Paul Kaplan - Modern Real Estate » Historic Preservation

Help for Palm Springs’ Historic Preservation

Paul Kaplan — Mon, 03 Jan 2011 18:17:02 +0000

Its refreshing news to read about someone dedicated to preserving historic buildings here in Palm Springs. The following article was featured in The Desert Sun today and gives hope for our Palm Springs preservation efforts- Thank you Mark!

Giving new life to old buildings

MIKE PERRAULT • The Desert Sun • January 2,
2011

Mark Spohn hopes to foster new attitudes about old
buildings.

The longtime commercial real estate broker, who
moved to Palm Springs five years ago, recently
decided to put his skills to work doing what he
could to help save historic commercial architecture
in Palm Springs.

Spohn speaks to preservation organizations and
others across the city about his initiative called “Old
Buildings, New Attitudes.”

“The greenest building is the one that is already
built,” said Spohn, vice president of Sperry Van
Ness Commercial Real Estate Advisors.

Spohn has more than 30 years of experience leasing
and selling office and retail properties, including
more than two decades in Los Angeles.

He was a regular visitor to Palm Springs all those
years, developing an appreciation for the city’s
architecture. That prompted him to do what he
could to preserve Palm Springs’ commercial
character.

“I am making it my goal to find investors to
rehabilitate (historic buildings),” Spohn said.

“There is a need to be proactive in adaptive reuse of
historic buildings by encouraging private
investment.”

Spohn sees it as not only preservation but an
economic development issue. In PowerPoint
presentations, Spohn rattles off a list of historic
development projects: the Riviera, Colony Palms and
Horizon hotels; The Willows; the Seeburg and
Gallery buildings.

An ongoing renovation of the 58-room, 71-year-
old Spanish Inn at 640 N. Indian Canyon Drive in
recent months aims to preserve the former
Ambassador Hotel, once a getaway for Hollywood
icons such as Lana Turner and mogul Howard
Hughes, Spohn said.

Palm Springs City Manager David Ready said the city
supports “the renovation, the new attitude, the
remodel” concept.

“The big impediment has been, ‘Does (the project)
pencil out?’ Are the numbers there for the developer
to make a profit?” Ready said.

To help encourage renovation of commercial
properties such as boutique hotels, city officials in
May expanded a hotel incentive program. It rewards
developers who complete major remodels by giving
them a hefty rebate on the bed tax.

Timely program

Robert Imber, a board member of the Palm Springs
Modern Committee and trustee for the California
Preservation Foundation, said there is an abundance
of Palm Springs historic architectural assets in need
of rehabilitation, so Spohn’s program is timely and
beneficial for the region.

“In Palm Springs, other than the preservation
organizations and a few specific projects in recent
years, I am not aware of anyone other than Mr.
Spohn forwarding such practical and efficient
strategies that combine restoration and development
at commercial properties,” Imber said.

What’s noteworthy about Spohn’s approach is that it
presents properties as intrinsically valuable because
of their historical character, said Ron Marshall,
president of the Palm Springs Preservation
Foundation.

Many preservationists have been concerned that
some developers have been more concerned with
“real estate speculation” than making a building
viable, which can be detrimental to the long-term
health of the city, Marshall said.

Many folks think historic preservation is some
arcane science, he said.

“Nothing could be farther from the truth,” Marshall
said. “The U.S. Secretary of Interior has established
simple, straightforward standards that local
governments are encouraged to follow for the
treatment of historic properties.”

Among projects the Foundation has been working
on is ensuring “sensitive restoration” of the 71-
year-old Welwood Murray Memorial Library, a city-
owned property in downtown Palm Springs.

A survey the city conducted shows there are more
than 100 historic commercial buildings. Their
architectural styles range from mid-century modern
to Spanish colonial revival.

Among architects who have created commercial
buildings are Albert Frey, E. Stewart Williams,
Richard Neutra, William Cody and Paul Williams.

Typical prices for such properties range from about
$3 million to $10 million, Spohn said.

Many office, retail, boutique hotel and special-
purpose buildings — while they are in need of
repair — are well-built structures in prime
locations, Spohn said.

Spohn emphasized that historic development
projects must be as economically feasible as any
others. If done right, they will benefit the community
by retaining the architectural charm and character
that distinguishes Palm Springs from other desert
resorts, Spohn said.

One project Spohn is working on is to draw a
Liberace Museum that closed in Las Vegas to Palm
Springs, where the entertainer had numerous
homes.

