Palm Springs Modern Home Tour

We had a great tour, led by Robert Imber of Palm Springs Modern Tours.  We started the day at the Palm Springs Visitor Center.

 We then made our way to the Palm Springs Museum of Art.

These are not my grandparents, they are statues!

Unfortunately we were unable to get a sneak peak at the Donald Wexler exhibit, but we were able to see a little bit of what they are working on.  Steel and Shade: The Architecture of Donald Wexler, is opening on January 29th and runs until May 29th.

Part of the museum collection is the Frey II House. We were lucky enough to get a private tour of this amazing house.

The view

 The house was built around this boulder, which seperates the living area from the sleeping area.

The lamp is a globe. Cool!

 View of the living area from the sleeping area.

After the Frey II House we made our way to an unknown celebrities residence. Robert explained the architecture of the house, and then told us who the house belonged to...

We were at FRANK SINATRA's House!!! We were all in shock.

The pool is shaped like a piano and the openings on the breezeway cover give the illusion of piano keys.

There is a large antenea on the roof of the house and it's attached to this machine, which Frank used to transmit his recordings to RCA records.

 This is a guest room off of the kitchen. You have to walk outside to access it.


Our next stop was a home designed by Donald Wexler.  It was supposed to become an entire subdivision with all homes built of steel.  Each home had a template and was able to be errected in 2 days.  Unfortunately the price of steel went up and it was no longer affordable to build.  Only 7 homes were built, and as of today 6 have been restored to their original specifications.

One of the most notable homes we were able to see is the Miller House designed by Richard Neutra.  You might remember this house from the Julius Schulman film Visual Accoustics.

The back of the Neutra House.

Robert talking about the Neutra House and show us photos of the house from a book.

 really cool entry way that was once exposed to the outside.  Now it is enclosed and part of the interior of the home.

The domed house on the hill is Bob Hope's house.

 Probably one of the largest closets I have ever seen.

We finished the tour at The Orbit In.

Thanks to everyone who was able to join us on the tour. I think it was even better than we expected it to be.  Extra special thanks to Carly Catarcio, for organizing the trip, and Robert Imber our amazing tour guide.