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By Colin Flavin

Houzz Contributor

Tour Richard Neutra’s Iconic Kaufmann Desert House Gardens

By Colin Flavin / March 6, 2024

The well-known but rarely seen symbol of desert modern architecture opened its doors for Palm Springs Modernism Week.

For the first time in Palm Springs Modernism Week’s history, architect Richard Neutra’s iconic Kaufmann Desert House opened to the public in February. When tickets became available in December to tour the home’s landscape during this year’s annual festival of modern design, architecture, art, fashion and culture, they sold out in three minutes.

The property has four distinct courtyards designed to accommodate specific uses, microclimates and privacy needs. All have been meticulously restored, and we’ll be touring them here.

Above: The Kaufmann Desert House and the iconic view of the pool and home. Photo by Joe Fletcher.

Related Published Writing

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Blast from the Past

Midcentury modern tours in greater palm springs.

Butterfly rooflines, colorful front doors and A-frame facades galore: Few places in the world feature such a treasure trove of midcentury modern architecture as Greater Palm Springs. Travel back in time and see some of these architectural gems for yourself on one of several midcentury modern tours offered year-round.

Knowledgeable guides share in-depth history behind the buildings as well as the artists and architects who created them—all you have to do is keep an open mind and your camera ready. A few iconic homes you won’t want to miss include:

• Elvis’ Honeymoon Hideaway (aka the “House of Tomorrow”)
• Frank Sinatra’s Twin Palms Estate (known for its piano-shaped swimming pool)
• Albert Frey House II (built into the side of a massive boulder)
• The Kaufmann House (site of the famous Slim Aarons “Poolside Gossip” photograph)

View a Donald Wexler original from inside an air-conditioned Mercedes-Benz coach with Five Star Adventure Tours . Cruise through historic neighborhoods on a group bicycle tour with PS Architecture Tours . Explore the interiors of fabulous midcentury modern homes with Palm Springs Mod Squad . Visit former celebrity estates with The Modern Tour , the official tour of the Palm Springs Art Museum Architecture & Design center. Or use digital tablets to compare a home’s vintage and contemporary photos on an outing with MidMod Design Tour.

Regardless of which midcentury modern tour you choose, you’ll find a whole new appreciation for the arts and culture scene in Greater Palm Springs.  

An inside look at Desert Modernism

Join Chill Chaser, Amy Yerrington, and Kurt Cyr of Palm Springs Mod Squad for a tour of local homes that showcase the iconic midcentury architectural style Greater Palm Springs is known for internationally. Look for the four distinct elements that characterize Desert...

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Palm Springs Architecture Tours with Trevor O’Donnell

Building a Legacy: Tour the Architecture of Palm Springs

By Kevin Perry

We are all time travelers. Every locale we visit, every interaction we experience, and every project we create adds to our cultural landscape. With each action, we connect the past to the future. History continues to unfold all around us, and nowhere is it more vibrant than in Palm Springs.

Meet Your Tour Guide

“We have this extraordinary collection of fine midcentury modern architecture,” narrates Trevor O’Donnell of PS Architecture Tours .

Clarifying, Trevor takes a step back and surveys his domain. “It’s what we now call midcentury modern architecture, dating from the forties through the early seventies. All of it suffered when Palm Springs went through its economic downturn in the late seventies through the early nineties. But when midcentury modern style came back into vogue, people like me and hundreds of others came out and found these classic modernist homes.  We began the process of rescuing them or renovating them or restoring them. In the process, we formed a community here of avid modernism fans.”

Modernism Week

Meanwhile, a group of design devotees from the Palm Springs Art Museum were also honing their passion for construction. In 2006, they planted their flag in the temperate climate of February and founded Modernism Week , a celebration of the architecture that shapes our city’s unique personality.

Events, education, engagement and excitement exploded. Modernism Week became an internationally renowned gathering, drawing experts and observers into its allure. Trevor and his contemporaries helped establish a thriving menu of tours through the intricacies of our infrastructure. From the spark of inspiration to the enduring influence of our retro-futuristic aesthetic, Palm Springs offers eye-popping vistas aplenty.

Expanded Palm Springs Architecture Tours

But how can visitors grasp all that sprawls before them? The answer: it’s impossible. That’s why collaboration and coordination are the keys to a successful sojourn into the realm of architecture.

“I approached Modernism Week,” recounts Trevor. “There was more demand for my tours than I could satisfy. I wanted to expand, but I didn’t want do it alone and I wanted it to be a more community-centered process. So I reached out to Modernism Week and said, ‘If you’re at all interested in expanding outside of your festival programming, we should talk about getting together and seeing if we can’t produce these tours jointly.’ And that’s pretty much how it originated.”

The result: a mini-coach tour with maximum impact.

Book Your Architecture Tour by Modernism Week

Trevor ranks #1 on Tripadvisor’s list of Palm Springs cultural guides. Pair that with the notoriety and cache of Modernism Week that brings scores of style enthusiasts flocking to our fair berg every year and it all adds up to a truly transcendent time.

You will get the star treatment while exploring the stars’ homes. After all, Palm Springs emerged as Hollywood’s Playground during the entertainment industry’s golden age. Some of the Tinseltown’s most luminous celebrities cavorted in homes designed by the sharpest structural minds in architecture.

“We visit the Kaufmann House,” Trevor announces, “Richard Neutra’s modernist masterpiece. The Kaufmann House was commissioned by the same family that asked Frank Lloyd Wright to build Falling Water in Pennsylvania. Falling Water, of course, is one of the greatest works of architecture in the world. That same family built a Palm Springs house. And today that house is considered Richard Neutra’s masterpiece and it too ranks among the greatest modernist houses in the world.”

His voice brims with excitement as he rhetorically asks himself where to venture next.