Spohn said investors willing to renovate commercial
properties often have emotional ties to the city or
area architecture.

Other developers see an opportunity to tap financial
incentives, including a federal historic tax credit

that pays for up to 20 percent of rehabilitation
costs.

Public-private partnerships also can help
developers garner grants for façade improvements
or take part in hotel tax abatement programs.

Some historic properties to watch in the future
include La Serena Villas bungalow court, Town and
Country Center historic courtyard, and the Harlow
Club hotel in the Las Palmas historic commercial
district, Spohn said.

The modern real estate group is an avid supporter of Palm Springs’ Historic Preservation efforts.
For more information please visit the

Palm Springs Preservation Foundation.

Palm Springs Mid-Century Homes- New book

Paul Kaplan — Tue, 14 Sep 2010 17:45:43 +0000

The Modern Real Estate Group in Palm Springs book pick of the week! We saw this posted on wwww.Mid-Century-Modern.net and wanted to share it with our readers:

“Palm Springs Mid-century Modern” by a New York based photographer Dolly Faibyshev features a stunning photographic collection of mid century modern architecture in Palm Springs, California. The book includes 178 color and black/white photos of residential, municipal, and commercial buildings designed by mid century modern architects including Donald Wexler, E. Stewart Williams, William Krisel, Albert Frey, William F. Cody, and Richard Neutra.

Palm Springs Mid-century Modern

The book includes images of many familiar/iconic structures of Palm Springs such as the Kaufmann House, Frey House II, Tramway Gas Station, House of Tomorrow, etc. as well as many other hidden gems that are probably only known to the locals, Palm Springs architecture experts or frequent visitors.

Color or black/white, the images in this book are crisp and stunning. Even though these images were taken at present times, they have a “vintage feel” to them. Ms. Faibyshev also did a great job presenting distinctive architectural features of mid century modern buildings of Palm Springs in all of her images in this book. This book will be a treasure for any mid century modern enthusiast.

Book Summary
Title: Palm Springs Mid-century Modern
Author: Dolly Faibyshev
Format: Hardcover, 128 pages
Publisher: Schiffer Publishing, Ltd. (June 28, 2010)
Language: English
ISBN-10: 0764334611
ISBN-13: 978-0764334610

Las Vegas does Mid-Century Modern

Paul Kaplan — Mon, 19 Apr 2010 20:16:13 +0000

Mid-Century Modern Las Vegas Architecture – Exhibit Opening

(Riviera Hotel Lobby, 1957)

The Nevada State Museum, Las Vegas is hosting an opening reception for its newest exhibit, “Mid-Century Modern Las Vegas,” on Saturday, April 24 from 1:00 pm to 4:00 pm. The exhibit will feature photos of Mid-Century Modern architecture, as well as domestic and decorative art from the era.

Throughout the 1950s and ‘60s when Las Vegas was polishing its image as a premier resort destination, architects from throughout the country were drawn to the city by its free-wheeling, forward-looking modernism. These architects, such as Paul Revere Williams, Palmer and Krisel,

(Paradise Palms, Las Vegas, by Palmer and Krisel)

Zick and Sharp, Wayne McAllister and Welton Beckett, designed some of Las Vegas’ most notable structures: St. Anne Catholic Church; the parabolic lobby of the La Concha Motel; the sleekly angular Sands Hotel; the futuristic terminal at McCarran International Airport; homes in Mason Manor; and the flying saucer-shaped Las Vegas Convention Center. Dozens of schools, banks, shopping centers, and medical and government buildings throughout Las Vegas were built in a variety of Mid-Century Modern styles.

(La Concha Hotel Lobby under construction, 1961)

Most of the photos featured in this exhibit are from the collection of noted photographer Jay Florian Mitchell. After a successful career in New York, Mitchell came to Las Vegas in the late 1940s and spent more than two decades documenting life in Las Vegas. With most of Las Vegas’ Mid-Century Modern architecture now lost to development, Mitchell’s collection provides an invaluable visual record of the city’s past.

The Nevada State Museum, Las Vegas is located at 700 Twin Lakes Drive in Lorenzi Park. The museum is open Wednesday through Saturday 9:00 a.m. to 5:00 p.m. Admission is $4 for adults and free to museum members and ages 17 and under.

The Nevada State Museum, Las Vegas is one of seven museums managed by the Division of Museums and History, an agency of the Nevada Department of Cultural Affairs. The Department serves Nevada’s citizens and visitors through cultural and information management, presentation and promotion of cultural resources, and education. The Department also includes the State Historic Preservation Office, Nevada State Library and Archives, and the Nevada Arts Council. For more information, call Teresa Moiola at (775) 687-8323 or visit the department’s web site at www.NevadaCulture.org.

