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Semester project - INT 120 - Spring 10 - Burrell
- 1. Albert Frey and Richard Neutra 1
- 2. Desert Modernism Albert Frey and Richard Neutra 1
- 3. Born: October 18, 1903, Zurich, Switzerland Died: November 14, 1998, Palm Springs, California 2
- 4. Albert Frey Pronounced “fray” Born: October 18, 1903, Zurich, Switzerland Died: November 14, 1998, Palm Springs, California 2
- 5. 1928: Villa Savoye ARCHITECT - LE CORBUSIER PROJECT ARCHITECT- ALBERT FREY 3
- 6. 1928: Villa Savoye ARCHITECT - LE CORBUSIER PROJECT ARCHITECT- ALBERT FREY 3
- 7. International Style introduced 1932: Museum of Modern Art's International Style Exhibit curated by Henry Russell Hitchcock and Philip Johnson. KOCHER WEEKEND HOUSE ("Aluminaire House") 1932 ARCHITECTS - LAWRENCE KOCHER AND ALBERT FREY 4
- 8. International Style introduced 1932: Museum of Modern Art's International Style Exhibit curated by Henry Russell Hitchcock and Philip Johnson. KOCHER WEEKEND HOUSE ("Aluminaire House") 1932 ARCHITECTS - LAWRENCE KOCHER AND ALBERT FREY 4
- 10. Accomplishments: Established a style of modern architecture centered around Palm Springs, California that came to be known as "desert modernism". Built 200 homes in Palm Springs between 1934 and 1988. Established Palm Springs as a progressive desert mecca for innovative modern architecture during the 1950s, 1960s and 1970s. 6
- 11. Albert Frey Accomplishments: Established a style of modern architecture centered around Palm Springs, California that came to be known as "desert modernism". Built 200 homes in Palm Springs between 1934 and 1988. Established Palm Springs as a progressive desert mecca for innovative modern architecture during the 1950s, 1960s and 1970s. 6
- 13. Frey 1940: Frey House I 8
- 14. Frey 1940: Frey House I “ I AM THRILLED EVERY DAY BY THE VARYING SPECTACLE OF THE NATURAL VIEWS THAT ARE PART OF IT, CHANGING WITH LIGHT AND COLOR, WIND, RAIN, STILLNESS AND SUNSHINE....I BELIEVE, HOWEVER THAT A FULL UNDERSTANDING OF THIS TYPE OF HOUSE WILL COME ONLY GRADUALLY BECAUSE MOST PEOPLE’S REFLEXES ARE CONDITIONED BY THE CONVENTIONAL, CLOSED- IN HOUSES IN WHICH THEY HAVE GROWN UP.” ALBERT FREY, PROGRESSIVE ARCHITECTURE, 1948 8
- 15. Frey 1947 Loewy House "Palm Springs posh sprang up in a single moment and shared a single architectural dream: desert modernism—low, glassy, horizontal, sleek. It remains perfect." —Kurt Andersen, New Yorker 9
- 16. Frey 1947 Loewy House "Palm Springs posh sprang up in a single moment and shared a single architectural dream: desert modernism—low, glassy, horizontal, sleek. It remains perfect." —Kurt Andersen, New Yorker 9
- 17. Frey Loewy House Pool 10
- 20. Palm Springs City Hall 13
- 21. 1953 Frey House I Addition 14
- 22. Frey 1959: Russell House 15
- 23. Frey Russell House 16
- 24. 1963: Frey House II 17
- 25. Frey House II 18
- 26. Frey 1965 Palm Springs Tramway gas station The historic Tramway gas station now serves as a visitors center 19
- 27. Albert Frey’s most notable Palm Springs works: 1. Tramway Gas Station (now Montana St. Martin Gallery), 2901 North Palm Canyon Drive. 12. First Church of Christ Scientist, Riverside Drive 2. Tramway Valley Station, Tramway Road. at Random Road. 3. Carey-Pirozzi House, 651 West Via Escuela. 13. Cree House II, Raymond Drive, Cathedral City. 4. Loewy House, 600 West Panorama Drive. 14. Ralph's Supermarket, Ramon Road at Sunrise 5. Villa Hermosa, 155 Hermosa Place. Way. 6. Nichols Building, 891-899 North Palm Canyon. 15. City Hall, 3200 East Tahquitz Canyon Way. 7. Clark & Frey Office Building, 879 North Palm 16. Fire Station I, 277 North Indian Canyon Drive. Canyon. 17. Ballantine Movie Colony Inn, 726 North Indian 8. Kocher-Samson Building, 766 North Palm Canyon Drive. Canyon. 18. Katherine Finchy School, 777 East Tachevah 9. Samson Office Building, 760 North Palm Road. Canyon. 19. Sieroty House, 695 East Vereda Sur. 10. Frey House II, 686 West Palisades Drive. 20. Albert Frey House (at the Palm Springs 11. Premiere Apartments, (at the Orchid Tree Inn), Racquet Club), 2743 North Indian Canyon Drive. 261 South Belardo Road. 20
