Greetings from Palm Springs: Takeaways from Modernism Week

Marin residents can usually recognize the name Joseph Eichler and associate him with the roughly 1,700 midcentury homes he built in San Rafael. His glass-walled, atrium-centered houses, modest in scale yet expansive in feeling, helped define postwar suburban California.

In Palm Springs, George and Robert Alexander, the father-and-son team behind residential development company Alexander Construction Co., are as well known as the movie stars who once retreated to the area.

“I have never lived in another area where virtually everyone I know can accurately identify a building’s architect and the year it was built,” said Bob Bogard, spokesperson for Modernism Week, an 11-day celebration of midcentury modern design.

Each year, “we look for interesting and unusual locations, especially ones that are rarely open to the public,” said Bogard about the event, which celebrated its 21st year this month.

Each location is carefully selected to represent the “best of the best,” and each tour script is carefully vetted for accuracy, he said.

Bogard, a midcentury modern design fan himself, lives in a William Krisel-designed home in Canyon View Estates, near the home where Harry Styles’ character lived in 2022’s “Don’t Worry Darling.”

Modernism Week started as a niche gathering but has since grown into an international draw. Last year, 115,000 visitors from all 50 states and 25 countries attended, generating more than $62 million in economic impact for the Coachella Valley.

Last week, my sister, Valary, and I returned from experiencing just a few of the nearly 500 scheduled events that ranged from home tours and lectures to vintage car shows and cocktail parties.

We stayed downtown, making it easy to access the tightly packed schedule, and also took advantage of many of the area’s non-Modernism Week activities: a well-done Rat Pack tribute at the newly renovated Plaza Theatre, al fresco breakfasts with beautiful views, dinners at popular old-school restaurants and a high desert walk with a pair of charming rescued llamas.

During Modernism Week, visitors peered past discreet street facades into backyards with pools, palm trees and mountain views. Inside, they were dazzled by geometric and Atomic Age shapes, bright pops of yellow, orange and turquoise accent colors and the way that even full renovations and updates paid homage to a location’s original design.

Bogard explains that Palm Springs’ “ideal weather conditions encouraged people to purchase seasonal vacation homes in planned neighborhoods that developed quickly between the mid-1950s and the mid-1960s.”

Houses are often intentionally “discreet from the street,” a deliberate design that uses solid walls, clerestory windows and minimal ornamentation to protectively shield private life from public view — until a front door swings open. Then, bright and airy interiors, filled with volume and large expanses of floor-to-ceiling walls of glass that frame big outdoor views as if they were living pictures, are unexpectedly revealed.

The Alexanders were central to that vision. Working primarily with architect William Krisel of Palmer & Krisel, they built thousands of stylish yet affordable homes in the late 1950s and early 1960s.

In the Twin Palms neighborhood, Krisel introduced dramatic butterfly roofs and promised buyers two palm trees per lot, a branding gesture that became iconic. In some tracts, they included a swimming pool.

These were not custom estates for the elite; they were mass-produced, thoughtfully designed homes aimed at the middle class and returning veterans after the war.

Palm Springs’ architectural story also includes a roster of “starchitects” whose names still anchor real estate listings. Many of them were commissioned to build spectacular examples of modernist design.

Modernism Week took place this month in Palm Springs. (Photo by David Mullally/Monterey Herald)Donald Wexler experimented with steel construction and designed the Dinah Shore Estate. Emerson Stewart Williams persuaded a skeptical Frank Sinatra, finishing his ice cream cone during an impromptu visit, to forgo a Georgian-style house in favor of a sleek modern residence now known as Twin Palms. Richard Neutra created the Kaufmann House, later immortalized in Slim Aarons’ iconic “Poolside Gossip” photograph. Architects such as Albert Frey, John Lautner and William Francis Cody pushed desert modernism toward ever more sculptural forms.

Like Eichler in Marin, these designers were responding to the same post-World War II forces. Between 1945 and the early 1970s, the period generally considered midcentury, a rebounding economy and the GI Bill enabled millions of Americans to buy homes.

The designs were also informed by a new atmosphere of optimism in American society and the exhilaration of emerging air travel and Space Age exploration.

Eichler and Alexander reflected that expansiveness and optimism, and both prioritized human-scale design, efficient floor plans and affordability.

Most houses measured under 2,000 square feet but felt larger through open layouts, exposed beams and floor-to-ceiling glass. Concrete floors and natural wood and stone grounded the interiors in materials that the human body intuitively understands.

Equally important was the indoor-outdoor approach of these homes. Sliding glass doors opened to patios and pools, and courtyards and atriums invited light deep into the home while preserving privacy.

In Palm Springs, zoning that favored one-story construction protected mountain views and reinforced a horizontal profile across neighborhoods. Breeze blocks filtered sun and wind. Low walls buffered heat and street noise. The result was housing that supported physical health, social connection and psychological restoration.

Casa Dorado, an early condominium complex designed by architects Richard L. Poper and Jess J. Jones in 1964, is a perfect example.

Set on 26 landscaped acres — enhanced by multiple pools, lakes, tennis courts, a large clubhouse and a small pitch-and-putt course — a collection of 116 tasteful one-story condos that feel more like single-family homes are strategically staged in duplex pairs that are connected by curved pathways.

This thoughtful design allows residents to “borrow” expansive views while maintaining privacy from neighbors.

More than 60 years later, it was illuminating to hear current Casa Dorado homeowners, who were present during Modernism Week tours, rave about how much they appreciate the design of both the homes and the complex.

What struck me most during Modernism Week was not only the architecture but also the civic pride. Homeowners waved at tour buses, handed out lemons from backyard trees and, in some cases, opened their doors for impromptu visits.

Preservation laws, strengthened after notable losses in the 1980s, including the Richard Neutra-designed Maslon House in Rancho Mirage, now protect many landmark structures.

Decades later, architects’ insistence on designs that support the human spirit rather than the single-minded pursuit of profit is still appreciated by owners, the community and visitors alike.

Show off

If you have a beautiful or interesting Marin garden or a newly designed Marin home, I’d love to know about it.

Please send an email describing either one (or both), what you love most about it and a photograph or two. I will post the best ones in upcoming columns. Your name will be published, and you must be over 18 years old and a Marin resident.

Don’t-miss event

• Tickets are on sale now for the 42nd Bouquets to Art held at the de Young and Legion of Honor museums in San Francisco. Tickets to the opening night reception on Monday start at $500. A general admission ticket to the show, which runs from March 3 through 8, costs $44, with discounts for youth, students and seniors. Get tickets at famsf.org.

PJ Bremier writes on home, garden, design and entertaining topics every Saturday. She may be contacted at P.O. Box 412, Kentfield 94914, or at pj@pjbremier.com.