Kaufmann House Richard Neutra Christies Architecture The New York Times

Table Of Content

• this earth day, designboom revisits the year's top examples of passive architecture
• Richard Neutra's Kaufmann House epitomises desert modernism in Palm Springs
• In California’s Carmel Valley, a Picturesque Retreat Lists for $11 Million
• Eight home interiors where mezzanines maximise usable space
• Timeline
• Uchronia founder designs own home as "love letter to French craft"
• Kaufmann Desert House: Palm Springs home made famous by Slim Aarons on market for $17m

This is particularly evident in the living room, whose walls of steel and glass slide outward toward the southeast, while the construction of deck and supports the hanging wall sliding moving toward the pool and spatially linking the house with it. This radial arm became the hallmark of Neutra, is the “spider leg,” the umbilical cord that merges space and building. Richard Neutra built a building in which the horizontal planes of the decks seem to float on transparent glass walls, giving the whole an overall look of lightness.

this earth day, designboom revisits the year's top examples of passive architecture

Neutra created another outdoor seating area by placing a lookout pavilion above the living area of the otherwise one-story building. The pavilion’s western and northern sides are lined with the same aluminum louvers as used below, while the other two sides are left open. Neutra named this elevated room a “gloriette,” a northern European Baroque term that denotes an elevated pavilion offering views of a garden or a landscape. The house was originally captured in the black-and white images of american architectural photographer julius shulman. In 1970, slim aarons chose it as the setting for his iconic photograph ‘poolside gossip’, depicting california society women by the pool. Regarded among the most important houses of the 20th century, the kaufmann house is currently up for sale via gerard bisignano of vista sotheby’s international realty for $25m.

Richard Neutra's Kaufmann House epitomises desert modernism in Palm Springs

Even before my first visit to Palm Springs, the building I most wanted to see was Richard Neutra's Edgar Kaufmann Residence. I knew the 1947 photos of the house by architectural photographer Julius Shulman which are among most famous and widely known architectural images of all time. Architectural historian John Crosse assembled an 82-page bibliography citing over 150 published articles on the house (most accompanied by Shulman photos) beginning with the house's completion through Neutra's death in 1970. But the house settled into obscurity with only 70 articles published about it after 1970 until the house was purchased and restored by Beth and Brent Harris in 1993. Since their restoration of the house (completed in 1995) there have been close to 275 articles about the Harris' efforts and those of their architects, Leo Marmol and Ron Radziner.

In California’s Carmel Valley, a Picturesque Retreat Lists for $11 Million

After having been significantly amended by its successive owners, current owners of the residence decided to return it to its original state. The architects removed the areas added and restored the house based on the famous photographs Julius Shulman did of the house in 1947. The architects decided to also return to the desert garden look it had in times of Neutra. In addition, they incorporated a discrete heating, air conditioning and ventilation system, and a new pavilion at the pool, known as the Harris Poll House. A double cantilever allows the absence of a corner post in the master bedroom (where the glass doors meet at a 90-degree angle) giving a powerful illusion of a floating roof. The extensive south-facing glass walls had to be covered with an inelegant system of exterior canvas drapes.

Modernist architect richard neutra built the five-bedroom house in 1946 as a retreat for harsh winters, with an emphasis on the connection to the surrounding desert landscape. Large sliding glass walls open rooms up to a series of terraces, the iconic pool and garden, paving the way for california’s concept of ‘indoor outdoor’ living. After kauffman, its original owner, died in 1955, the house stood vacant for several years, while it was restored in the 1990s by award-winning firm marmol radziner, who returned the residence to its initial form, size, and aesthetic integrity.

Slim Aarons Immortalized This Richard Neutra Home in 'Poolside Gossip.' Now It's Selling for $25 Million. - The Wall Street Journal

Slim Aarons Immortalized This Richard Neutra Home in 'Poolside Gossip.' Now It's Selling for $25 Million..