- 28. Born: April 8, 1892 - Vienna Died: April 16, 1970 Wuppertal, W. Germany Richard Neutra on the cover of Time Magazine, August 15, 1949. 21
- 29. Richard Josef Neutra Born: April 8, 1892 - Vienna Died: April 16, 1970 Wuppertal, W. Germany Richard Neutra on the cover of Time Magazine, August 15, 1949. 21
- 30. "I have been privileged, or perhaps doomed, to eschew simpler, lighter burdens. Shaping man's surroundings entails a lot more than spatial, structural, mechanical, and other technical considerations—certainly a lot more than pontificating about matters of style. Our organic well- being is dependent on a wholesome, salubrious environment. Therefore exacting attention has to be paid to our intricate sensory world." — Richard Neutra. from William Marlin, ed. Nature Near: late essays of Richard Neutra. p1-2. 22
- 31. Neutra: 1929 Lovell Health House "I have been privileged, or perhaps doomed, to eschew simpler, lighter burdens. Shaping man's surroundings entails a lot more than spatial, structural, mechanical, and other technical considerations—certainly a lot more than pontificating about matters of style. Our organic well- being is dependent on a wholesome, salubrious environment. Therefore exacting attention has to be paid to our intricate sensory world." — Richard Neutra. from William Marlin, ed. Nature Near: late essays of Richard Neutra. p1-2. 22
- 32. Neutra: Lovell House 23
- 34. Neutra 25
- 35. Neutra 26
- 38. Neutra’s Kaufmann House 28
- 39. Neutra: Kaufmann House 29
- 40. Neutra: Kaufmann House "The Kaufmann house, Palm Springs, 1946, moved in the direction of the pavilion, which is Neutra's last development in domestic architecture. Horizontal planes resting on horizontal planes hover over transparent walls. The material loses its importance— magnificent as the dry-joint stone walls are in themselves—and the gist of the house is the weightless space enclosed. The victory over the front door is almost complete; it is reached by slow stages, like the Mexican house whose entrance on the street leads through a garden to an unemphasized door." — Esther McCoy. Richard Neutra. p16-17. 29
- 41. Neutra: Kaufman house 30
- 42. Jardinette Apartments, 1928, Bailey House, 1946, Santa Monica, R.J. Neutra Elementary School, Hollywood, California California 1960, Naval Air Station Lemoore, in Lovell House, 1929, Los Angeles, Case Study Houses #6 and #13 Lemoore, California (designed in California Helburn House, 1950, Bozeman, 1929). Von Sternberg House, 1935, San Montana Gettysburg Cyclorama Center, 1962, Fernando Valley Neutra Office Building — Neutra's Gettysburg National Military Park, Van der Leeuw House (VDL design studio from 1950 to 1970 Gettysburg, Pennsylvania Research House), 1932, Los Moore House, 1952, Ojai, California Mariners Medical Arts, 1963, Newport Angeles, California (received AIA award) Beach, California The Neutra House Project, 1935, Perkins House,1952–55, Pasadena, Painted Desert Visitor Center, 1963, Restoration of the Neutra "Orchard California Petrified Forest National Park, House" in Los Altos, California Arizona Troxell House, 1956, Pacific Kun House, 1936, Los Angeles, Palisades, California United States Embassy, 1963, California Karachi, Pakistan Clark House, 1957, Pasadena, Miller House, 1937, Palm Springs, California Kuhns House, 1964, Woodland Hills, California Los Angeles, California Airman's Memorial Chapel, 1957, Windshield House, 1938, Fisher's Miramar, California Rice House, 1964, Richmond, Island, New York Virginia Mellon Hall and Francis Scott Key Emerson Junior High School, 1938, Auditorium, 1958, St. John's College, Rentsch House, 1965, Wengen near West Los Angeles, California Annapolis, Maryland Berne in Switzerland; Landscape Strathmore Apartments, 1938, architect: Ernst Cramer Riviera Methodist Church, 1958, Westwood, Los Angeles, California Redondo Beach Bucerius House, 1965, Brione (TN) Ward-Berger House, 1939, sopra Minusio in Switzerland; Garden Grove Community Church, Hollywood Hills, Los Angeles, Landscape architect: Ernst Cramer 1959 (Fellowship Hall and Offices), California 1961 (Sanctuary), 1968 (Tower of VDL II Research House[8][9][10], Bonnet House, 1941, Hollywood Hope), Garden Grove, California 1964,(rebuilt with son Dion Neutra) Hills, Los Angeles, California Los Angeles, California Three Senior Officer's Quarters on Schmidt House, 1946, ( Pasadena Mountain Home Air Force Base, Delcourt House, 1968–69, Croix, (Linda Vista) California Idaho, 1959 Nord, France Kaufmann Desert House, 1946, Palm Bond House, 1960, San Diego, Springs, California California 31