“What else? Beautiful tract home developments by the Alexander Construction Company. Everyone in Palm Springs knows these houses, there are over 2,000 of them, but visitors love these neighborhoods that are just filled with hundreds of beautifully renovated classic midcentury modern designs. We explore some lesser known things, some odd balls and ruins of buildings that didn’t make it. There’s a wonderful chunk of an old hotel that was designed by Frank Lloyd Wright’s son, Frank Lloyd Wright Jr., right in the heart of downtown. So it’s a way to show people the city of Palm Springs through a local insider’s eyes.”

Trevor’s perspective is infectious. His guests are ushered into a Modernism Week that reverberates throughout the year and back through the ages. But as ebullient an ambassador as he is for Palm Springs, Trevor also draws his inspiration from another American city.

“Chicago is known around the world for having developed one of the best architecture tour programs. And it’s a nonprofit and it’s promoted by the city as a valuable part of what it means to visit Chicago. And we feel very strongly that this can do the same thing for Palm Springs.”

Punctuating his point, Trevor explains, “What’s most important to me is that this be a community centered initiative.”

Preserving the Palm Springs Legacy

The word community pops up mirthfully and meaningfully several times during our conversation. It is the cornerstone of Trevor’s life work. He excavates the creative foundations of our hometown and mines fascination from every edifice.

“It’s an exploration of history and architecture in Palm Springs. It’s designed for visitors to give them an introduction to why Palm Springs is here and how this incredible modern architecture emerged in the middle of the 20th century. It involves more than just modern architecture though; it involves all architecture from Spanish colonial revival to contemporary. We talk a lot about some of the talented architects who are carrying forward this modernist idea.”

And with an effortless flourish, Trevor has passed the baton from vintage to vanguard. He is preserving our legacy for subsequent generations of builders and dreamers. Welcome to Modernism Week revisited … welcome to Palm Springs.

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AD Classics: Kaufmann House / Richard Neutra

• Written by Andrew Kroll

• Architects: Richard Neutra
• Year Completion year of this architecture project Year:  1947
• Photographs Photographs: Thom Watson , Flickr User: Caffinara

Text description provided by the architects. One of the most important architects of the 20th Century, yet often overlooked, Richard Neutra has been on the forefront of modern residential architecture.  After moving to the United States from Vienna, Austria in 1923, Neutra worked with Frank Lloyd Wright and Rudolf Schindler until 1930 when he started his own practice.  

One of Neutra’s several iconic projects is the Kaufmann House in Palm Springs , California. Completed between 1946-1947, the Kaufmann House was a vacation home for Edgar J. Kaufmann Sr. and his family to escape the harsh winters of the northeast.

10 years after the design of Fallingwater by Frank Lloyd Wright in Bear Run, Pennsylvania, the Kaufmann’s were looking for a residence that could be used to escape the cold winters of the northeast, which would primarily be used during January. 

After seeing Wright’s Taliesin West, Kaufmann was unimpressed and gave his commission to Richard Neutra.   Unlike Taliesin West, which implemented more earthy tones and materials, Neutra employed a more modernist and international style approach using glass, steel, and some stone in the design.

The design of the house is quite simplistic; at the center of the house is the living room and the dining room that is the heart of the house and the family activity. The rest of the house branches out like a pinwheel in each of the cardinal directions.  From the center of the house each wing that branches out has its own specific function; however, the most important aspects of the house are oriented east/west while the supporting features are oriented north/south.

The north and south wings are the most public parts of the house that connect to the central living area.  The south wing consists of a covered walkway that leads from the center of the house to the carport. 

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.

The house’s swimming pool is one of the most iconic and recognizable aspects of the Kaufmann House; however, it is not solely a photographic gem or simply a recreational feature.  The swimming pool creates a compositional balance of the overall design of the house.  The house alone is unbalanced and heavy as the wings are not equally proportioned, but with the addition and placement of the swimming pool there is a cohesive balance and harmony throughout the design.

The low, horizontal planes that make up the pinwheel design bring the house closer to the landscape making it appear as if it is hovering above the ground.  

The floating effect is emphasized through a series of sliding glass doors that open up to cover walkways or patios. The way in which Neutra designed the Kaufmann House was such that when the sliding glass doors were opened the differentiation of interior and exterior was blurred as if it was a sinuous space.

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 glass and steel make the house light, airy, and open, but it is the use of stone that solidifies the houses contextual relationship.  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 Kaufmann House has gone through several owners after the Kaufmann’s owned the house, which led to the house to fall in disrepair and a lack of concern and preservation of the modern dwelling.   However, a couple that appreciated 20th Century modern homes restored the house back to its original luster with the help of Julius Shulman. The Kaufmann House is now considered to be an architectural landmark and one of the most important houses in the 20th Century.

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Edgar and Liliane Kaufmann Residence (1946, Richard Neutra) 470 West Vista Chino Drive 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.

On my first visit, I was disappointed to discover that only a small part of the house is visible from the road. Arguably the most famous home in Palm Springs, in 1996 it was the twentieth 1 building to be designated as a local landmark, or "Class 1 Site" as protected properties are known locally. It was the first private residence still in its original use to be so designated. In 2008, a small crowd of about thirty people gathered at the site for the dedication of a bronze marker denoting the designation. The crowd included a couple of friends of mine, the mayor, and owners Beth and Brent Harris who accomplished the exacting restoration. After the crowd dispersed, Beth (who is devoted to an informed public) spontaneously invited the few of us who lingered for a private tour. It was my lucky day. The tour was fascinating in its detail, but Beth's personal recollections left the most lasting impression.

The origins of the house are familiar to architecture fans because of the pedigree of its owner, Edgar Kaufmann , the Pittsburg department store magnate. Kaufmann established himself as a patron of architecture with his commission to Frank Lloyd Wright for the design of his famous Bear Run, Pennsylvania home called " Fallingwater ." Ten years later, in 1946, Kaufmann chose Austrian émigré and former Wright colleague Richard Neutra to design his desert home and a lot of tongue-wagging ensued. Kaufmann meant no disrespect to Wright, but he sought a home more open and airy than anything in Wright's vocabulary. Wright was not amused.

