A fourth generation Coachella Valley resident, architect Lance O’Donnell understands the California desert from places too deep in his soul to excavate.

From childhood memories of wide open vistas, pristine blue skies against rugged mountains, days flooded with sunshine, and soft turquoise sunsets, Lance has absorbed more than the physical essence of desert living.

He also lived among and absorbed the inspired and innovative architecture created over the last half century by some of the world’s most gifted and notable architects:  Richard Neutra, Albert Frey, E. Stewart Williams, William Cody, and Don Wexler, with whom O’Donnell began an almost decade long collaboration in 2002.

www.pspreservationfoundation.org www.eichlernetwork.com

After receiving his Bachelor of Architecture degree, with honors, from Cal Poly San Luis Obispo in 1991 and his Master degree in architecture from UCLA in 1994, O’Donnell returned home to the desert to, in a sense, resume the work of the past masters.

“Palm Springs has a heritage and history of genuine and authentic architecture,” said O’Donnell.  “That generation of progressive thinking influenced an entire movement of architecture. The desert was a place for experimentation.  Varied people and lifestyles drove the thinking;  architects could take a more experimental and progressive approach to living.  It was not about ‘having to have so many bedrooms and bathrooms.’”

Different housing configurations — from Cody’s pre-condo era connected cottages at Eldorado Country Club to Wexler’s cluster of attached homes with lots of open space around them –  the desert lifestyle has always engendered a sense of community, said O’Donnell.

“You shared the yard and the pool; you wanted to know your neighbor.  It promoted a community sense, civic mindedness,” he said.

O’Donnell’s firm, o2 Architecture, “engages the senses and intellect with a poetic connection to site and rigorous environmentally crafted modernism.”

www.o2arch.com/

He collaborated with Wexler on his California modernist lifestyle project in the Hamptons, and completed an extensive remodel of Wexler’s former family home, awarded “Remodel of the Year” in 2009 from the Palm Springs Modernism Committee.

www.hamptons-modern.com/team.html

Current owner Daniel Giles who purchased the home from yet another previous owner, wanted to renovate and maintain its modernist essence but expand and update some living areas.  He asked Wexler to be a consultant with O’Donnell as the remodel architect.

“It was not easy managing the project,” admitted O’Donnell. “Giles took some license by eliminating one bedroom and expanding another.  In the end, though, when Wexler and his 3 sons recently toured the house, they agreed with and saw the significance of the expansion and remodel.”

Remodeling a mid-century modern home is not always just about restoring to an original condition.

Today, year round homeowners also seek more space — larger bathrooms and kitchens and more storage– as well as better cooling and insulation, more luxury appointments, while still adhering to the mid-century ideals.

“Part of the challenge is that people tend to accumulate stuff over the years and this stuff has its own inertia so doesn’t easily go away” said O’Donnell. “And in a minimalist environment, there’s often not enough space to store it — whether it’s shelving or wall space or adding storage for seasonal things like clothes or holiday decorations.”

During the 70′s, 80′s and 90’s, many mid-century modern homes suffered “add-ons” such as enclosing covered patios, extra rooms and storage areas that obscured the architect’s original vision.

“In some cases, we’ve had to surgically remove almost one third of the square footage to get to a livable plan,” said O’Donnell.

Making homes energy efficient by today’s standards is another challenge.

“Back in the 50′s and 60s when electricity was cheap, you didn’t worry about running the AC all day and leaving the doors open,” he said.  “There was lots of attention on indoor/outdoor living, but no plan for energy conservation. There was a understandable tendency for over-consumption.”

O’Donnell’s recent renovation of Ralph and Bettina Haverkate’s mid-century modern in south Palm Desert included new air conditioning units and ducts, fully insulating the new roof and walls, and using dual pane windows throughout – including a massive glass wall—on the “cool” north side.

He added functional space with a new master suite bedroom and bathroom, designed with its roof tilted in the opposite direction of the house’s existing roof line to celebrate the views and resulted in a butterfly roof profile.

For his own family home in Palm Springs’ Little Tuscany neighborhood, O’Donnell designed the house that taps natural cooling temperature patterns in summer and passive warming in winter through “timeless, low-tech solutions” like cross ventilation.

“By placing large operable windows on the north and south sides of the house, we can quickly cool the house in evenings, thus decreasing the need to air condition,” O’Donnell said in a Palm Springs Life Magazine story about his “Bionic House.”

www.palmspringslife.com/core/pagetools.php?pageid=9056&curl=%2FPalm-Springs

A generous overhanging roof shades the floor to ceiling windows in summer, while the sun’s lower angles in winter warms its interior concrete floor which retains heat throughout the night.  The LEED certified home with sub zero carbon footprint was completed in 2009.

“After living in the house for two years now, its efficiency is even better than expected,” said O’Donnell.  “We’ve never had to turn on the heating system and the house performs 25-30% better than our energy models predicted.”

O’Donnell, his wife Regina, and eight-year-old son Jonathan enjoy living in their “house of the future,” while benefiting from its energy efficiency today.

The up-and-coming architect has worked on more than a dozen Alexander home remodels, several by Cody and Wexler and his firm also designs many new mixed-use and civic projects.

While some projects still remain on paper, one of his proudest achievements is the Tahquitz Canyon Visitor Center on Agua Caliente tribal land.

www.indian-canyons.com

The glass, steel and concrete building — its classic modernist form and large overhanging roof — stands out against the rugged mountainside at the entrance to an ancient Indian canyon where for centuries, native people gathered seed, hunted, planted and lived in harmony with the desert.

“The paradox is while contrasting with the natural environment the building seamlessly harnesses the same natural forces the Cahuilla utilized for thousands of years.”

Working closely on mid-century building, has “driven home the sense that there is an underlying order to the building, there is a harmony to the parts,” said O’Donnell.

And there is clearly poetic harmony between nature and human purpose in O’Donnell’s designs.

— Pamela Bieri

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

During Modernism Week 2011, Park Imperial South on South Araby Drive in Palm Springs celebrated its 50th birthday and invited the public to tour its 31-unit condominium community.  Created in 1960 by one of the nation’s most noted residential architects, Barry Berkus, AIA, Park Imperial South’s remarkable Mid Century Modern design still thrives and remains virtually untouched.

www.parkimperialsouthps.com www.modernismweek.com

Berkus guided the tour and presented his take on modernism’s mark on architecture in Palm Springs and across America.  A video archive of the design tour and Berkus’ discussion is posted here at Team Haverkate Real Estate.

