Modern Architecture Tours of Palm Springs, California
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Why So Much Modern Architecture In Palms Springs?

Sitting nearly astride the San Andreas Fault, Palm Springs owes everything to the geologic forces that caused hot springs to bubble up from the desert floor. The springs drew native Cahuilla Indians and later intrepid pioneers; then came railroads and new settlers seeking open space and healthy dry desert air.

In the 1920s and 30s Palm Springs emerged as a resort destination drawing Hollywood elites and affluent vacationers from the east. It became a playground for the rich and carefree – a reputation that enhanced its popularity and fueled its explosive growth through the 1940s, 50s and 60s. 

Drawn by the growing need for homes and buildings, as well as the extraordinary desert landscape and the city's unrestrained spirit of reinvention, architects came to Palm Springs, too, where they embarked on an extraordinary experiment. The results of this experiment were thousands of bold, innovative structures that expressed the spirit of their unique time and place.

Desert Modernism took its cues from the ideas of early modernists like Le Corbusier, Walter Gropius, Mies van der Rohe, Marcel Breuer and Frank Lloyd Wright. Its style grew out of a confluence of forces that began with the pure vision of talented architects and incorporated the tastes and expectations of Hollywood celebrities, affluent snow birds, busy home builders, booming businesses and an aspiring post-war middle class.

The buildings that resulted were new and original. They reflected and enhanced the stark beauty of their desert environments. They featured honest materials such as glass, wood, steel, stone and concrete that were both beautiful and essential. They assumed an integral role in the aesthetic space between sand, mountain and sky, and they expressed an understated sense of style that replaced ostentation with the inherent drama of quality design.

But by the late 1970s, Palm Springs' fortunes began to diminish as 'modern' styles fell out of fashion and newer Coachella Valley resorts drew away the crowds. Architectural treasures languished while new homes and developments sprang up in derivative historical styles. And many of the homes and buildings that had come to be associated with Palm Springs' heyday fell into sad disrepair.

Fortunately, neglect turned out to be a blessing when a new wave of avid modernism fans returned to Palm Springs in the 1980s and 90s in search of classic architectural homes. Their enthusiasm fueled a resurgence in mid-century modern style, a timely rescue of countless threatened structures and a dramatic turnaround for Palm Springs' economy.

Now famous for its unique concentration of fine modernist homes and buildings, Palm Springs is a hugely popular resort destination where visitors flock from all over the world in search of a stylish, quintessentially modern place to relax, unwind and explore California's cultural treasures and glorious desert landscape.
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Palm Springs Arial Tramway Valley Station, 1963, Albert Frey and Robson Chambers
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Kaufmann Desert House, 1946, Richard Neutra

Celebrated Palm Springs Modernist Architects

Herbert W. Burns, 1897-1988
Albert Frey, 1903-1998  

John Porter Clark, 1905-1991  
E. Stewart Williams, 1909-2005

James McNaughton, 1912-1979  
Howard Lapham, 1914-2008  
William F. Cody, 1916-1978
Walter S. White, 1917-2002  
Robson Chambers, 1919-1999
Dan Palmer, 1920-2007 
Richard Harrison, 1921-1993
William Krisel, 1924 - 2017  
Donald Wexler, 1926-2015  
Hugh Kaptur, b. 1931  
Stan Sackley, 1937-2001 
Michael Black,1937-2008  



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Colonnade & Spa Resort, 1963, William F. Cody, Wexler & Harrison, et al. (Demolished in 2014 to make way for Indian casino).
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Inspired by LeCorbusier's chapel at Ronchamp, 1959, City National Bank, Rudi Baumfeld
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Alexander Construction Co. "Butterfly" Tract Home, 1957, Palmer & Krisel
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Dr. Franz Alexander House, 1955, Walter S. White


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Acclaimed Architects Who Worked in the 
Palm Springs Area

William Gray Purcell, 1880-1965
A. Lawrence Kocher, 1885-1969  
Rudolph Schindler, 1887-1953
Gordon Bernie Kaufmann, 1888-1949
 
Frank Lloyd Wright Jr., 1890-1978  
Richard Neutra, 1892-1970  
Paul R. Williams, 1894-1980
Henry L. Gogerty, 1994-1990
  
Albert C. Martin, Sr., 1897-1960  
Frederick Monhoff, 1897-1975  
Welton Becket, 1902-1969
Edward Durell Stone, 1902-1978  

Howard T. Fisher, 1903-1979
Rudi Baumfeld, 1904-1988
Frederick Emmons, 1907-1999
William Pereira, 1909-1980  
Charles Luckman,1909-1999
​Rodney Walker, 1910-1986
Henry Lawrence Eggers, 1911-1987  
John Lautner, 1911-1994  
A. Quincy Jones, 1913-1979  
Edward H. Fickett, 1916-1999
Richard Wheeler, 1917-1990

Harold W. "Hal" Levitt, 1921-2003
Joe Bing Wong, 1921 - 2011 
Craig Elwood, 1922-1992
Donald C. Hensman, 1924 - 2002

Conrad Buff III, 1926 - 1989
Ray Kappe, 1927-2019
Kendrick Bangs Kellogg
, b. 1934
Barry Berkus, 1935-2012

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Palm Springs City Hall, 1952-57, John Porter Clark, Robson Chambers, Albert Frey, E. Stewart Williams
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Palm Springs Art Museum Architecture and Design annex, E. Stewart Williams, 1961.
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St. Theresa's Church, 1968, William F. Cody
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Coachella Valley S&L, 1961, E. Stewart Williams
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Merrill Lynch Bldg., 1970, Donald Wexler - with Projection in Honor of Wexler's Passing
Banner photo: 1957 post and beam by tract home developer Jack Meiselman. 
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