From 1946 to 1948 -- the years that gave birth to the Kaufmann desert house -- a number of other world-wide iconic structures were built. Mies van der Rohe's produced the Farnsworth Residence in Plano, Illinois and Marcel Breuer delivered the butterfly-roofed Geller Residence in Lawrence, New York. Charles and Rae Eames Pacific Palisades residence arrived; Eero Saarinen's General Motors Technical Center unfolded in Warren, Michigan; and Le Corbusier's Unite d'Habitation soared skyward in Marseilles, France. Each of these buildings played an important role in defining architecture of an era. Like these contemporaries, the Kaufmann desert house is a masterpiece -- a structure of unexcelled modernism and sophistication that continues to serve as a model of its type, style, and period.

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. The footprint has been described as resembling a pin-wheel, a Neutra signature. In this plan, outdoor living areas are sheltered by adjustable walls composed of movable vertical fins that offer flexible protection against sandstorms. When the windscreens are not required, louvers can be adjusted to open up to the views.

The home is a one-story structure that subtly accommodates itself to the site by stepping up slightly on three levels, made more dramatic through the introduction of a roofed (but otherwise open-air) second floor room. Centered above the main entrance, Neutra called this outdoor room a "gloriette" -- from the 12th century French for "little glory." Neutra's use of the term derives from history's' largest and best-known gloriette in the Schönbrunn Palace garden in Vienna. Much was made of Neutra's skirting of local ordinances that prohibited second stories, but similar upper-level sleeping porches were commonplace in the desert. They were often included in early Spanish-style homes that, in pre-air conditioning days, had sleeping porches (or gloriettes) that caught the evening breeze and allowed locals to sleep outdoors during the hottest summer months.

The Kaufmann desert house is composed of a simple palette of few materials that include buff-colored Utah stone laid in a mortar-less ashlar pattern; walls of floor-to-ceiling glass, and thin sheet-metal faced roof-planes that extend beyond the glass walls creating an illusion that the roofs hover weightlessly over transparent planes that either disappear or reflect the dramatic natural surroundings. 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. Neutra biographer Thomas Hines described the house as a "model of sophisticated climate control" with its "overhangs, adjustable louvers, and radiant floor heating and cooling systems." However, the technological advances of triple-glazing and heat-reducing films had not yet been invented. The extensive south-facing glass walls had to be covered with an inelegant system of exterior canvas drapes.

Kaufmann, a notorious womanizer, completed the desert house as his marriage disintegrated. In the early 1950's, Liliane Kaufmann commissioned Wright to design another house in Palm Springs on the north side of the property where the Neutra house sits. An unflattering image of the Neutra house appears in Wright's rendering. Named "Boulder House," as confirmed by Edgar Kaufmann Jr. in his book "Fallingwater Rising" this commission was to be a home for Liliane Kaufmann who could no longer live with her philandering husband. But she died before the project could be built. It is said that Wright put both Edgar and Lilianne's names on the rendering in a vain attempt to regain Edgar's patronage. Following Edgar Kaufmann's death in 1955, his desert house sold to Francis C. Park, who in turn sold it in 1962 to art dealer Joseph Linsk and his wife Nelda. Mrs. Linsk was the first owner to make substantial changes to the property. She directed the addition of approximately 2,200 sq. ft. of interior space by converting a patio into a media room; a wall was removed so the newly enclosed space could open into the original living room; additional air conditioning was placed on the roof that cluttered the roof planes.

Designed by local modernist William F. Cody, the Linsk addition was compatible and relatively seamless, but removed the glass corridor to the master bedroom and drastically reduced the amount of light to the interior. Modernist furnishings selected by Neutra were replaced with those chosen by prominent Palm Springs interior designer Arthur Elrod. In 1968, the Linsks offered the house for sale for $350,000, furnished. It was purchased by Eugene and Francis Klein, owners of the San Diego Chargers, who sold the house in 1973 to entertainer Barry Manilow who owned it until 1993.

It is not known what changes were made by the Klein's, but of the Manilow years, Beth Harris relates an amusing story. Filmmaker John Waters visited Manilow at the house during his ownership. Manilow had decorated the two guest bedrooms for favored guests; one was actress/comedienne Susanne Somers -- the other was a male friend. Somers' suite was tricked out with wallpaper, drapes, linens, and bed clothes done in a famous Laura Ashley lavender floral print. The other guest room was decorated with faux-marble wall coverings and stage-set Roman columns. The interiors of the main house were also extensively wall-papered. Years later, upon a return visit to Palm Springs, Waters toured the Harris' extensive restoration, remarking to Beth with an arch grin: "My dear, you've just ruined the place!"

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. Alternatively, according to the listing agent, "it could easily be made more stylish by converting it to a Spanish style." At this point, Beth and Brent Harris decided to purchase and restore the house.

Brent Harris is a successful investment manager; his former wife Beth Edwards Harris is an architectural historian. Both are ardent preservationists. Their work in Palm Springs places them among the earliest supporters of historic preservation in a town that is now known for its remarkable collection of mid-century modern architecture. Los Angeles restoration architects Marmol Radziner and Associates were commissioned to restore the house. As described by the architects, "The restoration returned the residence to its initial form, size, and aesthetic integrity. An important challenge of the restoration was to re-create the dialogue between nature and sculpture, a difficult undertaking in an area that has grown from a rugged desert into a suburban residential neighborhood. Extensive archival research of Neutra's original details was undertaken at the UCLA Special Collections Library Department . Julius Shulman's original photographs of the house were invaluable in determining the original characteristics of this modern monument." The architects did replace the original pool house with a new pavilion that provides a perfect vantage point from which to view the main house and also serves as catering kitchen and entertainment center.

A few details of the restoration have become the stuff of local legend. So exacting were the standards of the owners and architects that when, in the course of the restoration, a missing stone wall had to be reconstructed a defunct Utah sandstone quarry was re-opened to secure matching stone. The first batch of stone that arrived was not a perfect match, but a second quarry did the trick. To help restore the remote physical setting of the house, the Harrises acquired several adjoining parcels to more than double the land around the house. Now fully restored, the Kaufmann desert house has assumed a significant place among important American houses of the mid-century period.