“Being acknowledged by those who live within the architect’s dream is the highest honor one can aspire to , and the fact that residents here have kept my dream in condition is a remarkable compliment,” Berkus said.

www.24-7pressrelease.com/press-release/barry-berkus-aia-to-address-modernism-week

Founder and president of B3 Architects and Berkus Design Studio in Santa Barbara, Berkus has remained on the forefront of residential design in this country and abroad for over 40 years.  His name is synonymous with innovation, and his firm has won hundreds of design and planning awards from regional, national and international competitions.

www.barryberkus.com www.b3architects.com

Berkus began college with a focus on economics, but he always loved to draw.  After attending Santa Barbara City College, he transferred to USC’s  architecture program, saying “It was exciting and I knew I’d found my place.”

He pursued housing, an industry that during the 1950′s and 60s most architects thought was “beneath them” and many were convinced they couldn’t make a living at it.

“When we started, housing was looked down upon,” he recalled. “I lead a design panel at the National Association of Home Builders, but couldn’t do one at the American Institute of Architecture.”

“I had a goal to change the way housing looked,” he said.  “I wanted to give it a sculpted feeling, an innovative component to nurture people.  I strived to use volume, light and shapes in my homes.”

Berkus’ ability to produce house plans quickly also turned the odds in his favor.

“Housing as a product has to move on and off the boards quickly because it didn’t pay very well,” he said.

www.noozhawk.com/article/120309_barry_berkus

Berkus began as an intern for noted Palm Springs architect William Cody before opening his own firm and designed Park Imperial South at the age of 25.

During his talk at the tour, Berkus recalled sitting at construction sites for John Lautner projects, inspiring him to develop his  own unique design vision.  Berkus said Park Imperial South was an experiment in design and construction.  The distinctive folded-plate roofs were constructed in Oakland before being transported to Palm Springs where they were lifted into place by crane.

www.itssosunny.com/2011/02/20/palm-springs-modernism-week-home-tour-feature

“I wanted to design a space for people who could not afford an architect,” said Berkus of the project.

As his company went public, Berkus began considering modular housing.  He researched data at UCLA on every modular created up to that point and concluded that mobile homes were the only successful factory-built house that made its manufacturer money and lasted for any length of time.

“Let’s change the way housing is built,” he said when he approached national builders with the first “smart house” and various homes on wheels.

“I’ve always gone the far edge of the planet in my thinking,” Berkus admits.  “I’ve always been interested in investigating.  I’m in my 70s now and I’ve failed a bunch, in part because security never interested me.”

“Architects, by nature, are optimists,” he said.  “I’ve grown by taking risks and assumed it would work out.  Even recently, with single family homes in Santa Barbara, I’ve had to build them and then people showed up to buy them.  I knew it was right.”

www.noozhawk.com/article/120309_barry_berkus

It seems Berkus was right about his long lasting design at Park Imperial South as well.

One objective of the Modernism Week tour was to demonstrate the complex’s design longevity both interior and exterior as well as the versatile floor plan.

Nine homes in varying stages of rehabilitation and remodel were open for guests to view.  Several units had been completely redone with new kitchens and appliances, upgraded bathrooms, redesigned patios and new flooring, while other units retained original design elements such as range hoods, cabinetry and intercom entertainment systems.

For the past 10 years, Park Imperial South homeowners association has been restoring the complex with new landscaping, entrance signage, lighting and wood paneling to each home’s entrance.  The Palm Springs Preservation Foundation has granted funds to continue restoration projects, and the sold-out tour during Modernism Week benefited the development’s renovation projects.

www.itssosunny.com/2011/02/20/palm-springs-modernism-week-home-tour-feature

For Berkus, thinking outside the grid comes naturally and so does the task of reinvention.

“Everything has to fall apart so you can come up for air,” he said.  “Residential architecture is about romance, learning, fulfillment of a journey.  It should never be below you to do housing.”

www.residentialarchitect.com

Palm Springs has a proud heritage of innovative Mid Century Modern architecture in public buildings as well as custom, tract and condominium homes.  For a personal tour of Mid Century Modern properties currently for sale, contact Ralph Haverkate at ralph@RalphHaverkate.com.

– Pamela Bieri

When Ralph W. Haverkate, a real estate broker specializing in Mid Century Modern homes, came across an abandoned but classic Mid-Century Modern home in south Palm Desert that was facing a short sale, he immediately called his wife Bettina Waldraff to come take a look.

“He wanted me to see the inside of the house with the true mid-century modern beam ceiling and big back yard with pool which our two Entlebucher Swiss Mountain dogs would love,” she said. “We both saw right away the potential this property could have.”

The couple called young up-and-coming architect Lance O’Donnell of O2 Architecture in Palm Springs, a protégé architect working with Donald Wexler.  They previewed several homes with O’Donnell to get his perspective and input. O’Donnell agreed that south Palm Desert house was a great location, within walking distance to El Paseo, and had “great bones and potential.” O’Donnell suggested leaving the existing ceiling and adding on a master suite to increase the house from approximately 1,900 square feet to 2,500.

Their offer finally accepted, the Haverkates sealed the deal in November, 2009.  O’Donnell began his design that  maintained the house’s original architecture but meticulously reinvented its interior. Rarely is a house able to combine modern and vintage accents into a living work of art.

“Mid-April of last year, our project was underway,” said Bettina. “Moving along, the whole house was gutted down to the studs and just the old concrete floors and wood beam ceilings were left.”

The remodel, executed by Barton Construction Palm Springs and Team Haverkate, kept the original wood post and beam construction and ceiling.  New air conditioning ducts and copper plumbing were installed under the original slab. The new roof and walls were fully insulated and the concrete floors throughout were restored and polished.

The new master suite bedroom/bathroom addition was designed with its roof tilted in the opposite direction of the existing roof line of the house to give it the mid-century modern “Butterfly Roof” look.