- 43. Richard Neutra’s Works: Jardinette Apartments, 1928, Bailey House, 1946, Santa Monica, R.J. Neutra Elementary School, Hollywood, California California 1960, Naval Air Station Lemoore, in Lovell House, 1929, Los Angeles, Case Study Houses #6 and #13 Lemoore, California (designed in California Helburn House, 1950, Bozeman, 1929). Von Sternberg House, 1935, San Montana Gettysburg Cyclorama Center, 1962, Fernando Valley Neutra Office Building — Neutra's Gettysburg National Military Park, Van der Leeuw House (VDL design studio from 1950 to 1970 Gettysburg, Pennsylvania Research House), 1932, Los Moore House, 1952, Ojai, California Mariners Medical Arts, 1963, Newport Angeles, California (received AIA award) Beach, California The Neutra House Project, 1935, Perkins House,1952–55, Pasadena, Painted Desert Visitor Center, 1963, Restoration of the Neutra "Orchard California Petrified Forest National Park, House" in Los Altos, California Arizona Troxell House, 1956, Pacific Kun House, 1936, Los Angeles, Palisades, California United States Embassy, 1963, California Karachi, Pakistan Clark House, 1957, Pasadena, Miller House, 1937, Palm Springs, California Kuhns House, 1964, Woodland Hills, California Los Angeles, California Airman's Memorial Chapel, 1957, Windshield House, 1938, Fisher's Miramar, California Rice House, 1964, Richmond, Island, New York Virginia Mellon Hall and Francis Scott Key Emerson Junior High School, 1938, Auditorium, 1958, St. John's College, Rentsch House, 1965, Wengen near West Los Angeles, California Annapolis, Maryland Berne in Switzerland; Landscape Strathmore Apartments, 1938, architect: Ernst Cramer Riviera Methodist Church, 1958, Westwood, Los Angeles, California Redondo Beach Bucerius House, 1965, Brione (TN) Ward-Berger House, 1939, sopra Minusio in Switzerland; Garden Grove Community Church, Hollywood Hills, Los Angeles, Landscape architect: Ernst Cramer 1959 (Fellowship Hall and Offices), California 1961 (Sanctuary), 1968 (Tower of VDL II Research House[8][9][10], Bonnet House, 1941, Hollywood Hope), Garden Grove, California 1964,(rebuilt with son Dion Neutra) Hills, Los Angeles, California Los Angeles, California Three Senior Officer's Quarters on Schmidt House, 1946, ( Pasadena Mountain Home Air Force Base, Delcourt House, 1968–69, Croix, (Linda Vista) California Idaho, 1959 Nord, France Kaufmann Desert House, 1946, Palm Bond House, 1960, San Diego, Springs, California California 31
- 44. Frey/Neutra comparison: “According to Frey, he preferred houses as a form of expression. In comparison to his contemporary and fellow European transplant, Richard Neutra, Frey's designs are more integrated into the surrounding landscape and draw from the local surroundings for color and metaphor. In contrast to Neutra, Frey's designs are more commercial and less philosophically dogmatic, and hence more accessible. By embracing the American idiom while incorporating the modernist philosophy influenced by Le Corbusier, Frey produced a new regional vernacular.” --- Palm Springs Life, February 2010. 32
- 45. Go to Palm Springs, and see for yourself: Take the Modern Palm Springs Tour: PSModernTours@aol.com, 760-318-6118 The Palm Springs Preservation Foundation runs an annual tour, often of modern attractions - http://www.pspreservationfoundation.org The Palm Springs Modern Committee holds an annual open house tour in October. The Elvis Honeymoon Hotel opens for concerts and other events. Visit during Modernism Week in February. 33