When the Harrises decided to end their marriage, they faced a dilemma regarding the disposition of the house. Both were clear that the house required a special buyer who would fully appreciate its cultural significance and provide the kind of maintenance such a property requires. They hit upon a seemingly perfect solution -- they offered the house at auction as a piece of art. A precedent had already been set with the 2003 Sotheby's auction of Mies van der Rohe's innovative Farnsworth house which sold for $7.5 million. The Harrises went with Christies who put a pre-auction estimate for the house at $15-25 Million. 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. As part of the divorce settlement, Mr. Harris now holds sole title to the property.

While Beth Harris may have moved to Los Angeles, many feel her heart has stayed behind in Palm Springs. She continues to promote architectural education through her work with the California Preservation Foundation , and as a major donor to the emerging Palm Springs Art Museum's Architecture & Design Center , named the Edwards Harris Pavilion in her honor. Her former husband Brent also continues to actively support preservation activities in Palm Springs and is currently restoring a Welton Becket-designed home in the historic Tennis Club neighborhood.

Julius Shulman's photographs played an important role in establishing the Kaufmann residence as one of the nation's most iconic modernist houses. It remains both Neutra's and Shulman's best known and most published work. Upon completion of the Kaufmann house, Neutra gave Shulman explicit instructions about how he wished the building to be photographed, suggesting dusk and evening shots that looked back into the illuminated interior. The resulting time-lapse photo is famous, not only for the multiple images of the running "ghost" puppy, but also for Shulman's request that Lilliane position herself on a mat to block the pool light from over-exposing the photo.

Before she moved to Los Angeles, Beth Harris threw one last cocktail party at the Kaufmann House for local friends of the California Preservation Foundation. I mentioned the invitation to my partner, author Robert Julian, and suggested I'd seen the house many times and maybe we should decline. He replied, "If you're lucky enough to be invited to the Kaufmann House, you accept." We arrived about 5:30 p.m. on a Sunday and met a group of friends who had already arrived. Early in this convivial social gathering, I noticed Robert had disappeared. I found him reclining on one of the chaises near the east into the pool where a superb view of the house unfolded. It was "magic hour" and I decided to join him on the adjacent chaise. Magically, as the sun dropped behind the mountains, the lighted pool and the house began to glow as if from within. I have never seen a more beautifully choreographed light show. Sitting poolside, I felt a profound connection to both Neutra and Shuman. I can only reiterate that sage advice, "If you're lucky enough to be invited to the Kaufmann House, you accept."

1 The marker says #29 but that includes a number of Class 2 sites as well.

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Richard Neutra’s Kaufmann House in Palm Springs

• December 10, 2020

Kaufmann House, a Faithfully Restored Icon of Modernism, Showcases Richard Neutra’s Enduring Vision Under the Sunny Skies of Palm Springs

In 1953, Richard Neutra ’s “Survival Through Design” was published. The book was the architect’s treatise on how design could be a potent catalyst for a heightened human experience—particularly in the realm of our connection with nature. The book had been written by Richard Neutra throughout the 1940s, and many of his ideas no doubt crystallized during work on one of his most important commissions—Kaufmann House.  

The origins of the Palm Springs house date to 1946, the year it was built by Richard Neutra after having been commissioned by Pittsburgh department store businessman Edgar J. Kaufmann Sr. It was to be a winter retreat from his primary residence in Pennsylvania; Kaufmann’s weekend house in Pennsylvania happened to be the splendid Fallingwater , designed by none other than Frank Lloyd Wright .

Significant is that for this commission Kaufmann had selected Richard Neutra, not Frank Lloyd Wright—preferring the former’s open, airy structures that helped inhabitants live in sync with their natural environment. When completed, Kaufmann House stood as a testament to the designer’s architectural premises: a roughly 3,200 square feet dwelling, cleanly articulated in stone, metal, and glass—and planted neatly in the midst of a striking desert landscape. 

Arguably the most exclusive residential listing in the U.S. at the moment, Kaufmann House is represented by Gerard Bisignano of Vista Sotheby’s International Realty , architectural specialist, and South Bay real estate agent.

Gerard Bisignano’s forte is California Modernism, having represented another Richard Neutra—Kilbury House in Palos Verdes Estates —along with homes by Ray Kappe , Thom Mayne , Pierre Koenig and others. “The Kaufmann house really set the pace,” Bisignano points out. “This was just post-World War II and for the time it was ground-breaking.”

Five bedrooms are spread throughout the floor plan, which is assembled in a cross-like shape from which distinct wings span: there are two bedrooms in the guest wing, and another two bedrooms in the service wing. The core of the home holds the dining and living room, both neatly adjacent to the master bedroom—a sunlit retreat that’s fairly enclosed in floor-to-ceiling glass.

Remarkably, given the home’s 1946 vintage, is the absence of a corner post in the master bedroom, a feature that enables two glass doors to meet at a point, as if balanced in space. Slide the glass open, and one’s treated to an instant dose of fresh air, green grass and striking blue of the pool, a few steps away. Throughout Kaufmann House, outdoor living figures largely into the overall design, with fresh-air spaces incorporated side-by-side with interior ones.

The rectangular pool, for instance, is steps from the main living area. It balances the shape of the home, while injecting a refreshing element—water—into the desert palette of rocks and cacti. Head upstairs to the second floor, an open-air space Richard Neutra called the “gloriette.” 

From here one is treated to sweeping desert views, including the grand silhouette of the nearby San Jacinto mountain range. “The gloriette draws you,” says Gerard Bisignano. “It brings the house into an amazing harmony.” 

Working closely with Edgar J. Kaufmann Sr., Neutra created a place wholly dedicated to his clients’ relaxation and leisure. Kaufmann House still serves this purpose, its original sophistication freshly intact by virtue of conscientious ownership. Visiting the home notes Gerard Bisignano, is akin to entering a time machine: “It’s like walking into 1946.”