The kitchen was designed to be a focal point in the living space.  It features CAESARSTONE kitchen counter tops, white high gloss Wenge wood veneer cabinets and top-of-the-line MIELE dishwasher, oven, steamer, warming drawer, and built in espresso machine, with an energy efficient induction glass cook top and stainless steel hood. A SUBZERO refrigerator and 150 bottle SUBZERO wine fridge complete the kitchen appliances.

“A long 10 feet dining table was a must since I like to cook and entertain friends and clients of Ralph’s,” said Bettina. “And a handmade crystal chandelier rounds up the dining area giving it a glamorous feel.”

A huge 24-foot glass wall completely disappears, joining the living areas to the patio and pool.

“Strong support was needed to hold the big glass slider,” said Bettina. “To have that open space, living inside/outside feeling was one of the main items on our wish list.”

The swimming pool was completely re-done in its original style, shape and size with all new pool equipment, plumbing and concrete decking, adding an outdoor fire pit and sitting area. Albert Frey-style block walls provide privacy and accent the desert landscaping. A state-of-the-art see-through glass Napoleon fireplace replaces an outdated fireplace.

Bathrooms feature PORCELANOSA glass tiles and Wenge veneered cabinets under modern WET sinks and the master bath has a white custom CAESARSTONE dual vanity.  All faucets, shower heads and toilets are the latest design of KOHLER.

“Mark Davis from the Modern Home store in Palm Springs supplied us with tile for all the bath rooms and kitchen back splash as well as the countertops in the kitchen and the double sink free-floating unit in the master bath,” said Bettina.

The Haverkates chose double pane energy-efficient aluminum framed windows and sliders throughout the house. Three separate air and heating systems were placed underground (rather than on the roof) and can be operated separately to keep the energy costs down. Most lighting is the latest energy efficient LED light fixtures.

“Finding the right furniture was fairly easy since both Ralph and I have very similar taste,” said Bettina. “We were able to picture what pieces we needed where and what colors.  We found some of the furniture in Los Angeles, and also some great pieces locally in Palm Springs.”

The property is conveniently located in a very quiet South Palm Desert area but still within walking distance to the high-end shopping/restaurant EL PASEO area.

“We moved in November 2010 and just love the area and the house,” said Bettina. “Our two dogs, Heidi and Willi, could not be happier; they enjoy the big lawn area created for them to play and run after their balls.”

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

Dion Neutra, son of celebrated architect Richard Neutra and surviving partner in the storied architectural firm, invites Neutra fans to help celebrate the firm’s 85th anniversary next weekend in Los Angeles.

Dion plans a series of events that include a birthday party at the Eagle Recreation Center on Friday, April 8, which would be Richard Neutra’s  119th (b. April 8, 1892- d. April 16, 1970). On Saturday and Sunday are a symposium, reunion of Neutra owners, comprehensive walking tour of 10 Silver Lakes homes including the Lovell Health House, plus documentary films and VIP receptions at various Neutra designed sites in Los Angeles.  Ticket sales benefit the Van Der Leeuw Research house restoration and endowment, a 501 c 3 non-profit institute.

A ticket to all weekend events is $250 or separate tickets are available for each event.  To purchase  tickets and for specific information, go to

www.neutra.org/reserve-your-space.html.

The Austrian-born Richard Neutra, who emigrated to the United States in 1923, is best known for  combining Bauhaus modernism with Southern California building trends, creating a unique adaptation that became known as Desert Modernism.

At the Technical University of Vienna, Neutra studied under Adolf Loos , who was influential in European Modern Architecture. He was also influenced by Otto Wagner, a professor at the Vienna Academy of Fine Arts, who radically opposed the prevailing architectural styles.  Neutra  worked for a time in Germany in the studio of Erich Mendelsohn who practiced “dynamic functionalism.”

After coming to the US, Neutra worked briefly for Frank Lloyd Wright before collaborating with his close friend and university companion Rudolf Schindler, living and working communally in Schindler’s Kings Road House in California.

www.wikipedia.org/wiki/Richard_Neutra

Neutra’s houses were dramatic, flat-surfaced industrialized looking building, constructed with glass, steel and reinforced concrete, and typically finished in stucco. His style was rigorously geometric but composed airy structures that created a modern regionalism for Southern California, a West Coast variation of the Mid-Century Modern residence.

Neutra was regarded for the careful attention he gave to defining the real needs of his clients, regardless of the size of the project.  He sometimes used detailed questionnaires to discover his client’s needs, much to their surprise. His domestic architecture was a blend of art, landscape and practical comfort.

The Lovell House (1927-1929) in Los Angeles created a sensation in architectural circles both in Europe and America, as stylistically similar to Le Corbusier and Mies van der Rohe.  A special tour of this house for the anniversary celebration takes place on Sunday, April 10 from noon to 5 p.m.

Later, Neutra designed a series of elegant pavilion-style homes composed of layered horizontal planes.  With extensive porches and patios, the homes appeared to merge with the surrounding landscape.  The Kaufman House (1946-47) in Palm Springs and the Tremaine House are examples of Neutra’s pavilion houses.

http://architecture.about.com/od/greaterarchitects/p/richardneurtra.html

The Kaufman House has twice been at the vanguard of new movements in architecture:  First by helping to shape postwar Modernism and later, as a result of a painstaking and expensive restoration in the late 1990s, spurred a revival of interest in mid-20th century homes, according to a New York Times review by Edward Wyatt.

This house is one of Neutra’s the best-known.  Its  unusual pin-wheel plan was designed for Pittsburgh department store magnate Edgar J. Kaufmann, became the last domestic project by the architect, and arguably his most famous.

The house became part of cultural history thanks to a 1947 photo by Julius Shulman that shows Mrs. Kaufmann reclining by the pool, the house glowing in the sunset.  The photo became one of the most reproduced architectural photographs ever.

www.eichlernetwork.com/desert_chron7.html

Neutra extended architectural space into carefully arranged landscapes.  The dramatic images of flat-surface, industrialized residential buildings contrasted against nature were popularized by Shulman’s  photography.

In his architectural firm, Neutra worked with several successful partners including his wife, Dione, from 1922; his protégé Robert Alexander, from 1949 to 1958 (the Alexander homes in Palm Springs); and his son Dion from 1965. In the early 1930s, Neutra’s Los Angeles practice trained several young architects who went on to independent success, including Gregory Ain, Harwell Hamilton Harris and Raphael Soriano.

