Esoteric Survey

Peter Blake Gallery  hosted another exhibition during Palm Springs Modernism this year. The Blakehaus installation for 2024 took place in a 1962 Donald Wexler steel house. The  Calcor/Rheem Prefabricated Steel House is number three of the seven Wexler Steel Houses. Forty houses were planned for the development but the increased price of steel made them cost-prohibitive. See Blakehaus 2023, here , which took place in a William Cody home. Wexler actually actually worked for Cody when he moved to Palm Springs. Prior to that, he worked for Neutra.

The Raymond Loewy house by Albert Frey (1946) or "Tierra Caliente" as Loewy called it. The house was a collaboration between the designer and architect.  Like the next door neighbor,  Kaufmann house , the terrain looked a lot different in the late 40s.   All vintage photos: © Julius Shulman, Peter Stackpole. Source: The Getty Research Institute, Julius Shulman Archive; LIFE The pool continuing into the living room is the most noted aspects of the design This happened more than once. During Palm Springs Modernism I was able to get a close-up look at The Aluminaire House by Albert Frey and managing editor of Architectural Record, A. Lawrence Kocher (1931). Source: Albert Frey / Inventive Modernist

The Kaufmann Desert House by Richard Neutra (1946) I finally made it inside! When the Kaufmann's lived there, the furniture was mostly Van Keppel Green and Eames DCM's. The DCMs were special.  Rosewood with exposed metal shock mounts. The house was finished in 1946 so it makes sense that they would be such early examples. They probably had the inside line through their son, Edgard Kaufmann Jr. (aka Mr. Good Design)  Source: The vintage photos are by Julius Shulman  © J. Paul Getty Trust. Getty Research Institute, Los Angeles (2004.R.10) There is still a lot of VKG. Let's head up to the gloriette. The Palm Springs Modernism Week tour bus pulled up when I was up there. In 1947 the neighborhood looked very different. Source: Julius Shulman  © J. Paul Getty Trust. Getty Research Institute, Los Angeles (2004.R.10) This is what their view looks like. I've been in front of the house more times than I'd care to admit. This photo actually was taken in September of last year....