The history of the home has seen it pass from Kaufmann family ownership to others, including Barry Manilow. Changes were made along the way, disjointing Richard Neutra’s original design and intent. In 1993 Brent Harris and Beth Edwards Harris purchased the home, enlisting Los Angeles restoration architecture firm Marmol Radziner and Associates to undertake a painstakingly accurate restoration of the legacy property. The project, says Gerard Bisignano “ignited the whole Modernism restoration in Southern California, and Palm Springs in particular.” 

Taking five years, the restoration of Kaufmann House was faithful to Richard Neutra, all the way down to the toilets and floors. The aluminum louvers—a distinctive feature of the home the architect initially developed as protection against the wind, which were later adopted as a mainstay of the building industry—remain intact. As do many of the home’s original built-in features, like cabinets designed personally by the architect.

“They even had a mine in Utah re-open, so they could get the original stone that Neutra used back in 1946, as part of the renovation,” says Gerard Bisignano. Notably new to Kaufmann House are updated mechanical aspects (air conditioning, plumbing and the like) and the addition of a pool pavilion—mellow, spacious and ideal for entertaining. 

Sitting on 2-plus acres, Kaufmann House stands out with its clean-cut geometry, while natural materials, notably the Utah stone, keep it connected to the earth. As a foundational piece of American architecture, the home endures as an early and exceptional prototype of Desert Modernism—where the International Style of architecture was transposed to warm settings. Rather than shrink from nature, Desert Modernism embraced it: Inhabitants were freed from indoor-only living, their lives invigorated by sunlit skies and warm days. “For those who appreciate architecture,” Gerard Bisignano says of the house, “it’s like walking into a storybook.” 

In 1947, famed architectural photographer Julius Shulman shot a twilight image of the new home—one of several notable images that memorialized Kaufmann House in the minds of the public. (Rivaling Shulman’s is the colorful 1970 photo by Slim Aarons, Poolside Gossip.) Decades later, in the late 90s, Mr. Harris convinced a then-retired Shulman to come to Palm Springs and re-photograph the newly restored home, this time in color.

Harris shared the images with Gerard Bisignano, who had worked with the couple on two architectural homes in the South Bay. Poring over the images, Bisignano marveled at the fine artistry of the home, and at that moment, his passion for architecture was struck. “I hope to represent many more homes,” he remarks, “but there will never be anything like Kaufmann House.”

Gerard Bisignano | 310.990.4727 | DRE 01116110 Vista Sotheby’s International Realty

List Price: $25,000,000

Color photographs by Daniel Solomon, 2020. Black & White Photographs by Julius Shulman, 1947, 1949. © J. Paul Getty Trust. Getty Research Institute, Los Angeles (2004.r.10).

RELATED TAGS

• Barry Manilow • Beth Edwards Harris • Brent Harris • Frank Lloyd Wright • Gerard Bisignano • Julius Shulman • Kaufmann House • Marmol Radziner • Palm Springs • Richard Neutra • Vista Sotheby's

• Constance Dunn

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Join us for a garden tour to remember at the kaufmann house in 2024..

For the first time in decades, the house that helped define postwar modernism in Palm Springs is opening the gates for an exclusive tour of the grounds. Previously only visible over the fence from the upstairs deck of a Modernism Week bus tour, this special outdoor tour invites guests to stroll through the generous grounds of the Richard Neutra-designed Edgar J. Kaufmann Desert House, 1946, while learning about the history of the property from expert guides.

Tickets go on sale Tuesday, December 19 at 12 p.m. PST. Garden tours will be held on various dates and times, February 16-25, 2024. Tickets will be $65. Don’t miss this chance to see a perfect piece of modernist history in person.

Read on for the cliff notes if you need a refresher on this iconic home’s impeccable modernist pedigree.

Even before Edgar Kaufmann commissioned Richard Neutra to design a house for him in the California desert, the department store magnate had a penchant for modern architecture. Kaufmann was indeed the man who commissioned another well-known architect to build a home for him about 60 miles southeast of his hometown of Pittsburgh; a little place called Fallingwater (yes, THE Fallingwater by Frank Lloyd Wright).

The Second Act

After Kaufmann died in 1955, the house stood vacant for several years but eventually went on to have a series of owners, including singer Barry Manilow and San Diego Chargers owner Eugene V. Klein, and immaculately coiffed socialite and businesswoman Nelda Linsk, who graces Slim Aarons’ legendary photo Poolside Gossip in 1970. During these years, the house underwent several renovations of the period.  

The Turning Point

Beth Edwards Harris, PhD, an architectural historian, and her husband at the time Brent Harris, an investment banker, acquired the house in 1993 after it had sat empty for 3.5 years, reduced to being sold as a teardown at $1.5 million. Knowing the architectural significance of what they were purchasing, the Harrises fully intended to restore the home to its original design and commissioned the architectural firm Marmol Radziner to work with them on the 5-year-long project.

The Harrises and architects conducted extensive research, including accessing UCLA’s Neutra archives and documentation found at Columbia University.  They also worked with renowned photographer Julius Shulman to obtain his unpublished 1947 photos of the home’s interiors. After removing over 3,000 sf of additions made over the years, the house was carefully deconstructed with each component labeled and documented, until only the skeleton remained.  Extraordinary lengths were taken to secure identical materials, including reopening a long-closed quarry in Utah to obtain the original stone used and finding and restoring the original metal crimping machine for the aluminum fascia.  

In addition to the restoration, the Harrises purchased several adjoining plots of land, doubling the size of the property to restore the desert buffer that architect Neutra had envisioned for the house.

The restoration of the Kaufmann House was completed in 1998, gaining international attention and making headlines worldwide. While the resurgence of Palm Springs can be attributed to various factors, the stunning restoration of the Kaufmann House by the Harrises played a significant role in leading the Palm Springs revival and awareness of midcentury modern architecture. 