Dion kept the Silver Lake offices designed and built by his father open as “Richard and Dion Neutra Architecture” in Los Angeles. The Neutra Office Building is listed on the National Register of Historic Places.

www.greatbuildings.com/architects/Richard_Neutra.html

An experienced and outspoken writer, Neutra adamantly believed that modern architecture must act as a social force in the betterment of mankind.

www.architectureweek.com/2002/0424/news_1-1.html

Neutra is one of many famous Mid Century Modern architects whose celebrated works abound in the California desert.  For a tour of significant Desert Modern homes and estates currently for sale, contact Ralph Haverkate Real Estate at Ralph@RHaverkate.com.

– Pamela Bieri

Palevsky Residence, Palm Springs, CA 1968

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

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

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

An influential Los Angeles-based modernist whose career spanned the early 1950s through the mid-1970s, Ellwood was recognized for fusing the formalism of Mies van der Rohe with the more casual  California modernism, adapting the style into an accessible and fashionable vernacular.

The controversial designer fashioned a “persona” and career through his innate talent for good design, ambition and self-promotion.  If ever there was a product of Hollywood, it was architect Craig Ellwood.  Even his name was an invention:  Born Jon Nelson Burke in Clarendon, Texas, in 1922 his family moved to Los Angeles in 1937 where he attended Belmont High School.

After discharge from the Army Air Corps in 1946, Burke returned to Los Angeles and set up a company with his brother Cleve and two friends from the war, the Marzicola brothers, one of whom had a contractor’s license.  The four men named their firm “Craig Ellwood” after a liquor store called Lords and Elwood located in front of their offices.  Burke later legally changed his name to Ellwood and established Craig Ellwood Design in 1951.   www.absoluteastronomy.com/topics/Craig_Ellwood

Ellwood entered LA’s percolating, post World War II design world as a construction supervisor, draftsman and a cost estimator.  He worked for a construction company in Los Angeles while taking night classes at the University of California Los Angeles Extension Division.  One year before completing his studies, he and his partners established Craig Ellwood Associates in Los Angeles.

Ellwood learned hands-on about building in steel and plastic sheet before he studied architectural theory which gave him an understanding of steel construction and a practical application that eluded many contemporaries from architectural school.  His designs incorporated steel with thoughtful detailing and craftsmanship;  his trademark structural devise incorporated an exposed warren truss that used small member to span big distances.   www.greatbuildings.com/architects/Craig_Ellwood.html.

As a cost estimator for a firm of modern house builders — Lamport, Cofer, Salzman —  Jack Cofer asked Ellwood to design his first house for Milton Lappin in 1948.  Although an awkward  derivative of Frank Lloyd Wright’s Sturges House in Brentwood, the house was published in the Los Angeles Times Home Magazine in 1950, bringing Ellwood recognition, further commissions, and encouraged him to set up, illegally, as Craig Ellwood, Architect.

Soon after he began co-designing homes, Ellwood met John Entenza, founder of the important Case Study House Program which commissioned and promoted modern, economical housing designs.  As editor of Arts & Architecture magazine, Entenza promoted the creative and cost-effective prefabricated, modular housing by publishing these demonstration houses, designed by such luminaries as Charles Eames, Eero Saarien, Richard Neutra, John Lautner, and Edward Killinsworth.  Ellwood eventually designed three Case Study houses all built with exposed steel frames and columns.

His first commission outside of Los Angeles, in 1955 for Charles and Gerry Bobertz in San Diego, Ellwood designed an early example of what later came to be called Ellwood’s “wall houses,” named because of an unrelenting street facade and the defining, perpendicular rhythms and materials of interior and exterior walls.

Behind the stark street facade, however, logically arranged living area unfold, flooded with natural light from windows and skylights.  Eight-foot tall floor to ceiling glass doors open the house to the back yard and a children’s courtyard.  Inside, partition walls, capped with bands of glass that meet the wood ceilings, seem to float.   www.legacy.signonsandiego.com/uniontrib/2006/09/03/news_mzlhs03moder.html

The enigmatic exterior wall theme continued when Ellwood designed the Palevsky home on West Cielo Drive in 1968 on what was then described as “the best site in Palm Springs.”  Based on Casablanca desert  style homes that were white-walled compounds with structures set within rectangular walls, the minimalist Palevsky home is integrated into its boulder-strewn site.

www.palmspringsarchitectureblogspot.com/2010/05/max-palevsky-residence.html

Often formal in arrangement, sometimes symmetrical in plan and frequently launching into the landscape, Ellwood houses populated the more exclusive Los Angeles suburb including Beverly Hills, Pacific Palisades, Brentwood and Pasadena.

Although Ellwood’s style translated less well in large commercial projects, the Scientific Data Systems site in El Segundo, (1968) where the administration and manufacturing buildings are pavilions in an open landscape, achieved a successful expression.  Ellwood’s last building, the Art Center College of Design in Pasadena, was conceived as a huge truss spanning a canyon, a final, successful realization of a theme often repeated in his earlier buildings.

Although Ellwood’s work is limited in Palm Springs, the California desert is a treasure trove of remarkable, architecturally significant homes and estates by some of the world’s most prominent Mid Century Modern architects.  For a personal tour of significant homes for sale in the area, contact Ralph Haverkate at Ralph@RHaverkate.com.

–Pamela Bieri

Welcome to Team Haverkate Real Estate Specializing in Mid-Century Modern Homes For Sale in the California Desert.

Alexander Weekend tickets are now on sale!

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

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

This year, a new commemorative tribute journal devoted to the Alexanders is entitled The Alexander: A Desert Legacy and written by architect/author Jim Harlan.

The Alexander Company, founded by George Alexander and his son Robert, was a Palm Springs based residential development company that built more than 2,200 homes in the desert between 1947 and 1965.  The “Alexanders,” as these homes are now  known, doubled Palm Springs residential population, giving the city a whole new shape and direction.  www.wikipedia.org/wiki/Alexander_Construction_Company.