Reposted from the Nevada Department of Cultural Affairs

April 14, 2010
Contact: Stacy Irvin: 702-486-5205 ext. 227
David Millman: 702-486-5205 ext. 231

Palm Springs noted Architect- William Cody

Paul Kaplan — Mon, 15 Mar 2010 23:16:23 +0000

Ran across this in the March Palm Springs Life’s site- (Republished from the August 1964 Issue of Palm Springs Life Magazine), a series of interviews with architect, William Cody-

These are some of my favorite “timeless” quotes noted in the article:

“”It is sickening,” he said, “that we are plagued with pseudo Roman medal-stamp columns, large imitation wine jugs and Grecian villas and neo (and sub-neo) classic design better fitted for a Hollywood back-lot ‘B’ picture.”

“Architecture must guide the future of our culture, a three-dimensional sculptured concept conditioned by proportion, the secret of great building. Father to the arts, it embraces man’s finest endeavors and, since the inception of time, has inspired progress and served to formulate a better way of life”

”Fine architecture is not a product of automation. Great talent in any field is limited to the very few. Therefore, some of today’s buildings are bad examples of contemporary design. The demand for talent exceeds the supply. This is unfortunate because it has bred mediocrity. It is appalling that 80 percent of the buildings constructed in this country are designed without benefit of architects. The construction industry, largest in the nation, is lagging for behind the advances in other fields.”

“Good contemporary architecture is a world wide expression, conditioned by the geographic location, politics and economics of the various countries throughout the world. Here, on the desert, it should flourish.”

Click here to read the full article on William Cody.

Palm Springs Mid-Century Neighborhood Tour – Sunmor Estates

Paul Kaplan — Sat, 13 Mar 2010 19:39:13 +0000

Sunmor Estates Home Tour

Saturday April 17, 2010 10 AM to 1PM

The Sunmor neighborhood consists of a collection of modernist atomic ranch style homes constructed in the late 50′s & 60′s, by the Alexander Construction Company and local builder, Robert Higgins.

For more Sumor information, click here.

Rare chance to see The Palm Springs’ Bob Hope House- by John Lautner

Paul Kaplan — Thu, 11 Mar 2010 01:45:28 +0000

Just got my tickets today!! I’ve been wanting to see this house since I was a kid, visiting Palm Springs. Here’s a great opportunity to check it out, and to join the Palm Springs Museum and the Arts and Design Council.

The Arts and Design Council is holding its anual ADC Fundraiser – (6:00 PM – 8:00 PM – Saturday, March 20)

This is a rare opportunity to enjoy the spectacular Hope House at a cocktail reception with fellow ADC members. The enormous roof, which echoes the surrounding hills of Southridge, hovers over an expansive patio and garden area where Lautner’s dramatic architecture can be experienced. Invitations will be mailed to ADC members.

Fundraiser
ADC Fundraiser at the Bob & Dolores Hope House, designed by John Lautner
$200 per person (ADC members only)

To make reservations, please call Brooke Devenney at 760.322.4818 or email bdevenney@psmuseum.org

SEE YOU THERE!

Palm Springs Hot Real Estate: Elrod House designed by John Lautner

Paul Kaplan — Tue, 09 Mar 2010 18:17:44 +0000

Literally one of THE most architecturally significant homes in all the world. Known as The Elrod House, this John Lautner-designed home was commissioned by designer Arthur Elrod in 1968 and has been featured in numerous books, magazines and museum exhibitions. It is the iconic home perched at the very tip of the Southridge enclave, easily viewable throughout Palm Springs. Organic shapes, monumental construction and world class design create an extraordinary experience of space that Lautner himself described as ”timeless” architecture. The 60 ‘ wide circular living room has a conical dome that fans out in nine petals between nine clerestories angled up to bring in light. Retractable curved glass walls open the entire living room and pool terrace to panoramic views of Mt San Jacinto, Mt San Gorgonio and the full sweep of the valley below and mountain ranges beyond. The very rock of the ridge is incorporated into the design thru out the home

Great video from the James Bond classic featuring Thumber and Bambi, highlighting the John Lautner Elrod House in Palm Springs

007 and the Elrod House

Yours to enjoy for $13,890,000

Palm Springs: A Desert Playground, Circa 1959

Paul Kaplan — Wed, 24 Feb 2010 17:43:19 +0000

Interesting article about Palm Springs life, in 1959….Posted in TheMercuryNews.com

By Christopher Reynolds
Los Angeles Times Posted: 02/23/2010 05:23:05 PM PST Updated: 02/23/2010 05:23:07 PM PST

PALM SPRINGS — President Dwight D. Eisenhower, on holiday from the White House, whips a golf club beneath a blue October sky. Frank Sinatra, driven indoors by a December rainstorm, schmoozes with Peter Lawford and sings with Ella Fitzgerald.

