Palm Springs has one of the largest concentrations of modern architecture in the country, some of the purest examples of International Style to the wackiest examples of Jetson-esque commercial buildings called 'googie.'
In the 1920s and '30s, European pioneers R.M. Schindler and Richard Neutra brought Palm Springs a taste of the International Style. Architects John Porter Clark, William F. ('Wild Bill') Cody, E. Stewart ('Stew') Williams, and Albert Frey, who settled in town in the '30s and '40s, created their own regional style, 'Desert Modernism,' by using local rock, concrete blocks, and metal, and paying attention to the desert's stark vistas and light.
The photos below represent just a tiny fraction of the houses we saw and give you a sense of the amazing architecture that’s all around you. For more photos and architect bios you can use the links below:
Palm Springs Architecture
Palm Springs Airport designed by Donald Wexler
Detail of the poured concrete roof system
Tower from the Oasis hotel downtown designed by Lloyd Wright in the 20s showing the decorative concrete typical of his father’s work...
The office building on the site of the old Oasis building created in the 40s in the International Style by E Stewart Williams
The Oasis building in a photograph by Julius Shulman
Spanish Revival is another of the prominent styles in the downtown, here used in a modernist way for the town library
Palm Springs has one of the very first mixed use centers in America built in the 20s which included shops, casitas, apartments and parking in the middle
City Hall designed by Donald Wexler
The Wessmans are a major developer in Palm Springs who have a notorious reputation for tearing down mid-century buildings. Ironically their offices are housed in a significant mid-century building...
The tramway gas station (now the Palm Springs Visitors Center) one of the most iconic buildings and the first you see coming in from LA
Interior of the Visitor Center
The Bank of America building.
The Caliente Motor Lodge, all done up Tiki style from the early 50s
The Del Marcos Hotel
The Chase Hotel
Houses down the street from the motel...
The concrete blocks used as a privacy screen are a common element of desert architecture
An early desert home by Albert Frey which shows some signature elements - the double roof, low horizontal stone bricks etc
Another Frey
Liberace’s house - check out the giant candelabra!
Scenes from Oceans 11 were shot at this house (it was Eliot Gould’s characters home)
The Kaufman House - one of the most famous houses in North America. The Kaufmans also commissioned Fallingwater from Frank Lloyd Wrright
Designed by Richard Neutra, it’s one of the most iconic houses in the area
The Kaufman House as photographed by Juluis Shulman
Houses built into the hill including a house by John Lautner built around a rock and featured in a James Bond movie
The House of Tomorrow by Palmer & Krisel is more famously known as the Elvis Presley Honeymoon house
Palevsky House
The Edris House by Albert Frey - the entire roof structure rests on only 2 points of the house...
Twin Palms - Frank Sinatra’s house designed by E. Stewart Williams. Originally located way out in the desert, it’s now almost in the middle of town...
The other side of Twin Palms. Frank used to run a Jack Daniels flag up a flagpole to signal to his friends in town that it was time for cocktails..
Commercial and Civic Architecture
Houses & Hotels