- 46. Sources: Palm Springs Life, February 2010. www.modernsandiego.com http://www.psmodernhouse.com/default.asp.pg- ModernArchitects http://www.concretenetwork.com/concrete- architects/richard-neutra.html www.aluminumfilms.com www.forbes.com www.ivarhagendoorn.com http://www.ArchitectureWeek.com/today.html www.nytimes.com http://www.thehorizonhotel.com/media/ www.architecturaldigest.com reviews_PSlife_Feb07.htm http://www.psmodcom.com http://www.desertmoderndesign.com/index.html http://www.eichlernetwork.com http://architecture.about.com/od/findphotos/ig/ Palm-Springs-Pictures/Tramway-Gas-Station.htm http://www.scrubbles.net/psprings http://architecture.about.com/od/housetours/ss/ http://www.neutra.org/index.html FreyHouseII_4.htm http://www.nps.gov/history/history/ online_books/allaback/vc3a.htm 34
Editor's Notes
- Albert Frey & Richard Neutra are only 2 of the best known architectural authors of the Palm Springs style known as “desert modernism.” The architecture celebrates the desert by opening up and inviting the landscape to be a part of the living experience. Aided by a warm climate, cheap land, new construction materials, a growing middle and upper class, and an optimistic spirit, they built a futuristic style that became characteristic of Palm Springs, California.
- Albert Frey and Richard Neutra both began their careers under the strong influence of the masters of early 20th Century architecture: Frank Lloyd Wright, and LeCorbusier. Albert Frey was mentored by Le Corbusier in his early years and was the first of his followers to build in America.
- Frey was only 26 when Le Corbusier put him to work on the Villa Savoye project. In Villa Savoye are the elements of his work that were to follow: clean lines, lots of natural light, rational construction. In 1930, Frey moved to the United States and soon became enthralled with the California desert. He settled permanently in Palm Springs, a sleepy place in the 1930s, and over the next six decades designed countless buildings.
- His first work was a steel house thrown together as an entry into the Int’l. Style Exhibit in 1932. It was the first modernist prefab in the United States. It was built in 10 days from off-the-shelf industrial materials (aluminum, steel, ship decking, linoleum, rayon fabric and glass), with no formal plans or blueprints. These materials would later be used to great advantage in Frey’s California structures.
- It was know as the “Aluminaire” house, and was virtually thrown together from donated parts and materials. This was a light-filled house, 1200 sq. ft., and three stories. The only other American entry in the 1932 show was the Lovell House from Richard Neutra.
- Palm Springs was a sleepy town in the early 20th century. As the movie industry flourished in the 1920’s, movie stars and celebrities discovered Palm Springs as a getaway from Los Angeles. Architecturally, the predominant style was Spanish/Mediterranean. After World War II, Palm Springs' population almost tripled, and the city experienced a building boom. Known as an escape for the Hollywood elite and a winter haven for East Coast industrialists, Palm Springs emerged postwar as a resort community for a broader segment of the U.S. populace with more leisure time than any previous generation. Frey and other architects were well positioned to capitalize on this, and both the city and their firm benefited from an unprecedented period of construction. Now, due to the proliferation of International Style structures 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.'
- Frey’s first structure in Palm Springs was the Movie Colony Hotel, breaking the usual Spanish Colonial standard for the town. It has since been renovated. In this project Frey started exploring the relationship between the desert climate and his architectural style.
- He built a home for himself (the first of two in Palm Springs), using expanses of glass to redefine indoor-outdoor living. This was afforded by the mild Palm Springs climate, and the availability of air-conditioning. These factors allowed the International Style to adapt perfectly to the lifestyle of the desert.
- The pool flows inside and outside the home, serving to cool it in the hot desert climate. Functionality and natural elements were a hallmark of the International Style.