Posted: Thu, 15 Oct 2020 07:00:00 GMT [source]

In 1996, it was the twentieth building to be designated as a protected local landmark and is believed to be the first private property to be selected as such. The Kaufmann Desert House was saved in 1992 when it was discovered again by a married couple named Brent and Beth Harris. Brent, an investment banker, and Beth, an architectural historian, found the house was for sale when Beth had snuck onto the property to take a closer look at the historic landmark. The original plans for the property had never been replicated and Neutra had died in 1970, so they went on a journey to restore it back to its original glory. Edgar J. Kaufmann, Sr. was a Pittsburgh department store tycoon who commissioned the home in 1946.

More Homes for Sale

The architect championed the importance of “ready-for-anything” designs that could have open, multi-use spaces, and coined on this subject the concept “The Changing House” for an article he wrote in 1947 for the Los Angeles Times newspaper. Kaufmann passed away in 1955 and the Kaufmann House was left abandoned for several years. It then went through a series of several owners including famed singer Barry Manilow and Eugene V. Klein, who was the owner of the San Diego Chargers. During this time, it also underwent various interior and architectural changes without any thought of preservation from any of the ensuing owners. The roof was altered to add air-conditioning, wallpaper was put up in the bedrooms, and a wall was torn down in the living room to add additional living space. Following its stint with Hollywood’s best, it was again left vacant for several more years.

The house has a cross-shaped plan, with a square living and dining room at the centre, and wings that extend out in cardinal directions. To the west is a kitchen and service rooms, accessed by a covered breezeway, with a master bedroom to the east. Since then, the house has had more than one famous owner, and has gone through a few renovations.

In 1945, Kaufmann acquired a large 200' x 300' (2.6 acre) site that was isolated near the foot of Mt. San Jacinto and studded with rugged desert landscape. His desert house was not designed to blend into the site in the Wrightian style; rather it was to be an object in space in the classical fashion of the European villa. Originally priced as $30,000, (the 3,800 sq. ft. home ultimately cost $300,000) the house turned out to be simple -- and simply expensive. Rectangular in plan, its form was essentially a glass pavilion with planar walls that extended into the site via two axes one north-south -- the other east-west.

A combined living and dining space, roughly square, lies at the center of the house. While the house favors an east-west axis, four long perpendicular wings extend in each cardinal direction from the living areas. Thoughtful placement of larger rooms at the end of each wing helps define adjacent outdoor rooms, with circulation occurring both indoors and out.

He purchased the house, for $1.5 million, back in 1993 with his then-wife and architectural historian, Beth Harris. No home defines the mid-century modern movement more than architect Richard Neutra‘s iconic Kaufmann Desert House in sun-drenched Palm Springs, California. Inside, there are five bedrooms, six full bathrooms and a media room, which was added in the 1990s. No other building has been referred to or echoed in architecture more than the Pantheon.

The surface of the home is composed of sandy-colored Utah stone and floor to ceiling windows, which promotes an even more feeling of a sinuous space. Arguably one of the most admired aspects of the home, however, is the swimming pool. The pool adds a certain fluidity to the overall design of the property, balancing the heaviness of the home with its uneven wing sizes. The house was initially built with a pool house, which has now been replaced with a pavilion that serves as a convenient entertainment center and kitchen. To give greater visibility to the renowned quality of “floating” in the design, the structural system combines wood and steel so that the amount of vertical supports necessary, limited in any case, is reduced.

Located in Palm Springs, the property boasts mountain views and has a swimming pool on its 0.9 hectare plot. Several solutions have been implemented to help address California’s housing crisis and create more affordable housing options for California’s low—to mid-income residents. Allowing Accessory Dwelling Units to be added to single-family residences are steadily becoming one of the most notable and widely utilized methods by homeowners all over the state. Before the invention and widespread use of photography in the architectural industry, people had to visit buildings to see and experience them. As photography became more available, magazines, publications, and printed media became the primary way people would consume architecture. The design and construction of the Kaufmann Desert House fall at an exciting point in American history.

That’s why the Desert House, built in 1946 by Austrian-born architect Richard Neutra for retail tycoon Edgar J. Kaufmann, stands out all the more. Fusing glass, steel, and stone, "it is an architectural marvel that helped define the modernist aesthetic," says Gerard Bisignano, partner at Vista Sotheby’s International Realty, who is handling the sale of the 3,162-square-foot home. A symphony of steel, glass, sandstone and stucco, it exemplifies California living with terrazzo flooring, mountain views and the famed central swimming pool.