Key to the Alexanders’ success was the talented young architect Krisel, partner in the Los Angeles firm Palmer and Krisel, Inc. and a close friend of Bob Alexander.   www.psmodcom.com/Architects%20pages/PalmerKrisel.

The Alexanders’ foray into desert tract homes began with Twin Palms Estates, named for two palm trees included in the front landscaping of each home.  Hallmarks were a single story, open floor plan with an indoor-outdoor feeling enhanced by skylights, sliding glass doors, and an interior atrium.

Three quarter walls divided the main room to provide abundant light, eliminating the need for full framed walls, molding and trim, so created a clean contemporary look.  Exposed tongue-and-groove planks and beamed ceilings also enhanced the room’s soaring architectural lines.  The same floor plan repeated within the housing development saved construction and materials costs.

Krisel was involved with every facet of design, planning, engineering and construction.  From site and landscape choices to interior colors and trim, each house was oriented and embellished differently, making the Alexanders look like a collection of individualized custom homes.

Other Palmer & Krisel projects included the Ocotillo Lodge, Vista Las Palmas, Racquet Club Estates, Sandpiper condominiums in Palm Desert, and the famous “House of Tomorrow” also known as the “Elvis Presley Honeymoon Hideaway.”  Robert Alexander and his wife lived in this house for a time, featured in Look Magazine in September, 1962.

From as early as the 1920s and through the 1970s, an impressive roster of talented architects have been captivated by Palm Springs:  R.M. Schindler, Richard Neutra, and Lloyd Wright (Frank Lloyd Wright’s son); young Swiss architect Albert Frey whose work profoundly influenced desert architecture; and regional modernists William F. Cody, E. Stewart Williams, Wexler and Krisel.

Each made their mark with “striking custom homes, impressive commercial complexes, hotels and motels, commanding civic and educational campuses … and created an architectural treasury of great consequence and innovation in and around Palm Springs,” writes Robert Imber  in his story on The Alexander Homes.  www.eichlernetwork.com/desert_chron1.html.

Imber noted that Palm Springs remained a sleepy seasonal village until postwar American affluence and growing families began to emerge with a demand for mass market housing.  Coupled with the fact that Palm Springs already was a discrete playground for Hollywood’s elite, a bevy of builders and architects grew to fill the increasing demand for year round residential and well as seasonal vacation homes.

The Alexander Weekend includes a free Kick Off event with Jim Harlan’s lively, entertaining overview of the Alexander Construction Company’s post-war housing stock in Palm Springs on Friday, March 25, 6 – 7:30 p.m. at the Canyon Conference Center.  Panelists include architects Krisel and Wexler along with author Alan Hess and architect/author Patrick McGrew discussing the lasting impact the Alexanders made on Palm Springs post-war building boom.

Join Honorary Chair Jill Alexander Kitnick at the Opening Night Cocktail Party on Friday, 8 to 10 p.m. and be among the first to preview the new tribute journal.   The party will be held in a Krisel-designed “long butterfly” home in Twin Palms, an example of the Alexanders’ early work that has never been open to the public.  A specialty cocktail has been created to celebrate the event.

The Alexanders had five distinctive rooflines:  The classic butterfly;  a flat roof with side or front entry; narrow gabled roof with front or side entry; wide gable roof; and side gabled roof with clerestory windows.

Modernist Home Tour I on Saturday, March 26, includes two of the Alexander Construction Company’s most important modernist neighborhoods, Twin Palms and Vista Las Palmas, showcasing fine examples of mid-century residential architecture including “Butterfly,” “Swiss Miss” and other Alexander rooflines.  www.eichlernetwork.com/desert_chron1.html.

The tour also includes the “House of Tomorrow,” considered one of the most innovative modernist residences built at that time.  Tour times are from 10 a.m. to 6 p.m. and includes a one-hour lunch break.   www.elvishoneymoon.com.

The second day of the Modernist Home Tour on Sunday, March 27, 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. uncovers more of the Alexander Construction Company’s legacy with tours of the Krisel-designed Racquet Club Road Estates and the Sunmor neighborhood, along with the Wexler-designed Green Fairway Estates neighborhood.  www.racquetclubestates.com

Harlan will be on hand to sign his new book at Just Fabulous bookstore, 515 N. Palm Canyon Drive, during a complimentary book signing from 3 to 5 p.m.

The opening night cocktail party is $50 per person; Modernist Home Tour I is $85 and Modernist Home Tour II is $45.  The AW multi-pass option at $165 offers the best value and includes the exclusive Friday night cocktail party and two full days of house tours, a $15 savings to all events.

For tickets and reservations, log onto www.pspreservationfoundation.org

“We are proud to be partners in celebrating the annual Modernism Week and the Alexander Weekend, ” said Ralph Haverkate of Team Haverkate Real Estate.  “Both events further the cause of historic preservation in the Palm Springs area, so that for years to come we will have something tangible to celebrate, to own and pass down to future generations.”

Citywide, the collection of Alexanders range from 1,225 square feet in the Racquet Club Road Estates at the north end to over 2,500 square feet in the Vista Las Palmas, Golden Vista,  Mountain View, and Green Fairway Estates nearer to the center of town.  These were originally priced from $16,950 to $50,000.  Today, the Alexanders are highly sought after and refurbished sells from $400,000 to well over one million dollars.

For a personal tour of Wexler and Krisel designed Alexander homes and estates for sale in the Palm Springs area, contact Ralph@RHaverkate.com.

– Pamela Bieri

Welcome to Ralph Haverkate Real Estate, Specializing in Desert Modern Homes for Sale in the Palm Springs Area

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Interested in buying a Wexler or other classic Mid-Century Modern desert home? Contact Ralph@Ralphhaverkate.com for a personal tour of homes and estates for sale in the California desert area.

– Pamela Bieri

Welcome to Ralph Haverkate’s Modern Homes Blog

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

Benefits PS Preservation Foundation

Join event sponsor Haverkate Real Estate at the 2011 Retro Martini Party on Friday, February 25 from 5 to 8 p.m. at the Jorgensen-Mavis House, designed by Desert Modernist Architect William F. Cody, in Thunderbird Country Club.

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

Dress in your swankiest “rat pack” threads!

One of Palm Springs’ noted Mid Century Modern architects, William Cody left his indelible mark throughout the desert and Southern California with dozens of public buildings, country clubs and private homes.

