Kehrer, Heidelberg, Germany, are now available in books stores and at  www.Amazon.com.

Shulman’s unplanned career as an architectural photographer began  in 1936 when an acquaintance who worked for Richard Neutra asked Shulman to take a few shots of Neutra’s nearly completed Kun House in the Hollywood Hills.  Neutra liked the images and hired Shulman for subsequent projects, soon introducing him to all the leading and emerging architects.

Shulman’s most famous 1947 photo of Neutra’s Kaufmann House in Palm Springs shows the architect’s glass house as an array of shimmering squares and rectangles.  In the photo, Mrs. Kaufmann reclines beside the glowing swimming pool in the foreground while the dusk illuminated rugged desert mountains frame the background.

One of most widely reproduced architectural photographer ever, it’s existence lead to the painstaking restoration of the Kaufmann house in 1999 to its original condition, and subsequently helped launch the revival of Palm Springs Modernism.

www.psmodcom.com

The restoration of the Kaufmann house “became a part of cultural history thanks to an iconic photo by Julius Shulman,” according to Dave Weinstein in CA Modern Magazine.  “The project did more than restore one of America’s most important 20th century houses … it helped the city of Palm Springs recover its love for all thing modern.”

www.eichlernetwork.com/desert_chron7.html

Another landmark photo is Shulman’s portrayal of Pierre Koenig’s Case Study House #22 in Los Angeles, 1960, in which the edge of the house seems to float above Los Angeles’ evening lights while inside two women are seated, having a conversation.

Both photos seem to testify to the ability of the Modernist architect to transcend the limits of the natural world.

Shulman’s optimistic world view fit the Modernist era.

“He was the most optimistic person I’ve ever known,” said Santa Monica gallery owner Craig Krull who since 1991 was the exclusive gallery representing Shulman.  “That outlook was perfectly suited to a ‘translator’ of Modernism’s optimistic spirit — with its belief in the promise of the future and the capacity of technology to improve civilization.”

Shulman almost always used black and white film to better reduce his subjects to their geometric essentials.

www.nytimes.com/2009/07/17/arts/design/17shulman.html

His “prodigious body of work is quintessential: luminous and memorably composed images highly evocative of time and place,” writes Sarah Amelar in a July, 2009 issue of Architectural Record.

www.archrecord.construction.com/news/daily/archives/090728shulman.asp

“The clarity of his work demanded that architectural photography had to be considered as an independent art form,” according to Shulman’s biography in Wikipedia.

“Each Shulman image unites perception and understanding for the buildings and their place in the landscape.  The precise compositions reveal not just the architectural ideas behind a building’s surface, but also the visions and hopes of an entire age.  A sense of humanity is always present in his work even when the human figure is absent from the actual photographs.”

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Julius_Shulman

“But Shulman’s work went well beyond merely taking beautiful pictures of houses and buildings,” wrote Claudia Luther in the July 18, 2009 issue of the Los Angeles Times.

“His mission was to use his photography to build the reputation of the architects who were bringing innovative design to the West. Indeed, his photographs were, by and large, all that most people would ever see of noted architects’ works, many of which were later destroyed.”

www.latimes.com/new/obituaries/la-me-julius-shulman17-2009jul17,0,1393680.story

In 2005, The Getty Research Institute acquired his archives of more than a quarter million prints, negatives and transparencies.

In February 2008, the Palm Springs Art Museum presented “Julius Shulman: Palm Springs” with more than 200 photographs, illustrations, renderings and models, the largest Shulman exhibition ever presented to date, documenting a place that was so inspirational to Shulman.

www.psmuseum.org

Shulman’s last exhibit at Craig Krull’s Gallery was scheduled for July 4 through August 8, 2009.  But Shulman passed away at his home in Los Angeles July 15, 2009 at 98 years old.

Craig Krull Gallery will be opening a major survey of Shulman’s work in September, 2011, and a paperback edition of Julius Shulman Los Angeles by Christopher James Alexander is due out October 29.