In 2020, the Kaufmann House was listed for $25 million but eventually sold off market for $13.06 million in 2022, setting a record in Palm Springs, selling slightly above the $13 million Bob Hope’s former home sold for in 2016.  The Kaufmann House now has new stewards, and we are grateful for their devotion to protecting and preserving the property.

The Outdoor Garden Tour will occur on various dates and times, February 16-25, 2024. Tickets are $65 per person and will be available at modernismweek.com starting Tuesday, December 19 at 12 p.m. PST.

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Revisiting the Kaufmann House

The delicate art of marketing palm springs’ most-famous house.

Morris Newman April 29, 2009 Modernism

It’s like being in Switzerland: You want to see the Matterhorn,” says Crosby Doe, a veteran salesman of architecturally significant houses. And when in Palm Springs, he adds, “You want to see the Kaufmann Desert House.”

That kind of fame can have its drawbacks, however, especially for the person in charge of selling a house that nearly everybody, it seems, wants to see. Out of self-defense — and consideration for the owners, who still occupy the residence — Doe came up with a Draconian test to sift the gold from the sand. “I tell them,” he says with the modulated tones of a man who for 30 years has sold houses by big-name architects, “that they can see the house, if they can qualify to pay for it.” The property is listed for $12 million. Boom! The crowd suddenly gets much smaller. Even Hollywood types are thin on the ground.

Doe can hardly blame the enthusiasts, even those who, in the current downturn in the housing market, can barely afford their own houses, much less the former vacation house of Pittsburgh department store magnate Edgar J. Kaufmann. The much-photographed 1946 masterwork by architect Richard Neutra might be the happiest marriage of the abstract geometry of modern architecture with the desert-and-mountain landscape of Palm Springs. The sleek, largely horizontal, 3,162-square-foot house — situated on 2.53 acres, and including five bedrooms and six bathrooms — is laid out with pinwheel-like wings, offset by a few vertical elements — a chimney and an outdoor sleeping area that Neutra called a “gloriette” — that pull together the sprawling composition.

The house represents a special moment in the Neutra canon, when the architect was able to blur the distinction between inside and outside to an unusual degree, according to architectural historian Barbara Lamprecht. It is “not so much a house with an indoors and an outdoors,” she writes in an essay commissioned by Doe. “Rather, it is a setting with transitions in which Neutra honed both nature and the functional aspects of living so that Eros, sensuality, the senses are subtly and/or overtly available to the whole arc of day and night and the whole spectrum of being.”

Not surprisingly, given a client like Kaufmann, the house was also a luxe job. Planes of tawny Utah stone mingle with industrial materials like steel and silver-painted aluminum. And rather than the white interiors that Neutra had favored in earlier projects, the interior colors here, in Lamprecht’s rendition, are “rose, green, canary yellow, salmon,” all set against white and the dark, neutral color that the historian calls “infamous Neutra brown” that the architect used to make certain walls appear to recede behind others. For the Kaufmann house, the painstaking Neutra may have had a client as demanding as the architect himself: To finish the home, Kaufmann employed three crews, working 24 hours a day. He had a personal representative on the site, on the phone constantly with him, and drove up costs insanely with 600 change orders. A house originally priced at $35,000 — a pretty penny in the lean years immediately following World War II — ballooned to $295,000.

When Brent and Beth Harris bought the house for about $1.5 million in 1993, both its interior and exterior had suffered damage due largely to heat. (The house stood vacant after Kaufmann died in 1955 and was remodeled by subsequent owners, including Barry Manilow.) The Harrises hired Los Angeles-based Marmol Radziner and Associates to refurbish the house, sparing no expense and relocating original materials and manufacturers whenever possible. The reconstruction budget, never made public, was rumored to be in the seven-figure range. Images of the revived Kaufmann Desert House, together with the famous images taken of the original structure by photographer Julius Shulman, did more than help put Palm Springs modernism back on the map: The restoration of the house helped launch the vast middle-brow enthusiasm for what came to be known as “midcentury modernism.” Modernism, long reviled for highbrow inaccessibility, had finally become a brand.

After the Harrises divorced several years ago, they decided to sell the house. The first effort was a widely publicized auction last year at Christie’s, the New York auction house, where the modernist gem sold for a breathtaking $19.1 million. The sale would later fall out of escrow, however, for unknown reasons. At press time, the house was listed at slightly below $13 million.

Even though Doe is selling the house the old-fashioned way, by walking prospective buyers through the property one by one, he does not disparage the headline-grabbing method of selling rare houses at public auction. “It was not a stunt,” he says in defense of the sale at Christie’s, pointing out that several other modernist properties, including a Pierre Koenig in Studio City and the Farnsworth House in Plano, Ill., both fetched higher prices at auction than could be achieved in conventional sales. Doe, in fact, says he ran into Beth Harris the day after the auction, and opined he “could not have done a better job of marketing.” When the auction sale fell through, the Harrises turned to Doe.

Given the high-stakes elimination of looky-loos, how many genuine prospective buyers have toured the house to date? “About a half dozen,” Doe says. They come from all over the country, primarily the Midwest, he says. “They are mostly CEO types. Two are art collectors, and another one does a lot of philanthropic work and is interested in architecture.” Few people from the entertainment industry have shown up, which surprises Doe: Hollywood has long been a mainstay of support for California modernism, particularly in Palm Springs.

If walking the rich through Palm Springs’ most exclusive house is a privilege, it is also wistful. The Harrises, who reportedly share the house on alternating weekends, may not be happy about parting with the house they have done so much to preserve.

“Although it is one of the treasures of the world of modernism, I get certain pangs whenever I show it,” Doe says. “I sense,” he adds, “a reticence on the part of the owners about letting it go.”  

