Palm Springs School of Architecture

Last updated

The Palm Springs School of Architecture, often called Desert Modernism, [1] is a regional style of post-war architecture that emerged in Palm Springs, California. [2] Many of the architects who pioneered this style became world-renowned later in their own careers. Numerous buildings and homes by these architects remain in the Coachella Valley. Additionally, this style of architecture is showcased annually at the Modernism Week event in Palm Springs.

Contents

Characteristics

The Palm Springs School of Architecture is characterized by its adaptation to the desert's brutal climate. Block walls, clerestory windows, long, low rooflines and the inclusion of the desert itself in the design highlight the common elements of the Palm Springs School. Architectural movements are often recognized only after the fact. While the spectrum of Palm Springs' midcentury architecture stretches all the way from John Lautner to Richard Neutra, [3] the many architects working in this small town responded to a unique combination of conditions through a shared commitment to Modernism. This supported creative, experimental approaches, and took advantage of the freedom that the California environment offered.

Each architect responded to the desert climate and sunlight, the mountain landscape, the recreational culture, willing and well-heeled clients, and a commitment to Modern techniques from mass production to steel and concrete construction. Their responses were different, but their devotion to modern ideas in the open atmosphere of Palm Springs [4] and California nurtured a remarkable concentration of ideas and buildings. Though they are related to the general wave in innovative design in midcentury California, the relative isolation of this small town, the focus on a few issues, and the large percentage of contributing architects who worked almost exclusively in Palm Springs lead to an identifiable approach to architecture that may be called the Palm Springs School.

Notable architects

Robson C. Chambers, John Porter Clark, Wiliam F. Cody, [5] Albert Frey, A. Quincy Jones, Hugh M. Kaptur, William Krisel, John Lautner, Richard Neutra, Donald Wexler, E. Stewart Williams, and Paul Revere Wiliams are the leading names of this regional style.

Other architects contributing to the Palm Springs School of Architecture include Barry Berkus, Herbert Burns, Charles DuBois, Edward Fickett, Rick Harrison, Howard Lapham, [6] Harold Levitt, James McNaughton, [7] Val Powelson, Robert Ricciardi, Stan Sackly, [8] and Laszlo Sandor.

Donald Wexler's [9] Steel House #2 is listed on the National Register of Historic Places.

Architect and historian Alan Hess is a leading advocate of the Palm Springs School of Architecture.

Related Research Articles

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Richard Neutra</span> Austrian-American architect (1892–1970)

Richard Joseph Neutra was an Austrian-American architect. Living and building for the majority of his career in Southern California, he came to be considered a prominent and important modernist architect. He mainly built suburban single-family detached homes for wealthy clients. His most notable works include the Kaufmann Desert House in Palm Springs, California.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Googie architecture</span> Mid-20th-century American futurist architectural style

Googie architecture is a type of futurist architecture influenced by car culture, jets, the Atomic Age and the Space Age. It originated in Southern California from the Streamline Moderne architecture of the 1930s, and was popular in the United States from roughly 1945 to the early 1970s.

Albert Frey was a Swiss-born architect who established a style of modernist architecture centered on Palm Springs, California, United States, that came to be known as "desert modernism".

<span class="mw-page-title-main">John Lautner</span> American architect (1911–1994)

John Edward Lautner was an American architect. Following an apprenticeship in the mid-1930s with the Taliesin Fellowship led by Frank Lloyd Wright, Lautner opened his own practice in 1938, where he worked for the remainder of his career. Lautner practiced primarily in California, and the majority of his works were residential. Lautner is perhaps best remembered for his contribution to the development of the Googie style, as well as for several Atomic Age houses he designed in the late 1950s and early 1960s, which include the Leonard Malin House, Paul Sheats House, and Russ Garcia House.

Emerson Stewart Williams, FAIA was a prolific Palm Springs, California-based architect whose distinctive modernist buildings, in the Mid-century modern style, significantly shaped the Coachella Valley's architectural landscape and legacy.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Mid-century modern</span> Architectural, interior, product, and graphic design of the mid-20th century

Mid-century modern (MCM) is an American design movement in interior, product, graphic design, architecture, and urban development that was popular from roughly 1945 to 1969, during the United States's post–World War II period. The term was used descriptively as early as the mid-1950s and was defined as a design movement by Cara Greenberg in her 1984 book Mid-Century Modern: Furniture of the 1950s. It is now recognized by scholars and museums worldwide as a significant design movement. The MCM design aesthetic is modern in style and construction, aligned with the Modernist movement of the period. It is typically characterized by clean, simple lines and honest use of materials, and it generally does not include decorative embellishments.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Alexander Construction Company</span>

Alexander Construction Company was a Palm Springs, California, residential development company that built over 2,200 houses in the Coachella Valley of Riverside County, California, between 1955 and 1965.

Edgar Jonas Kaufmann was an American businessman and philanthropist who owned and directed Kaufmann's Department Store, in Pittsburgh. He is also known for commissioning two modern architectural masterpieces, Fallingwater, designed by Frank Lloyd Wright and the Kaufmann Desert House in Palm Springs, designed by Richard Neutra.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Julius Shulman</span> American architectural photographer

Julius Shulman was an American architectural photographer best known for his photograph "Case Study House #22, Los Angeles, 1960. Pierre Koenig, Architect." The house is also known as the Stahl House. Shulman's photography spread the aesthetic of California's Mid-century modern architecture around the world. Through his many books, exhibits and personal appearances his work ushered in a new appreciation for the movement beginning in the 1990s.