Among Cody’s first desert designs were the 1947 Del Marcos Hotel followed by numerous Palm Springs projects, notably the conversion of the Thunderbird Dude Ranch to the Thunderbird Country Club and later Tamarisk and El Dorado country clubs, the Racquet Club and the Tennis Club.

While many of these clubhouses have been demolished and rebuilt or heavily remodeled, Cody’s work is still very much alive in custom residences throughout the desert such as the Jorgensen-Mavis residence (1954) that is featured at the Retro Martini event, and landmark buildings, St. Theresa’s Catholic Church and Convent (1966-688), the Palm Springs Library (1973), The Tennis Club Condominiums, and the dramatic entrance of the Spa Hotel (1962) among others.  www.moderndeserthome.com/index.php/architects/william-cody

His Mid-Century Modern classic, The Horizon Hotel (also called L’Horizon), built in 1952 and located at 1050 East Palm Canyon Drive, was rebuilt from the ground up in 2004, restoring the original architecture and updating its amenities. www.hotel-online.com/News/PR2008_1st/Feb08_HorizonPS.html

The hotel was acquired by Dave Scharf, a real estate developer from Portland, Oregon, who commissioned architect and former Cody associate Frank Urrutia to complete the two-year renovation.  Scharf obtained the original blueprints and numerous vintage photographs of the hotel by famed architectural photographer Julius Shulman, to preserve much of the hotel’s original character.

The results highlight Cody’s design throughout.  Most notably are its low slung ceilings and absence of any 90-degree angles.  The 22-bungalow style rooms feature 102 and 78 degree angles.  The Horizon Hotel spotlights Cody’s influence on the rich architectural history in Palm Springs.

Cody originally built the hotel for Hollywood mogul Jack Wrather and his wife actress Bonita Granville, best known for her portrayal as Nancy Drew in the Nancy Drew movies series from 1938-39.

Wrather, an oil millionaire from Texas, became part of the Hollywood scene by producing “Lassie” and “The Lone Ranger” founding KCET-TV and building the Disneyland Hotel.  The Horizon Hotel became the couple’s getaway for themselves and their many Hollywood friends including Marilyn Monroe, Betty Grable and Rosalind Russell.  www.thehorizonhotel.com.

Born in 1916 in Dayton, Ohio, and raised in Los Angeles, Cody began working in architecture in the 1930s with Cliff May while attending the University of Southern California’s School of Architecture.  He received his degree in 1942.

In 1945, Cody was retained to alter the Desert Inn, his first Palm Springs commission.  He completed the Del Marcos hotel in 1947, a work that was recognized by the Southern California chapter of the AIA.

During Post World War II, Cody’s work flourished in Palm Springs and he moved his practice and family here in 1950. In 1960, he began nearly a decade of work altering and expanding the Palm Springs Spa Hotel.  His specialization in country clubs let to commissions in Los Angeles, San Diego and San Francisco as well as Phoenix, Scottsdale and Lake Havasu, Arizona, and even projects in Mexico and Cuba.

www.lib.calpoly.edu/specialcollections

Cody had quite a reputation for carousing, earning the moniker “Wild  Bill,” according to fellow architect Don Wexler with whom Cody worked in the 1950s. Yet his work was exceptionally focused on the details of his designs, pushing the boundaries of his materials.

Author Adele Cygelman wrote, “Joints and door frames seemingly disappeared into walls,  He merged living rooms into terraces and gardens. Roofs jutted out twelve feet to shield the walls of glass.  Pattern and texture came from the tile floors, carved wood panels, and concrete-block screens with geometric motifs, all of which were meticulously designed by Cody to match each other precisely at the seams and angles where the planes met.”

Architectural critic Arthur Hess said of Cody’s work that “a distinct character can be seen in all of them.  It is a restless energy that brings a liveliness to his plans, elevations and details.  The radical thinness of Cody roofs or the daring reach of a cantilever are clearly the result of a wrestling match between the architect and the materials and the laws of physics; that energy and striving remains in the building.”

Hess notes that “the fact that Cody could take an established vocabulary and style and reinterpret it so vividly ranks him among the best of mid-century California designers.”

www.activerain.com/blogsview/1174597/willian-f-cody-faia-famed-mid-century-architect

In a recently re-published story and interview with Cody from the August 1964 issue of Palm Springs Life, Cody describes his philosophy of architecture:

“Architecture must guide the future of our culture, a three-dimensional sculptured concept conditioned by proportion, the secret of great building.  Father to the arts, it embraces man’s finest endeavors and, since the inception of time, has inspired progress and served to formulate a better way of life.”

www.palmspringsrealestatenews.com/palm-springs-noted-architect-william-cody

Palm Springs and the California desert are a treasure trove of Mid-Century Modern homes, many of which were designed by William Cody.   For a tour of Cody’s and other architectural masterpieces available for sale, contact Ralph@ RHaverkate. com.

– Pamela Bieri

Welcome to Ralph Haverkate Real Estate, Your Source for Mid Century Modern Homes in Palm Springs

Iconic Architect Albert Frey Established Palm Springs as Mecca for Mid Century Modern Style

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

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

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

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

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

Most of Frey’s residential, commercial, institutional and civic buildings are still in use and now highly regarded for their architectural significance. With one of the largest collections of Mid-Century Modern architecture in the country, Palm Springs is a virtual museum of the desert modern style.

Frey is credited with such landmarks as the Palm Springs City Hall (1952) www.ci.palm-springs.ca.us, Palm Springs Aerial Tramway Valley Station (1949-63) www.pstramway.com, the iconic winged Tramway Gas Station (1965), the Loewy House (1946-67), the Frey House I (1940 with a later notable addition), Frey House II (1963-64), Fire Station No. 1, an Alpha Beta Food Market (1960 and since torn down), and the North Shore Beach and Yacht Club at the Salton Sea (1962), which was restored this year as a community center and museum www.saltonseamuseum.org and www.psmodcom.com/Architects%20Pages/AlbertFrey.html)

Early Years in Europe

Frey received his architect’s diploma from the Institute of Technology in Winterthur in 1924, but trained in traditional building construction rather than design, which in vogue at that time was the neo-classical Beaux-Arts Style.  He was always interested fundamentally in building , and spent summer vacations working in construction. http://en.wikipedia.org/Albert_Frey_architect.

