Desert Modernism Timeline
R. M. Schindler designs first modern building in the desert: a cabin for Paul and Betty Popenoe in Coachella
1923
Oasis Hotel, a Modern masterpiece in slip-form concrete, designed by Lloyd Wright
1928
El Mirador Hotel opens on New Year’s Eve
1933
William Gray Purcell builds cubist modern house
1934
Albert Frey, with New York partner A. Lawrence Kocher, designs International Style Kocher-Samson office building
1935
Avant garde all-concrete Community Church on Baristo Road built, designed by Charles Tanner
1936
La Plaza Shopping Center, designed by Harry Williams, introduced as one of the first car-oriented shopping centers in America
1936
Eric Webster and Adrian Wilson design streamline/nautical Moderne “Ship of the Desert”
1937
Richard Neutra designs Grace Lewis Miller house that includes her Mensendieck posture therapy studio
1939
John Porter Clark builds International Style house for his family on former El Mirador golf course
1939
Palm Springs Women’s Club designed by John Porter Clark
1941
Welwood Murray Library designed by John Porter Clark
1946
Albert Frey builds house for famed industrial designer Raymond Loewy in what is becoming the Desert Modern architectural style that he and others are pioneering
1946-47
Neutra’s Kaufmann house, where photographer Julius Shulman would take one of his most famous photographs, built on West Vista Chino
1947
E. Stewart Williams designs Frank Sinatra house
1947
Maryon Toole House designed by R. M. Schindler in Palm Desert
1947
William F. Cody designs the Del Marcos Motel, which wins an AIA prize
1947
Mountainside additions to the Tennis Club designed by architects A. Quincy Jones and Paul R. Williams
1950
Town & Country Center built in the Late Moderne style with design by A. Quincy Jones and Paul R. Williams
1952
The Oasis Commercial Building, an early International Style structure, designed by E. Stewart Williams and erected adjacent to Lloyd Wright’s Oasis Hotel tower. Interiors by Paul R. Williams
1953
Albert Frey remodels the house he built for himself in 1940 and adds a futuristic, spaceship-like second story
1953
Edris House, designed by E. Stewart Williams, completed
1956
Ocotillo Lodge, a collaboration between the Alexander Company and the architectural firm of William “Bill” Krisel and Dan Saxon Palmer, opens
1952 – 1957
Palm Springs City Hall, designed by Albert Frey and John Porter Clark and the firm of Williams, Williams & Williams, is built
1957
Twin Palms, tract homes built for the Alexander Construction Company, designed by William Krisel of Palmer and Krisel. Designs establish template for affordable desert modern homes
1957
William Cody’s Huddle’s Springs restaurant, a superior example of Googie style, opens
1958
William Pereira and Charles Luckman design Robinson’s Department Store
1958
Sandpiper condominium development opens in Palm Desert with architecture and landscape designs by William Krisel
1958
Santa Fe Federal Savings Building by E. Stewart Williams completed
1959
City National Bank (now Bank of America) opens, designed by Rudy Baumfeld of Victor Gruen Associates. Homage to Le Corbusier’s Ronchamp chapel built five years earlier
1959
Construction begins on Spa Bathhouse and Hotel designed by architects Cody, Wexler, Harrison and Koenig
1960
E. Stewart Williams designs Coachella Valley Savings and Loan #3
1960
Alpha Beta Shopping Center built, designed by Albert Frey and Robson Chambers
1960
666 Palm Canyon Drive building designed by Howard and Lawrence Lapham
1960-62
William Cody designs futuristic gas station on North Palm Canyon
1961-62
Seven experimental Alexander steel houses built, some with folded plate roofs, with designs by Donald Wexler
1962
House of Tomorrow designed by Palmer and Krisel for Bob Alexander in Las Palmas completed. Best known as Elvis honeymoon hideaway
1962
Maslon house, designed by Richard Neutra, completed at Tamarisk Country Club in Rancho Mirage
1963
Albert Frey builds another house for himself on a steep lot with a boulder as a room divider and practical aluminum roof
1963-65
Tramway gas station, designed by Albert Frey and Robson Chambers, built on North Palm Canyon
1968
Elrod House, famed for its part in the James Bond film, Diamonds are Forever, designed by John Lautner
1968
St. Theresa Parish Church designed by William Cody
1968
Max Palevsky House designed by Craig Ellwood
1973
John Lautner designs turtle-shell roofed Bob Hope House
1975
Palm Springs Library Center designed by William Cody
1976
Palm Springs Desert Museum opens, designed by E. Stewart Williams
1978
Lowslung organic Charthouse restaurant opens, designed by Kendrick Bangs Kellogg
1995
Marmol Radziner Associates restores Neutra’s Kaufmann House
2007
New and replica designs of mid-century modern houses appear in the desert