I was more excited about visiting Palm Springs than any other city on our tour because it contains the greatest concentration of mid-century modern buildings in the country. The town's development as an isolated resort community paralleled the growth of nearby metropolises Los Angeles and San Diego and provided architects with a playground to test new design and construction techniques. The rise of Hollywood in the 1930's attracted tourists and illustrious clients to the
Coachella Valley, including Frank Sinatra and Elvis, and made life in Palm Springs a lucrative and fashionable venture. Revised zoning laws, meanwhile, along with the support and foresight of ambitious developers like the
Alexander Construction Company, accommodated the rapid expansion in concordance with the influx of new residents. The result is a regional architectural vernacular that is uniquely American and at the same time, uniquely Californian, and which functions like a dynamic exhibit, where the city itself is a museum, and the buildings works of art. Visiting this place is like stepping into a decades-old lab experiment whose instigators have long since passed but whose tubes and cauldrons are still bubbling with purpose. It is tangible history that is not so foreign to our perception of everyday life that we're unable to understand it. Palm Springs is glamorous, beautiful, and I love it...if only it wasn't 115 degrees when I was there, I may have stayed.
Some of the architects who practiced in Palm Springs are some of the most well-known American modernists: RM Schindler, Richard Neutra, Albert Frey, E. Stewart Williams, Palmer & Krisel, John Lautner and more. I will be posting all my images on Flickr soon, but bear in mind that many of the most famous buildings are private residences and thus inaccessible. So you'll have to live with just a taste.
Also, check out this website dedicated to the preservation of
Palm Springs Modern for more information.
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| [House, Albert Frey] |
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| ["House of Tomorrow" for Elvis Presley, Palmer + Krisel] |
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| [Tramway Station / Visitors Center, Albert Frey] |
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| [Palm Springs City Hall, Albert Frey] |
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| [Kauffman House, Richard Neutra] |
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| [Palm Springs Art Museum, E. Stewart Williams] |
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| [Retail/Office Building, E. Stewart Williams] |
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| [Bank, E. Stewart Williams] |
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| [Tramway Hub, Base, E. Stewart Williams] |
what a tour! glad you got to see these in person. Must have been a Mecca of sorts for you.
ReplyDeleteYes, indeed! There are more pictures but unfortunately I've reached my upload quota for the month. I've got some LA stuff that needs posting as well.
ReplyDeleteI've learned thought in my short time here to appreciate American Modernism for its unique aesthetic, but also to pause and reflect how the automotive/object-building culture has hurt urbanism. Cars or not Palm Springs is still very nice.
there's a song in the new Arcade Fire release ('The Suburbs'; you got a Dropbox account? I could send it to you) that goes "first they built the roads, then they built the town, that's why we're still driving around and around and..."
ReplyDelete