In Praise of Desert Modernism in Palm Springs

There were few more glamorous places to be in the 1950s than the southern Californian desert town of Palm Springs. The icons of the era—Frank Sinatra, John F Kennedy, Marilyn Monroe, Bing Crosby—made it their winter playground, drawn by the dry heat, party scene, privacy, and its location—just over two hours from downtown LA.

The growing demand for designer Palm Springs homes drove cutting-edge architects to follow in their footsteps. Names such as Albert Frey, John Lautner (whose Elrod House appeared in the 1971 movie Diamonds Are Forever), and Richard Neutra, who liked to blur the division between inside and out, came up with a new style of architecture called desert modernism. The desert’s stark landscape became lightly peppered with angular, often single-story houses with flat or butterfly roofs, high clerestory windows to let in the light, and dramatic, floating brise-soleil.

THE MAD MEN EFFECT
Fast-forward 60 years and Palm Springs-style modernism is back in vogue. The town hardly needs any help in becoming more fashionable and desirable, but a cameo in Series 2 of the 1960s-set TV series Mad Men—an episode in which playboy Don Draper and his 21-year-old mistress escape to this desert retreat to frolic with the Euro jet-set—certainly spurred interest among potential property buyers in Palm Springs. “It’s a place of genuine feel-good exuberance and has a sophistication that is rare in a small resort community,” says Chris Menrad, of Christie’s International Real Estate’s exclusive affiliate HK Lane, and president of the Palm Springs Modern Committee (an organization that seeks to preserve and promote desert modern architecture).

Hollywood stars still go there, and the town has a large gay population and attracts wealthy retirees and golfers with its 269 courses. But this chic desert outpost is also enjoying a renaissance in the years since the economic crisis, as its architectural charms become more well known to a wider audience.

RETRO REDUX
“Modernism is a fragile style that requires maintenance, so as buildings have been renovated and refreshed, a whole new audience has been introduced to the pleasures of this style,” says Menrad, whose team’s sales have included the Palm Springs homes of former US president Gerald Ford and crooner Frank Sinatra. Menrad has also restored his own home, one of the original 1957 butterfly-roofed Alexander houses, which has since been listed as a Class 1 Historic Site. “What would once have been considered eyesores or teardowns, have now been made more beautiful and so in turn more people can see the possibilities of this type of look,” he says.

There is no doubting the rekindled popularity of desert modernism in Palm Springs, which has the highest concentration of mid-20th century architecture in the US. There are desirable pockets of rustic Spanish-style houses such as Old Las Palmas, but most house-hunters in Palm Springs want a home in the mid-century style, and so the renovation of older housing stock from this period is taking place at a feverish pace.

“Mid-century modernism is alive, well, and flourishing in Palm Springs,” says Menrad. Record numbers of 35,000 visitors last year for the annual Modernism Week (a celebration of mid-century modern design) suggest he’s right. The event also offers the public the chance to take part in open-house tours to soak up a feel of 1950s Palm Springs.

The miraculous thing about desert modernism is that its iconic features still look futuristic more than half a century after they were first designed.

Hollywood’s golden-age glamour is inextricably linked to Palm Springs’ mid-century buildings, and the latest addition to the desertscape is a 26-foot-tall statue of Marilyn Monroe, erected in 2012 to coincide with the 50th anniversary of her death. Monroe was a frequent visitor to one of Palm Springs’ most iconic homes, Bing Crosby’s seven-bedroom Spanish adobe-style estate in Palm Desert. Built in 1957 and set in two-and-a-half secluded acres of desert, the 4,300-square-foot house has been renovated to a level of luxury that commands a premium rate in holiday rentals.

Also exuding ’50s charm, but renovated for today’s buyers, is 2369 South Caliente Drive. This three-bedroom glass-and-stone house designed by Stan Sackley in the early ’70s is “a last gasp of modernism,” says Menrad. Inside, features include poured terrazzo floors and poliform lighting, and the house’s large glass walls draw the eye to the stunning mountain views beyond the pool. “You are always connected to the drama of the outdoors,” Menrad adds.

THE FUTURE’S MODERN
The miraculous thing about desert modernism is that its iconic features still look futuristic more than half a century after they were first designed. And today’s developers know their allure to buyers. On an estate with panoramic mountaintop views, where all the homes are custom built, 38 Sky Ridge Road is half house, half spaceship. Once through the vast bronze and steel doors of this recently completed 12,000-square-foot home, you enter an open-plan space that is all angular lines, rough stone walls, and soaring, triangular canopies over the terraces. The idea was to “embrace the desert landscape with a modern conceit,” according to listing agent Nelda Linsk. [The property has since sold.]

Local architect James Cioffi also crafts homes inspired by mid-century modernism. On Maracaibo Circle West, a custom-built Cioffi home hugs the mountains, and with walls of glass that open up to the indoors and out, this property includes a Pebble Tech infinity pool, a waterfall, and 120 solar panels on the roof.

The ’50s and ’60s may have been Palm Springs’ heyday as far as Hollywood was concerned. But by preserving the best architecture of the past and adding contemporary touches of high-tech luxury, desert modernism has rarely looked more enticing than it does today.