Shulman’s work brought fame to a number of Mid-20th Century architects, left an invaluable record of the evolution of key buildings and their surroundings, and forged an unforgettable, inspiring archive of time and place.

Palm Springs and the California desert offer a living testament to the beauty and grace of Mid Century Modern homes and lifestyle.  For a tour of these homes currently for sale, contact Team Haverkate at Ralph@RHaverkate.com.

– Pamela Bieri

Welcome to Ralph Haverkate Real Estate Specializing in Mid-Century Modern Homes for Sale in the California Desert

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.

The sixth annual Palm Springs Modernism Week, February 17 through 27, 2011, celebrates the culture and ideals of modernism, and the architects whose private home commissions, tract home subdivisions, civic and public buildings flourished to the degree that Desert Modern became a genre all its own.

This year, the “week” has expanded with more than 50 events over 11 days. The festival offers a variety of entertaining, educational  and cultural events that include the Modernism Show at the Palm Springs Convention Center where collectors and dealers will find vintage treasures and retro gems.

Architecture tours give aficionados rare opportunities to see residences including the popular Frey House II and Frank Sinatra’s 1947 mid-century home in Twin Palms Estates, designed by E. Stewart Williams with its famous grand piano shaped pool.

A special exhibit, “Steel and Shade: The Architecture of Donald Wexler” honors this notable local architect at the Palm Springs Art Museum. www.psmuseum.org.

Take one of the daily double decker bus tours to discover examples of mid-century modern architecture and interior design including the Edris House by E. Stewart Williams and an Alexander Twin Palms “Butterfly” house.

Films and design lectures series by noted authorities and art exhibitions, a vintage travel trailer show and Braniff Airlines exhibit at the Riviera Palm Springs, www.psriviera.com. plus music, food and swanky parties at glamorous properties are all part of the mix.

Many events are free to the public including a festive kick-off celebration in downtown Palm Springs on Thursday, Feb. 17.  For a full schedule of events, tickets and information, go to www.modernismweek.com.

Modernism is defined as cultural movement between 1940 and 1970 when art forms, architecture and design dramatically changed to embracing linear, organic and geometric forms with bold, bright colors.  Fueled by the optimism and prosperity of post World War II, Americans embraced the ideas inherent in modernism that human beings can create, improve and reshape the environment through practical experimentation, scientific knowledge and technology.

Desert modernism is a regional approach to International Style inspired by Palm Springs’ sunny skies, warm climate and breathtaking mountains, and by the architects’ bold and creative instinct to incorporate rocks, trees, vistas and other landscape features into the design.

Modern architecture is characterized by open floor plans and nearly invisible transitions from indoor to outdoor spaces through the extensive use of glass, steel and concrete, building elements that became more available in the post-war years.

“Events such as Modernism Week, the Retro Martini event on February 25, and the Alexander Weekend, March 25-27, are great ways to get acquainted with the superb collection of modern homes that we have here in Palm Springs,” said leading Realtor Ralph Haverkate, a specialist in mid-century modern homes in the Palm Springs area.  www.pspreservationfoundation.org.

“These homes are 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.”

To see a spectrum of qualified Mid-Century Modern homes for sale in the Palm Springs area, contact Ralph Haverkate at  Ralph@RHaverkate.com.

– Pamela Bieri

You can spend a leisurely morning shopping up and down El Paseo, the Deserts own Rodeo Drive.  On El Paseo, you can shop in The Gardens, an upscale shopping and dining treat. You’ll find  Sullivan’s Steak House (great for martinis), Pacifica, Saks Fifth Avenue, Tommy Bahamas, Ralph Lauren, Veneto, Williams & Sonoma, and more. Tiffany’s is across the street from the locally-owned Jeweler, Frascas.  Luis Vuitton is going to be open by end of the year. There are high-end doggie boutiques, pastry shops, Italian markets and specialty stores and more restaurants.