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The couple enlisted Los Angeles architects Leo Marmol and Ron Radziner to restore the property. They started at the extensive Neutra archives available at UCLA and were able to pull out some never-printed photos of the interior of the property. They also were able to get some of the original paint and fixture supplies to recreate the exterior. Additionally, they more than doubled the property size by purchasing several adjacent properties to add to the Kaufmann property and brought it to Neutra’s initial vision.
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The desert, or rather, this primordial wilderness area that stretches around Palm Springs, fascinated Neutra. His 1927 book “Wie Baute Amerika” ends with images of houses of the Indian peoples of New Mexico and Arizona, praising their overlapping rooms, with terraces on the roof and the ability of mud brick to withstand inclement weather. Despite the neat precision of the Desert House, it evokes the spirit of the houses of those Indian tribes, which he admired so much. This vacation home was designed to emphasize the desert landscape and its harsh climate. Without the original plans for the house, the Harrises dug through the Neutra archives at the University of California, Los Angeles, looking at hundreds of Neutra’s sketches of details for the house. They persuaded Mr. Shulman to let them examine dozens of never-printed photographs of the home’s interior, and found other documents in the architectural collections at Columbia University.
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The natural stone from Utah who Neutra used in the exterior and interior creates a vivid chiaroscuro effect that is difference in the smoothness in other finishes. The south wing connects to the public sphere and includes a marquee and two long covered walkways. These walkways are separated by a huge stone wall to give entry to the services by one side and the house on the other. SAH Archipedia tells the story of the United States through its buildings, landscapes, and cities. This freely available resource empowers the public with authoritative knowledge that deepens their understanding and appreciation of the built environment.
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Such thorough research led him to convince a Utah quarry to re-open a section of its site so that more of the original buff-colored sandstone could be obtained. Birch-veneered plywood was matched, concrete and silica sand floors were patched, and even ductwork was carefully hidden. Through its thoughtful design and integration with the landscape, the Kaufmann House exemplifies Neutra’s ability to create environments that reflect their owners’ personalities and are responsive to their natural surroundings. Today, the 3,162-square-foot modernist home looks almost exactly as it did a half-century ago, thanks to five years of painstaking renovations.
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To help restore the desert buffer Neutra had envisioned for the house, the Harrises also bought several adjoining plots to more than double the land around the 3,200-square-foot (300 m2) house. Best known for his eponymous Pittsburgh department store, Kaufmann revered good design. In 1934, he and his wife Liliane commissioned Frank Lloyd Wright to build their weekend home along Bear Run in southwestern Pennsylvania—which would become Wright’s masterpiece Fallingwater—as well as Kaufmann’s office. While mental health issues and substance abuse play a major role, ultimately it’s poverty that deepens the spiral for people living on the streets. The growing consensus from experts, advocates and government officials is that increasing affordable housing is the key to reducing homelessness.
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Palm Springs’ celebrity homes are a feast of desert drama - Sydney Morning Herald
Palm Springs’ celebrity homes are a feast of desert drama.
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The north wing is the guest’s quarters that are publicly accessible, but retain their private needs as they are separated from the rest of the house. The west wing of the house is the service wing, which is fairly secluded from the rest of the open plan design. The east wing is the most privatized aspect of the house as it is the Kaufmann’s master suite.
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The idea with this layout was to align the patterns of daily living with the movement of the sun. They could then follow the sun as it migrated across the sky to the main living spaces to enjoy their day. The story of the Kaufmann Desert House begins with Pittsburgh department store owner Edgar J. Kaufmann Sr.
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To help restore the desert buffer Neutra had envisioned for the house, the Harrises bought several adjoining plots of sorrounding land, expanding the propriety to more than double the space around the 3,200-square-foot (300 m2) house. Santa Maria del Fiore, also known as the Duomo of Florence, is an iconic architectural landmark in the Tuscan capital. It is a stunning masterpiece of architecture and stands as one of the most recognizable buildings in Europe. The great dome that covers the structure was designed by Filippo Brunelleschi and completed in 1436 – making it one of the oldest domes still standing today. Many architects used this common strategy, notably Neutra’s mentor Frank Lloyd Wright. Although both have unprotected glass in the southern part of a home located in the middle of the desert seems crazy, this is because the house was to be used only one month per year, in January.
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The light colored, dry set stone, what Neutra calls “Utah buff,” brings out the qualities of the glass and steel, but it also blends into the earthy tones of the surrounding landscape of the stone, mountains, and trees. The plan leaves spaces for the courtyards on the periphery of the plan, creating a system of privacy appropriate to the specific occupant in the space; hosts, children, guests, servants, etc. The birth of modern architecture had originated in the early part of the 20th century in Europe.
The pending sale is bittersweet for the current owners, who said they planned to give a portion of the proceeds to preservation groups. Asked how it felt to be close to selling the property, Dr. Harris looked back at the house, blinking away tears. Barry Manilow ultimately moved into the old Walter Braunschweiger Residence, a 1935 Spanish-style compound on a private hilltop in the town's Mesa neighborhood, leaving the Kaufmann desert house to sit empty for 3 ½ years. His realtor indicated that although the location and the site of the Kaufmann house were spectacular, the house itself was no longer considered valuable and the property was being sold (ultimately at $1.5 million) as a tear-down.
Neutra started his own practice in 1930, designing many Californian homes based around simple geometry, clean lines and airy construction. A handful of his projects are located in Palm Springs, which – thanks to its location two hours east of Hollywood – became a hotbed of modernist architecture during the mid-20th century. Movie stars and celebrities in the 1950s and 1960s hired architects to build contemporary weekend residences that were in vogue at the time. The Kaufmann House is one of the most famous buildings authored by Neutra, who himself was a key figure of the modernist architecture movement. Lauded for designing homes that were tailored to the warm Californian climate, his method included ample glazing, boxy constructions, light facades, and outdoor living areas.
The Kaufmann desert house received a final bid of $15 million, but the sale was not completed due to a breach of terms by the buyer. The house in Palm Springs is predominantly oriented east-west, maximising sunrise and sunset views. The layout includes five bedrooms and five bathrooms, with a grassy backyard and pool overlooking the San Jacinto Mountains to the west. The second in our series highlighting the best buildings in Palm Springs during the city's Modernism Week is Richard Neutra's Kaufmann House, one of the most revered examples of residential architecture in the style. Additionally, the Harrises were able to have a long-closed section of a Utah quarry re-opened to mine matching stone to replace what had been removed or damaged.
The master bedroom can be found in the east wing, while the kitchen can be found in the west wing together with the service rooms. The flow from interior to exterior space is not simply a spatial condition rather it is an issue of materiality that creates the sinuous experience. The Kaufmann House is celebrated for its distinctive design, which masterfully integrates the building with its desert surroundings while maintaining a functional elegance.
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