“One reason I was not interested in becoming an Architect was because what was being built in Switzerland at the time was not that interesting, very traditional houses and chalets and things like that,” he said in an interview www.volume5.com/albertfrey/architect-albert-frey-interview.

In Europe, Frey could not help but become more and more aware of the growing modernism movements:  the Dutch De Stijl and German Bauhaus school in particular.

“But then I went to Brussels and discovered the work of Le Corbusier in books and magazines and decided to work for him,” he said.

He soon secured a position with Le Corbusier and associate, Pierre Jeanneret, in Paris.  With Le Corbusier, he worked on the Villa Savoye and other significant projects.  Then, in 1928 Frey left the atelier for work in the United States, continuing the friendship with Le Corbusier for many years.

“At the time, the building techniques in America were more advanced than in Europe,” said Frey in the interview.  “The prefabrication of things was much farther along and that was something that really interested me.”

Frey was the first practicing architect in America to have worked directly with Le Corbusier.  In New York, he partnered with A.L. Kocher and the two developed the innovative Aluminaire House for an exhibit at the Museum of Modern Art.

Kocher was also the managing editor of Architectural Record, an important publication through which Frey, Kocher and their contemporaries contributed to the American modernist movement through articles on urban planning, technology and the modernist aesthetic.

Although Hocher and Frey only built four buildings together, one of their commissions was a dual-use office and apartment building for Kocher’s brother, Dr. J.J. Kocher of Palm Springs, the Kocher-Samson building (1934-35), a project that brought Frey to the California desert.

Palm Springs Years

The California desert became Frey’s home and its rugged terrain, windswept sand dunes and intense sun became the inspiration for most of his subsequent work.

From 1935 to 1937, Frey worked with John Porter Clark under the firm of Van Pelt and Lind Architects, as neither were yet licensed in California.

Frey briefly returned  to the east coast to work on the Museum of Modern Art in New York, and there married Marion Cook whom he had met in Palm Springs. The newlyweds went to France aboard the great art deco ocean liner, the SS Normandie, and returned to New York in 1938.

After completing  work on the Museum of Modern Art in 1939, the Freys returned to Palm Springs and Albert resumed his collaboration with Clark which continued for another 20 years.

After World War II ended, Palm Springs emerged as a post-war resort community attracting the Hollywood elite, east coast industrialists and the broader American population who had more leisure time and money than any generation before.  Palm Springs’ population tripled and a building boom brought fresh opportunities for Frey and Clark in an unprecedented period of construction.  http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Albert_Frey_architect

Frey and Clark were well positioned to capitalize on the boon, although then, the traditional ranch style home was in demand.  They built some 50 ranch style homes in the Smoke Tree Ranch development.

“Clark was trained in traditional so he would do those jobs and I would do the progressive ones,” Frey said in the interview.  “You can always introduce new ideas even in traditional architecture.”

Frey was commissioned to build a home for industrial designer Raymond Loewy (The Loewy House, 1946-47,) and built his own home, Frey House ! (1940), later adding a circular metal “nautical” second story and pool.

The nautical porthole addition seemed a precedent to Frey’s North Shore Beach and  Yacht Club  built in 1962 when it became California’s largest marina. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/North_shore_Beach_and_Yacht_Club

On May 1 of this year, the restored yacht club was reopened to the public after many years of being abandoned and vandalized http://saltonseamuseum.org

Frey House II Built on Rock

Frey House II built on the flank of hillside in Palm Springs reflects Frey’s interpretation of architecture within the environment.  Why he chose such a seemingly inhospitable site:

“Well, I am from Switzerland and I kept looking up at these mountains,” said Frey.”I thought someday I would like to live up there and look down.  So for five years I looked, and it was just luck that I found it. There was only a turnaround in the road and no flat pad to put a house, just rock.  So I was able to buy the property from the owner.  But when he saw what I did, he was sorry he had sold it to me.”

Frey described how the house grew out of his observation of the site:

“One thing is to understand how the sun is positioned,” he said.  “See the sun is very low in the winter and comes in to help heat the house. In the summer, it is very high and is kept out by the overhang of the roof.  It does not even come through the glass into the house. So that is why the overhang of the roof is this way.”

“I had a very careful survey made showing the contours and all the rock. Then I put up some strings to see how the design would work out. We then established the levels and then I had to fit the glass to the rock. The best way was to put up an aluminum channel straight and clear of the rock, and then fill in the spaces with rock and color mortar. Now you can hardly see the mortar,” he explained.

“The slope of the roof follows the slope of the terrain. The contrast between the natural rock and the high tech materials is rather exciting, I think. Rather than imitate it, you know, the contrast is more interesting,” he said.

A Legacy of Landmark Architecture

Among the most recognized of Frey’s public buildings are the Palm Springs City Hall, the Palm Springs Aerial Tramway Valley Station and the “flying wedge” canopy of the Tramway Gas Station, now also a visitor center at the northwest gateway into Palm Springs. http://mid-century-modern.net/albert-frey/

What inspired Frey to design City Hall with offset block:

“I had just returned from a trip around the world when we got that job and I was very inspired by what I had seen,” he said.  “You can see that when you use block like that, you can get a much better proportion to the walls. The corners lap like a log cabin’s corner.  I tried to use the materials the way they should be used naturally.  Of course I used a lot of metal. I feel why lift concrete overhead? Use lighter materials and it is better for earthquakes as well.

Frey’s aesthetic and practical sense was to keep the mass to the ground with a light frame above.

“In the City Hall Counsel Chamber, you notice the walls are splayed, that was acoustically determined,” he noted.  ”I worked on schemes for Le Corbusier where he had a consultant for acoustical engineering. The League of Nations Building’s shape was based on acoustics. There was not electrical amplification at that time and you had to be heard. The ceiling way was baffled as well in the same way. So it was a very inspiring way of designing.”

What was Frey’s design process?

“Well, of course, it starts in the head, then I make sketches, from there I quite often make a model in order to explain it to the client,” he said. “For instance, the gas station up there, it was very difficult for the City to visualize it from a drawing. So I make a little model to show them that all the beams are straight. Which is an interesting principle, yet it makes a curved roof.”