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The Iconic Slim Aarons Poolside Gossip Home in Palm Springs Sells for Record Sum

By Rachel Davies

Palm Springs’s commitment to its midcentury legacy and architectural flair has allowed it to remain a sought-after vacation home locale well into the 21st century. Today, it’s been announced via The Wall Street Journal that one of its most legendary examples of California modernism—the 1946 Richard Neutra property made unforgettable by Slim Aarons’s 1970 Poolside Gossip photo—has sold for $13.06 million. The off-market deal comes a year and a half after the property was first listed for $25 million.

Built in 1946, the home is one of its most legendary examples of California modernism.

The 3,200-square-foot home features five bedrooms.

The 3,200-square-foot home features five bedrooms, all of which are located on the first floor, with only a covered patio available on the second floor. Much of that main level flaunts wood-panel ceilings and floor-to-ceiling windows, creating a distinctly modernist atmosphere. The floor plan is arranged to maximize outdoor access, with guest, service, and primary wings extending from the living and dining rooms, where the stone fireplace is located. A pool, pool pavilion, and tennis court are also located on the grounds.

The Richard Neutra property was made unforgettable by Slim Aarons’s 1970 Poolside Gossip photo.

The seller, Brent R. Harris, bought the property in the 1990s and promptly began a five-year renovation process.

According to The Wall Street Journal , the seller, Brent R. Harris, bought the three-acre property in the 1990s and promptly began a five-year renovation process. Under his watch, any material that covered what was originally there was stripped away, and the home was thoughtfully restored to its original glory by craftsmen. Harris recently completed another renovation of the property. Though the identity of the buyer has not been publicly disclosed, listing agent Gerard Bisignano of Vista Sotheby’s International Realty reportedly says that the new owner has “a deep and rich appreciation of modernist architecture.”

Much of that main level flaunts wood-panel ceilings and floor-to-ceiling windows, creating a distinctly modernist atmosphere.

The home was built for Edgar J. Kaufmann Sr., who was also the first owner of Frank Lloyd Wright’s Fallingwater home in Pennsylvania.

The home’s significance is compounded by prominent former owners, including Barry Manilow and the person for whom the home was built—Edgar J. Kaufmann Sr., who was also the first owner of Frank Lloyd Wright’s Fallingwater home. The sale of the property has set a new record for Palm Springs real estate, knocking off the $13 million sale of Bob Hope’s former home in 2016.

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Beauty everywhere!

How to see the most popular homes in Palm Springs

Touring Homes in Palm Springs: What to Know and Where to Go

There are endless things to do in California, but by far one of the best activities is viewing and touring homes in Palm Springs. The area’s architecture is like no other, and visitors are typically quite impressed with the homes and buildings in the Coachella valley. Here is what to know and where to go if you are thinking about venturing out to experience Palm Springs and its magnificent architecture.

Can I tour homes in Palm Springs?

The short answer – Yes, absolutely! Many wonderful exteriors are on view 24/7.

There are various ways to view the amazing homes scattered throughout Palm Springs. Modern Tours Palm Springs offers a Celebrity MEGA Tour, which offers views of houses that have been home to stars like Frank Sinatra and Leonardo DiCaprio. The Modernism 101 Tour takes you to hidden gems that are less well known but even more amazing. Regardless which Palm Springs celebrity home tour you take, you will definitely enjoy taking in the views of the places the rich and famous have called home. Modern Tours Palm Springs also offers biking tours in Palm Springs and walking tours of Palm Springs so there are myriad ways to see famous homes here.

Can I go inside houses in Palm Springs?

Palm Springs Modernism Week is popular the world over for many amazing reasons, one of which that certain homes are open to the public for a fee. These include cannot-miss homes like the Alexander Estate (also known as the House of Tomorrow), which is where Elvis and Priscilla Presley stayed for their honeymoon back in 1967. So if you wonder if you can go inside Elvis’ house in Palm Springs, the answer is… sometimes! The Frey II House is another gem, as visitors are allowed to walk through the home that architect Albert Frey lived in himself. Another fantastic option offered in 2023 was a tour of the inside of Kirk and Anne Douglas Estate, which was designed by renowned architect Donald Wexler.

Where are all the cool houses in Palm Springs?

It would be impossible to list out all of the cool houses in the Palm Springs area, but there are a few that really stand out.

One home that visitors cannot miss in the area is the mid-century dwelling at 447 West Mariscal Road. Once inhabited by “Rat Pack” member Dean Martin, the so-called “Dino’s Den” is easy to spot on the street and has all of the mid-century modern features one would expect, including floor-to-ceiling glass walls and perfectly placed trees, rocks, and adornments.

The Old Las Palmas Neighborhood is also home to one of the coolest houses in Palm Springs, known as Casa Elizabeth (after Elizabeth Taylor, who owned it) and “The Jewel of the Desert.” The home still has a slew of Taylor’s artwork, which includes the acclaimed portrait of her that was completed by Andy Warhol. The property also features three “casitas” where guests can stay, a huge courtyard, and an observation deck.

One of the most discussed homes in Palm Springs is the Twin Palms Estate, also known as Frank Sinatra’s house. The property is over 4,500 square feet and was designed by E. Stewart Williams, who would become one of the most renowned mid-century modern architects to ever live. Much of the house’s features have been preserved over the decades, including the popular piano-shaped swimming pool and various old portraits, primarily of celebs who were famous in and around the 1950’s.

An old post card featuring the Bob Hope house.

Bob Hope also had an amazing home in Palm Springs at 2466 Southridge Drive which is in a gated community and not accessible to the public, though it is visible from a distance. Now known as the Hope Residence, the home offers wide, panoramic views of the entire surrounding areas thanks to its unique shape, which looks similar to a spaceship or a mushroom. Architect John Lautner was the mastermind behind this house, which features ten bedrooms and 13 bathrooms. One of the most unique features of the home is the skylight in the center, which allows in a lot of natural light – a feature that is typical of the mid-century modern design. The house has been slightly remodeled over the years, but the main features have reportedly stayed the same.

If you’d like to inquire about how to see the best celebrity homes in Palm Springs, send Modern Tours Palm Springs an e-mail and we can recommend the best tour for you.

Did Frank Lloyd Wright build a house in Palm Springs?