Frederick Monhoff was an American architect, artist, and illustrator. His architectural style ranged from art deco to mid-century modern, while his etchings of the 1920s-30s documented scenes of Native American and Mexican life in the American Southwest.

The Cal Poly Pomona College of Environmental Design (CENV) is a college part of the California State Polytechnic University, Pomona. The college houses over 1,600 students; making it one of largest environmental design programs in the United States. The college offers bachelor's degrees in five departments, as well as three master's degree programs. It offers a Master of Interior Architecture, professional degree in collaboration with the University of California, Los Angeles (UCLA).

Alan Hess is an American architect, author, lecturer and advocate for twentieth-century architectural preservation.

Juergen Nogai is a German architecture, art and documentary photographer.

Donald Allen Wexler was an influential Mid-Century modern architect whose work is predominantly in the Palm Springs, California, area. He is known for having pioneered the use of steel in residential design.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Hugh M. Kaptur</span> American architect

Hugh Michael Kaptur is an American architect whose practice is primarily in California's Coachella Valley. During his fifty years as an architect, Kaptur has designed residential homes, apartment complexes, civic buildings, including two of Palm Springs' fire stations, commercial office buildings and hotels. The bulk of his work is in the Mid-Century modern style. He is considered a contemporary of William Cody, Donald Wexler, Richard Harrison and Howard Lapham. He was born in Michigan where his father was a designer in the Packard and GM studios. After his honorable discharge from the Marines, he moved to Palm Springs in 1956 where he apprenticed in the offices of Wexler and Harrison. After being laid off, Kaptur went on his own and designed several model homes for the Ranch Construction Company. In 1962 he formed a partnership with licensed architect Robert Ricciardi so that he could get the commission for Palm Springs Fire Station #3. After that partnership broke up, in 1965 he formed a company with Larry Lapham, noted architect Howard Lapham's son which was to last ten years. His last partnership was with James Cioffi, after which he semi-retired in 1992. Kaptur designed several notable residences, including those for Steve McQueen and William Holden; municipal buildings – Fire Station #3 and #4 in Palm Springs; apartment buildings – the Caballeros complex; and numerous commercial hotels and office buildings.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">William Krisel</span> American architect

William Krisel was an American architect best known for his pioneering designs of mid-century residential and commercial architecture. Most of his designs are for affordable homes, especially tract housing, with a modern aesthetic.

Marmol Radziner is a design-build practice based in Los Angeles that was founded in 1989 by American architects Leo Marmol and Ron Radziner. The firm specializes in residential, commercial, hospitality, cultural, and community projects, and offers various design services, including architectural design, construction, landscape design, interior design, furniture design, jewelry design, and modern architecture restoration.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Modernism Week</span> Mid-century architecture and design event in Palm Springs, California, United States

Modernism Week is a 501(c)(3) organization which provides public education programming fostering knowledge and appreciation of modern architecture, the mid-century modern architecture and design movement, the Palm Springs School of Architecture, as well as contemporary considerations surrounding historic preservation, cultural heritage, adaptive reuse, and sustainable architecture. Modernism Week provides annual scholarships to local students pursuing college educations in the fields of architecture and design and supports local and state organizations' efforts to preserve and promote the region's modern architecture. The organization is centered in the greater Palm Springs, California area in the Coachella Valley which is home to a significant collection of extant residential and commercial buildings designed in the mid-century modern vernacular.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Ron Radziner</span> American architect

Ron Radziner is an American architect who is the co-founder and design partner of the design-build practice, Marmol Radziner.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Villa Hermosa (Palm Springs)</span>

The Villa Hermosa is a mid-century modern private complex in the Old Las Palmas neighborhood of Palm Springs, California, United States. Located at 155 W Hermosa Place, near North Palm Canyon Drive and West El Alameda, it was originally commissioned as a residential hotel for winter visitors by C.K. Fulton in 1946. The property was featured in photos by Julius Shulman in 1947, and subsequently recognized locally as historically significant.

References

  1. ↑ Craven, Jackie. "Desert Modernism". ww.about.com. Retrieved 6 March 2015.
  2. ↑ "Palm Springs Modernism". psmuseum.org. Retrieved 6 March 2015.
  3. ↑ Moruzzi, Peter. "The Time: Modern". palmspringslife.com. Desert Publications. Archived from the original on 15 June 2015. Retrieved 3 March 2015.
  4. ↑ Stern, Michael. "Building on Last Century's Innovation". palmspringslife.com. Desert Publications. Retrieved 2 March 2015.
  5. ↑ Cygelman, Adele. "Modern Sophisticate". Desert Publications. Retrieved 3 March 2015.
  6. ↑ Descant, Skip (February 20, 2015). "The Desert Star, A Shining Gem of Modernism". The Desert Sun. Retrieved 3 March 2015.
  7. ↑ Starstreak. "Recognized McNaughton". blogspot.com. Retrieved 4 March 2015.
  8. ↑ Taylor Tudzin, Jessica. "Modern Redux". No. March 2014. Palm Springs Life. Retrieved 4 March 2015.
  9. ↑ Wisniewski, Katherine. "Remembering Donald Wexler, the Inventor of Palm Springs Modeninsm". curbed.com. Curbed.com. Retrieved 1 July 2015.
This page is based on this Wikipedia article
Text is available under the CC BY-SA 4.0 license; additional terms may apply.
Images, videos and audio are available under their respective licenses.