- The Palm Springs Tramway Station echoes the shape of Mount San Jacinto with it’s wood ceiling, natural rock walls and triangular windows.
- Frey used metal piping cut at angles as a design motif. Again making everything functional, they help shield the main building from the harsh morning sun.
- In 1953 Frey added a space-ship-inspired addition to his Palm Springs home.
- The Russell House takes the indoor-outdoor relationship to a new level, constructed on a mountain ledge, with large expanses of glass, and an infinity edge pool.
- Always integrating the landscape, he even more boldly built his second house to merge with the boulders that surround it.
- The corrugated aluminum sheathing and roof panels came from the manufacturer pre-finished in a vivid aqua color.
- The Palm Springs Tramway gas station with its wing-like roof, is a landmark that has been converted into a visitors center.
- In prewar Vienna Neutra was greatly influenced with the Secessionist architecture of Otto Wagner, and by Adolf Loos, whose crusade against ornament turned him away from historic styles. Inspired by Frank Lloyd Wright, he coined the term biorealism meaning "the inherent and inseparable relationship between man and nature." In Neutra's best buildings the distinction between indoors and outdoors seems almost nonexistent. In 1949 Time magazine put Neutra on its cover and ranked him second only to Frank Lloyd Wright in the pantheon of American architects. Most of his work was built outside of Palm Springs. Neutra’s son, Dion Neutra, continues his design practice and acts as Executive Consultant to the Institute for Survival Through Design -- named after Neutra’s book.
- Although built in Los Angeles, not in Palm Springs, the Lovell Health House was Neutra’s signature landmark expressing his philosophy and combining cost-efficient construction with elegant design. The temperate California climate and cheap land in Los Angeles suburbs allowed him to integrate his houses into natural settings. It was built for a wealthy Los Angeles Times naturopath and columnist. This steel-framed structure was the first of its kind in the U.S. and was submitted at the same time as Frey’s “Aluminaire” House. It foretold his later works. His floor-to-ceiling glass windows brought the open vistas inside.
- The Lovell Health House resembles Frank Lloyd Wright’s Fallingwater.
- The Grace Miller House brings Neutra’s principles of zero ornamentation, open vistas, and functional design to the Palm Springs setting.
- The Kaufman House, built in 1946, is Neutra’s masterpiece. Now fully restored it has taken its rightful place amongst the five most important houses of the 20th century (Falling Water, Robie House, Gropius House, Kaufman House, Gambell House). This was a commission for Edgar J. Kaufmann, Jr., who was the son of Kaufman, Sr., the patron for whom Fallingwater was built in 1934. The Kaufmann House showed the influence of Ludwig Mies van der Rohe’s Barcelona Pavilion (1929).
- Characteristic of desert modernism, this home has expansive glass walls and windows, dramatic rooflines, wide overhangs, steel and plastic combined with wood and stone, open floor plans, and outdoor living spaces incorporated into the overall design.
- Neutra discusses the pavilion-like quality of the Kaufman House.
- The photography of Julius Schulman helped to draw attention to the sensuous, luxurious beauty of desert modern structures in Palm Springs.
- Neutra was a prolific architect with works scattered all over the globe. Neutra sounded the alarm regarding the importance of what is now called green design, as he was once quoted as saying, "today's man-made environment has become an irritating, increasing threat to the vitality and soundness of mind and body." Biorealism is the Neutra term chosen by his Institute for Survival Through Design, to represent the firm's ideal of the "person-centered" approach to the planning of the environment and the managing of ecology in ways that will be of lasting benefit to individuals comprising mankind.
- Both Frey and Neutra were European immigrants who were shaped by the Bauhaus, Frank Lloyd Wright, LeCorbusier and the International Style. They are both among the greatest of 20th Century architects. Yet they took slightly different interpretations of the principles espoused in the early stages of the International Style: absence of superfluous decoration; use of the technology of the day and innovation in use of materials; the merging of exterior and interior. Frey made bold statements about blending the indoors and the outdoors. Neutra was more restrained, yet the harmony of his compositions are distinctly the finest examples of sophisticated International Style.
- Modern structures such as those by Frey and Neutra are now highly prized by a new generation who see them as something unique and refreshing. Unfortunately, many structures, both residential and commercial are now gone. Hopefully, this new generation of fans will value, visit, write about, and help save mid-century modern structures around the world.