While Frank Lloyd Wright himself is not credited with building a house in Palm Springs, various structures are believed to be based on his architectural style. This includes the Del Marcos Hotel, which features 17 rooms and an open-space, U-shaped courtyard that gives off a sense of community.

Mostly, however, Wright is linked to Palm Springs due to the famous Kaufmann House (more on that later). Wright had designed the so-called Fallingwater House that is located in Mill Run, Pennsylvania for Edgar J. Kaufmann ten years earlier, and Wright was offended when Kaufmann picked Richard Neutra to carry out his dream home in Palm Springs. Kaufmann, however, ultimately felt that Neutra would be better at creating the perfect design for the desert setting.

Despite not being the primary builder of any Palm Springs houses, Wright is credited as designing some other amazing structures in California, including homes and buildings in the Los Angeles and San Francisco areas.

Another fun tidbit is that Wright’s son, Lloyd Wright, designed the luxurious Oasis Hotel in Palm Springs as well as several other structures throughout the surrounding desert.

Where do the rich and famous live in Palm Springs?

Leonardo DiCaprio, perhaps best known for his role in The Titanic , owns a midcentury home in Palm Springs. When he is not living at the house, the six-bedroom, 7.5-bathroom home that features a huge kitchen, fireplaces, a tennis court, and a heated pool and spa can be rented out starting at $3,750 per night.

Photo courtesy 432Hermosa.com

Australian singer-songwriter Sia purchased the so-called Fontanelle property in Palm Springs and has said in interviews that the purchase was made for the home to be a haven for acquaintances struggling with addictions and other psychological hardships. In 2014, she married her former husband, Erik Anders Lang, at the property, though she kept the details of the event quite private.

Convicted fraudster and former Full House actress Lori Loughlin purchased a $13 million home in the Madison Club community after completing her court-mandated sentence. The home has five bedrooms and five and a half bathrooms spanning across 9,300 square feet. Of course, the living room is spacious and the views outside are absolutely incredible.

Other big names who have lived in or frequented Palm Springs include Goldie Hawn, Kurt Russell, Barry Manilow, Elvis Presley, Debbie Reynolds, Anne Rice, and Marilyn Monroe. If you want to check out celebrity homes easily, learn more about our Celebrity Homes Tour.

Which Kardashians have homes in Palm Springs?

Does Kim Kardashian have a home in Palm Springs? In short, the answer is yes. Kim and Kourtney Kardashian along with their mother and sister, Kris and Kylie Jenner, have homes in the area. Kylie’s home is 15,500 square feet of luxury featuring five bedrooms and six bathrooms. She purchased the property for $3.25 million and it sits right next to Kris Jenner’s 14,500 square feet home, which Kris bought for $12 million in 2018.

In 2021, Kourtney Kardashian also invested in the Palm Springs area, dropping $12 million on a fabulous six-bedroom home in the La Quinta neighborhood that features a large pool and stunning mountain views. Meanwhile, Kim Kardashian purchased a plot of land near Kylie’s house for $6.3 million in 2020 and has hired Tadao Ando to build a home that she has stated will be “concrete, gray-toned, and really zen.”

While the Kardashian home is in a highly secure and gated community that is not accessible to the public, Modern Tours Palm Springs offers the Celebrity MEGA Tour , which has 17 of the most fun, famous and beautiful celebrity homes in Palm Springs.

What is the most iconic home in Palm Springs? 

Kaufmann House

The Kaufmann Desert House is possibly one of the most influential pieces of architecture to ever be built, and undoubtedly is the most iconic home in Palm Springs. Edgar J. Kaufmann, who ran the now-defunct Kaufmann’s Department Store (acquired by Macy’s in 2006), asked architect Richard Neutra to build him an amazing desert-themed home in Palm Springs in 1946. The five-bedroom, six-bathroom house was built with glass, steel, and Utah stone and truly does look like a desert oasis. The house is thought of as the first to perfectly define the mid-century modern style that can be found throughout the area, and the Palm Springs City Council designated this home a Class 1 Historic Site in 1996. See the Kaufmann House and 9 more of the MOST iconic architectural sites in Palm Springs on the Top 10 Tour from Modern Tours Palm Springs .

Where do celebrities hang out in Palm Springs?

Palm Springs has been a cool celebrity hang out for many decades, but there are some hotspots that are special to them.

Firstly, The Parker Palm Springs is frequented by celebs, especially around the annual Film Festival. Spanning across 13 acres, the interior of the property was designed by Jonathan Adler and a building on the back of the sprawling grounds used to be home to actor Gene Autry. There are 12 luxurious villas that travelers stay at, but there are also places to dine there such as outdoor eatery Norma’s, fine dining Mister Parker’s, and a wine bar named Counter Reformation. There are also a spa and a fitness center that celebrities make use of while staying in the area.

Parker Hotel

The Ace Hotel is another popular lodging choice for celebrities, as it features 179 rooms and has some of the most unique designs and decor of any hotel in the area. Celebrities who have dogs often choose the Ace Hotel, as the vibe is relaxed and its suites are dog-friendly. The Feel Good Spa, which is located on the premises, is a popular place for celebs to relax and get the ultimate spa experience.

The Saguaro Palm Springs features poolside daybeds and cabanas where celebrities hang out while enjoying the amazing Palm Springs weather. The on-site El Jefe Restaurant and the El Jefe Desert Cantina are popular spots for celebrities to grab a bite to eat, too.

One of the newer hotspots on the scene is the Arrive Palm Springs. This boutique hotel typically attracts younger celebrities and features 32 rooms that give off the modernist vibe. Amenities include a large pool, cabanas, bocce ball, fire pits, and a large spa. Celebrities also enjoy the Pool at Arrive Restaurant, the Cartel Coffee Lab, and the delicious Ice Cream Shoppe.

Additional eateries you may have a chance at seeing famous people at include Spencer’s Restaurant, Le Vallauris Restaurant, and Melvyn’s Restaurant & Lounge.