Modernism Lectures and Tours

In 1998 at the age of 95, the iconic Swiss architect died in his sleep at home and is buried at Welwood Murray Cemetery in Palm Springs.  He bequeathed the Frey House II to the Palm Springs Museum, but to preserve the site, the house is generally not open to the public.

However, Frey is the subject of a lecture at the museum on February 22-23 by Bill Butler.  Call (760) 322-4837or visit www.psmuseum.org.

Frey’s work will also be included during Modernism Week, February 17-27. Call (760) 219-4599 or visit online at www.modernisweek.com for locations.

When visiting the Palm Springs area, contact Ralph Haverkate Real Estate for a tour of quality designed desert modern homes for sale. www.ralphhaverkate.com

– Pamela Bieri

Welcome to Ralph Haverkate Real Estate, Your Source for Mid-Century Modern Homes in the Palm Springs  Area

Tennis Club and Sunnylands Architect A. Quincy Jones’ Work Continues To Be Relevant

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

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

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

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

For Jones and Williams, the challenging hillside project with falling rock, extreme temperatures and a difficult site became a “test laboratory” to find solutions while preserving and  incorporating the impressive desert view.

In a 1947 Southwest Builder and Contractor article, Jones said, “Natural stone found at the site provided the opportunity for a fresh handling of an ancient material as well as a medium for tying the structure into its natural setting.”  Concrete,  durable and plastic enough to mold to the rock, was used extensively as was glass to dissolve the boundaries between interior and exterior.

The Tennis Club became  ”an interesting and successful example of contemporary architectural concepts at their best” for incorporating old structures with new and combining interior function with exterior environment  www.paulrwilliamsproject.org.

Although the Tennis Club building has since been remodeled, the huge oval pool remains a focal point in the oasis-styled landscape. A gallery of Julius Shulman’s iconic photos of the Tennis Club and grounds in the 1940s compared to recent photos may be viewed at www.paulrwilliamsproject.org/gallery/1940s-places-of-liesure/.

The successful Los Angeles-based architect and educator continued to use concrete, glass, stone and steel into his work that bridged the gap between custom-built and developer built homes.

“While in private practice in Los Angeles from 1937, his houses set a standard of excellence that affected all house design of the postwar period, especially the tract house, to which he was one of the few to give architectural consideration,” according to authors of www.aquincyjones.com.

Jones was a pioneer in “greenbelt” planning, raising the level of the tract house in California by surrounding them with gardens integrated into the landscape,” according to Cory Buckner in her book A. Quincy Jones, published by  Phaidon  www.arcspace.com/book/Quincy_Jones/quincy_jones_book.html.

During his 30-year association with building magnate Joseph Eichler, Jones and another partner, Frederick Emmons, designed thousands of homes, reflective of Eichler’s objective to “exceed the quality provided by ordinary builders, but affordable to middle-class American home buyers.” www.eichlernetwork.com/ENStry20.html.

Among Jones’ signatures, coffered ceilings and courtyards that create openness, were prescribed in a 1948 remodel of Town and Country Restaurant in downtown Palm Springs in 1948.  A coffered ceiling lounge overlooked a garden courtyard and while a dramatic wooden trellis that mimicked the ceiling divided the outdoor space.  The coffered ceiling was patterned after one Jones had designed for his own first home in Los Angeles.  See early Julius Shulman photos of the property at www.pspreservationfoundation.org/pdf/center_nomination.

Jones’ larger projects grew out of his solutions for smaller residences, particularly integrating mechanical systems into the roof for better efficiency.  Some examples are the 1959 Biological Sciences Building on the UC Santa Barbara campus and the 1967 Chemistry Building on the UC Riverside campus:   Both roofs are dominated by  a continuous cap that contains mechanical systems.  The interior concrete coffered ceilings carry conduits for wiring, air conditioning and so forth.

Jones’ penchant for multi-level plazas and open court yards was adapted  for the 1972 Annenberg School of Communications at the University of Southern California at which Jones was a professor and dean of architecture from 1951 through 1967 http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/A._Quincy_Jones.).

In their commercial as well as residential projects, Jones and Emmons dissolved boundaries between indoor and outdoor spaces through atrium gardens, courtyards, sliding glass doors and floor to ceiling glass walls,  and clerestory windows providing natural  light in working or living spaces  www.eichlernetwork.com/ENStry20.html . Perforated metal panels, exposed masonry block walls, obscure and clear glass, as well as wood and stone were some of the innovative building materials they used in their projects.

Jones’ work in the desert gained even more prestige when in the mid-1960s, Ambassador Walter Annenberg commissioned him  to design Sunnylands in Rancho Mirage, a 25,000 square foot Mid-Century Modern house located in the middle of Annenberg’s 200-acre landscaped estate and private golf course. The project was completed in 1966. www.sunnylands.org/nr_april_2010.php.

For nearly 40 years afterward, the Annenbergs typically spent about five months at Sunnylands where they entertained United State Presidents, British royalty, international political figures, and cultural and entertainment icons.  Walter Annenberg died in 2002 and Lenore in March 2009.

In keeping with the Annenberg bequest, the Annenberg Foundation Trust at Sunnylands is building an education center on a15-acre site adjacent to the Sunnylands estate and renovating and restoring the original property.

In November 2011, the new Sunnylands will open a 215-acre public attraction with a visitor center, desert garden, historic house, golf course, solar farm and other 21st-century environmental upgrades.  The new Sunnylands will be both an historic house museum as well as a site for retreats and summits. www.sunnylands.org.

“Sunnylands is one of about 150 parks, and residential, commercial and civic developments across the country which have been designated as pilot projects of the Sustainable Sites Initiative or SITES, a new rating system aimed at promoting eco-friendly land developments,” writes K Kaufmann in Desert Magazine, Sept. 2010. www.mydesert.com/archives

Jones’ innovative work continues to be relevant into the next century as appreciation for the modernist movement grows.  Palm Springs area has one of the highest concentrations of Mid-Century Modern homes in the world.  For a tour of desert modern homes currently for sale, contact www.HaverkateRealEstate.com.

– Pamela Bieri