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Who was the architect who built Palm Springs? Known as a pilgrimage site for modernist architecture for lovers of mid-century style, this desert city has attracted some of modernism’s leaders. Richard Neutra, Albert Frey, Hugh Kaptur, John Lautner, E. Stuart William E Stewart Williams, William Cody and William Pereira were all prolific here and were some of the key architects in making Palm Springs what it is today. As Palm Springs Modernism Week 2024 kicks off this week, we look back, amplify, and celebrate their legacy.
The architect who built palm springs
Richard Neutra
Richard Neutra’s (1892-1970) building was immortalized in Julius Shulman’s photographs at its medieval peak – packed with people on warm summer nights year-round Party people. The slender, seemingly weightless structure of Neutra’s Kaufman House in Palm Springs is the perfect backdrop for these scenes—conversations take place in the open entertaining spaces and elongated rectangular swimming pool.
The Kaufman House in Palm Springs, built in 1947, is one of Neutra’s finest works. So how did the architect, who was born in Vienna, studied architecture with Adolf Loos and developed his career in the Berlin office of German Erich Mendelsohn, end up in California? What about reaching the pinnacle of architecture?
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Albert Frey
When you look at the low, long and linear forms of Albert Frey’s buildings, they look modern but also blend immediately with the arid landscape of America’s Coachella Valley. For one, it’s hard to believe that the founder of desert modernism was actually cheering. Snowy mountains from Switzerland. Yet, looking at Frey’s illustrious career at the forefront of his profession, which took him from the center of European modernism to Paris to work for Le Corbusier and to design buildings in New York, it is clear that the honors he received were well-deserved No accident.
Born in Zurich in 1903, Frey had a more traditional, architecture-oriented academic background and was not influenced by the style-led movements of the time (primarily the Beaux-Arts), working in his home country and Belgium before finding own career. Le Corbusier positions in the Paris office. There he worked with great masters on groundbreaking projects such as the Villa Savoye, as well as colleagues such as Josep Luis Sert and Charlotte Perriand.
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Hugh Hood
Of the creatives who define Palm Springs’ unique brand of modernism, few are actually from the Coachella area. Hugh Kaptur, one of the most prolific architects of small-town California, is no different, actually hailing from the cold states of Michigan and Detroit. However, he lived and worked in Palm Springs for most of his career, quickly becoming the true architectural embodiment of the modern spirit of the desert.
Born in 1931, Kaptur studied architectural engineering at Lawrence Institute of Technology before deciding almost impulsively during a trip in 1956 to stay in Palm Springs forever. He soon set up shop and began a career that spanned more than 50 years and included a wide range of construction types from private and multi-family residences to civil and commercial construction.
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John Lautner
Without the futuristic concrete creations of famed American architect John Lautner (1911-1994), you wonder what Hollywood film directors would do with fictional lairs for the rich, powerful… and occasionally evil . His gravity-defying housing projects have probably appeared in more movies than any other architect’s work. The bizarre cliffside architecture often overshadows the actors’ films. Uncomfortable perhaps, but often cosmic.
Lautner’s memorable screen stars include Sheets-Goldstein’s Place, AKA The Pornographer’s Place The Big Lebowski (now donated to the Los Angeles County Museum of Art), with its vast, sloping coffered ceiling dotted with 750 glass skylights; the UFO-like Malin House or “Chemosphere,” which appears in body double; The Elrod Residence, defined by its “sunburst” concrete canopy, was the home of Willard Whyte in the Bond films Diamonds are forever.
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E. Stewart Williams
It’s hard to imagine snow in Palm Springs, but at the Aerial Tram Mountain Station 2,600m above the town in the San Jacinto Mountains, it’s possible and fairly regular. A refuge for hikers and wildlife enthusiasts, the station was designed by architect E. Stewart Williams (1909-2005) as a modernist three-story log cabin with a concrete wrap-around observation deck. Cozy cocktail lounge with fireplace and curved glass facade overlooking Palm Springs and the valley beyond.
Of all the architects who shaped Palm Springs, Williams had the greatest impact on public life. His legacy can be seen everywhere. He was the architect of the Palm Springs Art Museum (1976) and the Santa Fe Federal Savings and Loan Building (1960), both of which were purchased by the museum and renovated by the Los Angeles government in 2014 as the Palm Springs Art Museum Building and The Design Center reopens. Based on the practice of Marmol Radziner.
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William Cody
Palm Springs is one of the global centers of high modernism, a vast desert city where the dreams of a new generation of architecture come to glorious fruition, often without the constraints of budget and the nagging burdens of bad weather. It was in the desert that the architects could explore the limits of glass and steel; the resulting slender ode to open-plan living brought the arid desert landscape into the heart of the post-war house.
Palm Springs continues to bask in its modernist heritage, hosting annual design celebrations, exhibitions, and open houses, as well as an ongoing strong tradition of innovative architecture. Pioneers who shaped the city included Albert Frey, Lloyd Wright and Richard Neutra, whose Kauffman House remains is the defining image of desert modernism. John Porter Clark, Donald Wexler and Richard Harrison, as well as Palmer & Krisel, were also key movers, working with real estate developers and hoteliers Investors are working together to transform Palm Springs into a destination for vacationers and weekend travelers eager to escape the smog and stress of Los Angeles. The resort was built in the early 20th century as a health resort).
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William Pereira
The architecture and career of American modernist William Pereira (1909-85) have long been celebrated and well documented. After founding William L Pereira & Associates in Los Angeles in 1958, Pereira became widely known for a series of iconic buildings, some 400 of which are impressive in total. Examples include the master plans and architecture of several universities (including the distinctly Brutalist Geisel Library), the multiple expansions of Los Angeles International Airport, and its iconic Guj-themed buildings, the Los Angeles County Museum of Art (LACMA) the original three buildings), the Disneyland Hotel, and the Pan Am Tower in San Francisco.
Since Palm Springs emerged as a hub of desirable celebrity life and modern architecture in the second half of the 20th century, Chicago-born Pereira was quickly and inevitably drawn to the Coachella Valley. Although he completed only a few groundbreaking projects, they define the town’s rich architectural heritage. It was there that his style adapted and evolved, with landmark buildings drawing on the spirit of landscape and desert modernism.
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