Luxury Palm Springs Real Estate: A Brief History on Mid-Century Homes

People in the market for luxury Palm Spring real estate are often in the market for the mid-century architecture for which the region is famous. Nothing is as luxurious as a mid-century home, with its open floor plans, high-beamed ceilings and glass walls. This luxury Palm Springs real estate was created by a collection of developers and architects who single-handedly drove the mid-century moment.

First, Albert Frey, who is the architect credited for establishing the mid-century style known as ‘desert modernism’ in Palm Springs. Frey, born in Zurich, Switzerland, moved to New York in the 1930s where he worked on the Museum of Modern Art. However, it wasn’t until 1939 when he permanently relocated to Palm Springs that he began to establish himself as the premier architect for luxury Palm Springs real estate and the modern movement. Some of his work throughout the city includes private residences Frey House I and II, the Loewy House as well as Palm Springs City Hall and the Cree House II.

Like Frey, architect Richard Neutra was born in Europe and relocated to California. Neutra created modern regionalism for Southern California, including luxury Palm Springs real estate, by combining a light metal frame with a stucco finish, which created a light effortless appearance. One of Neutra’s most famous works and a classic example of luxury Palm Springs real estate was the Kaufmann Desert House. The Kaufmann Desert House is a five bedroom, five bathroom vacation house which was designed to emphasize the connection to desert landscape while offering protection from harsh climatic conditions. Sliding glass walls open the living spaces, while living and dining spaces combine squarely in the center to form a mid-century masterpiece.

Finally, there was Joseph Eichler, who unlike Frey and Neutra was not an architect, but a great lover. Eichler was a real estate developer who built more than 11,000 modernist homes throughout California, much like that of famous luxury Palm Springs real estate. Homes built by Eichler share similar design elements including open floor plans, walls of glass and in-floor radiant heating systems. Though most of Eichler’s work was developed in Northern California, he did develop five tracts in Southern California that are located in Orange County, Thousand Oaks and Granada Hills.

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