Palm Springs – Gothic Revival

 Posted by on May 11, 2011
May 112011
 
Palm Springs - Gothic Revival

Over the years I have walked by this little church on my way to downtown Palm Springs.  It has always caught my eye.  A Gothic Revival made of CMU is a big hmmmm? in my book.  It is in fact that only surviving Gothic Revival Building in Palm Springs.  Completed in 1935 is was designed by Charles Tanner.  A Canadian that emigrated to the U.S. he began his working life as an illustrator of children’s books.  He moved to Riverside, California and began supplementing his work as an artist and art teacher by working as a draftsman for architect G. Continue Reading

Palm Springs – Ship of The Desert

 Posted by on May 10, 2011
May 102011
 
Palm Springs - Ship of The Desert

“Ship of the Desert” is classic Art Moderne due to its “nautical” elements.  This home, located at 1995 S. Camino Monte in Palm Springs, was built in 1936.  However, the original (designed by Earl Webster and Adrian Wilson) was seriously damaged by fire.  The owner, clothing designer, Trina Turk hired Marmol Radziner, an architecture firm in Santa Monica, to restore and modernize the 4,400-square-foot, five-bedroom residence. The new design stays true to the original nautical look, with curved walls and redwood balconies that resemble a ship’s decks. The home was given the name “Ship of the Desert” by Sunset Magazine Continue Reading

Elvis in Palm Springs

 Posted by on May 9, 2011
May 092011
 
Elvis in Palm Springs

Okay, I don’t know if this one would be rated up there as one of the best examples of Modern Architecture, but I had to use it because it has ties to Elvis Presley.  This is called the House of Tomorrow and was designed in 1962 by William Krisel.  It was commissioned by Robert Alexander, a developer, for his wife Helene.  The house is designed in four circles on three levels.  It incorporates glass and “peanut brittle” stone work to allow the indoor/outdoor living the desert is so famous for.  It has simple post and beam construction, sloping roofs with Continue Reading

Palm Springs – Modern Architecture

 Posted by on May 8, 2011
May 082011
 
Palm Springs - Modern Architecture

I loved this building.  To me it epitomizes everything you think about when you think 1960’s architecture.  It’s square lines, its concrete tilt-up panel walls and its austereness.  It was built in 1969 and designed by Robert Ricciardi.  I have found absolutely no information about this building, one little blurb mentioned that the “failure” of the corduroy concrete was discovered when the boards were removed, but that they embraced the failure.  If you are interested in learning more about tilt-up concrete construction go here.  

Palm Springs – Modern Architecture

 Posted by on May 7, 2011
May 072011
 
Palm Springs - Modern Architecture

  Palm Springs is the home of the Modernism movement, especially “desert modernism”.  While modernism is not my favorite architecture style, when it is done right, it really does sing.  This is the Del Marco Hotel.  It is located at 225 W. Baristo Road in Palm Springs.  The architect was William Cody.  In 1947 Cody moved to Palm Springs from Los Angeles, where he had graduated from USC and worked for Cliff May. This was his first desert project, it began a post war modernism style all on its own.  The Modernism society of Palm Springs is excellent, and in Continue Reading

Malibu, California – Adamson House

 Posted by on April 23, 2011
Apr 232011
 
Malibu, California - Adamson House

This is the Adamson House, also known as Vaquero Hill, a historic house with lovely grounds in Malibu, California.  It has been called the “Taj Mahal of Tile” due to its extensive use of decorative ceramic tiles created by the Malibu Potteries company. The house was built in 1930 for Rhoda Rindge Adamson and Merritt Huntley Adamson, based on a Mediterranean Revival design by Stiles O. Clements of the architectural firm of Morgan, Walls & Clements. The tiles are what drew me to the house.   Malibu Potteries produced an amazing variety of shapes, sizes, colors, and designs.  Sadly only in Continue Reading

Malibu, California – April 22, 2001 – Getty Villa

 Posted by on April 22, 2011
Apr 222011
 
Malibu, California - April 22, 2001 - Getty Villa

In 1954, oil baron J. Paul Getty opened a gallery adjacent to his home in Pacific Palisades. Can you imagine, you were able to walk around his home and view his collections.  Visitors were limited but it must have been very intimate.   When he ran out of room, he built a second museum on the property down the hill from his original home.   In 1974 he opened the Getty Villa as his second museum in a building inspired by the Villa of the Papyri at Herculaneum and incorporated additional details from several other ancient sites. Getty died in 1976 and Continue Reading

Pasadena – Huntington Gardens

 Posted by on April 21, 2011
Apr 212011
 
Pasadena - Huntington Gardens

The Chinese Garden at the Huntington Library, Art Collections and Gardens, in San Marino, California. I saw the most amazing special exhibit by John Frame called “Three Fragments of a Lost Tale”. According to the gallery notes, “the project had its beginnings in a dream: Frame was jolted awake by what seemed like an unfolding story complete with cast and scenes. It would become his next body of work and, he says, may carry him through the remainder of his lifetime.” This was the first piece I saw upon entering the gallery and I was in love.  The gallery was Continue Reading

Daffodil Hill, Amador County April 10, 2011

 Posted by on April 11, 2011
Apr 112011
 
Daffodil Hill, Amador County April 10, 2011

 * McLaughlin’s Daffodil Hill Ranch in Volcano, California. Daffodil Hill is a 4 acre ranch that has been in the same family since 1887.  Wagon pioneers Arthur and Lizzie McLaughlin were the original owners.  The ranch was a stopping place for drivers bringing timber down from the Sierras to the Kennedy and Argonaut mines, during the gold rush.  Now it is open to the public and lives on donations.  There are over 300 varieties of daffodil’s and they plant an average of 6000 new bulbs every year.  It is typically open from Mid March to Mid April, but mother nature Continue Reading

Atascadero City Hall

 Posted by on April 2, 2011
Apr 022011
 
Atascadero City Hall

The City Hall is a gem of a building sitting aside a wonderful city park.  The town itself is being revitalized with a lot of modern chain stores, but the downtown still holds its historic charm.  Sadly, like so many valley towns in California it is suffering from these terrible economic times. The building was originally the City’s historic administration building and was completed in 1918 to serve as the Colony of Atascadero’s headquarters. The Colony was founded by Edward Gardner (E.G.) Lewis of Missouri, as California’s first master planned community. The community was to be sustainable and progressive. The Continue Reading

Sonoma, California – Watmaugh Road Bridge

 Posted by on March 30, 2011
Mar 302011
 
Sonoma, California - Watmaugh Road Bridge

This truss bridge is the center of an acrimonious debate going on in Sonoma, California.  It is the Watmaugh Road Bridge built in 1929.  It was dedicated as an historic landmark in 1981.  Today the county engineers want to replace it, and the preservationists want to rehab it.  We will have to watch, probably for years, to see what happens.  Bridges are so interesting.  They can be so beautiful, and yet, over the years they have really, simply become functional.  Granted, when big important bridges are built, lots of thought for the local town or cities “image” go into it, Continue Reading

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