Meanwhile, other rich and famous folk are partying at the Chi Chi Club or pulling up their Cadillac coupes in front of the Riviera, a new modern hotel. All over the Coachella Valley, architects and builders are seducing tourists with butterfly roof lines, space-age appliances, minimalist graphics and backlighted starbursts.

Yes, 1959 was a swinging year in Palm Springs. And it’s not over yet.

Thanks to preservationists, entrepreneurs, publishers and design-driven travelers, the cult of Desert Modernism gets bigger and bigger, drawing retro pilgrims to Palm Springs. Inspired by books about Palm Springs and the 1950s, I spent three October days in the desert, all dedicated to 1959.

I consulted Peter Moruzzi’s “Palm Springs Holiday,” a volume of vintage postcards, menus, brochures, matchbooks and old photos. For further kicks, I consulted “1959: The Year Everything Changed,” in which author Fred Kaplan proposes that year as an unheralded pivot point in history.

Kaplan asserts that 1959 “was the year when the shock waves of the new ripped the seams of daily life … when categories were crossed and taboos were trampled, when everything was changing and everyone knew it — when the world as we now know it began to take form.”

Racquet Club Estates is the neighborhood where Alexander Construction Co. and architect William Krisel put up their first vacation-house subdivision in 1959. Picture a ‘hood of soaring roofs, clerestory windows, carports, screens of concrete blocks, pebbles and palms in the yard, and living rooms begging for Dean Martin on the hi-fi. New, these houses sold for $19,000. Now, with classic features bathed in avocado green, bold orange and powder blue, vacation rentals run $200 to $300 a night.

“Nineteen-fifty-nine was a good year for architecture here,” said Jade Nelson, 33, the manager of Orbit In hotel. The city “has made this resurgence because of its architectural legacy,” Nelson said. “But it lost the glamour that era brought with it. All the celebrities. There were hundreds of them.”

Palm Springs, which has about 48,000 year-round residents now, had about 13,000 then. The main drag, then as now, was Palm Canyon Drive.

For a view of the future, drive to the tall, ultramodern City National Bank building, which horrified some and transfixed others when completed in 1959.

The building, designed by Rudy Baumfeld of Victor Gruen Associates, was an homage to a tall, ultramodern chapel that modernist pioneer Le Corbusier had designed in Ronchamp, France. Now it’s a Bank of America. But it’s also a reminder that builders and architects then were thinking outside the box.

So was architect Albert Frey. In addition to a number of startling private homes and a compound now known as the Movie Colony Hotel, Frey collaborated on the low-slung City Hall and Fire Station No. 1 in the mid-’50s. By 1959, he was working on the city’s aerial tram, which would be completed in 1963.

Later came Frey’s pointy-roofed Tramway gas station, near the northern entrance to town. It now houses Palm Springs Visitor Center. A $5 map offers 75 local modernist landmarks, including many designed by Frey, William F. Cody and E. Stewart Williams.

Overnight visitors in 1959 had plenty of options: El Mirador (opened in the 1920s, closed in the ’70s) with its red tile roof; the brand-new Spa Hotel, or the Riviera, which opened in 1959 with guest buildings radiating out from the central pool like spokes from the hub of a wheel.

As the 50th anniversary approached, the owners spent $70 million on a renovation that has added Hollywood Regency promiscuity to the old minimalism with red chandeliers, portraits made of Guatemalan coins, colorized posters of bathing beauties.

In the Riviera’s new incarnation, the main pool’s edges curve gently, flanked by fire pits and cabanas. The 406 guest rooms are a riot of brown and orange and white, (like the Vegas Strip, but no casino.

Not everybody wants to stay in a big hotel, and by 1959 Palm Springs was full of tiny ones. In the Tennis Club district, a short stroll from downtown, was the Town & Desert (built in 1947, designed by Herb Burns). The Village Manor (1957, Burns again) was a few doors away.

After restoration and relaunches in the early 2000s, the Town & Desert is now the Hideaway (10 rooms) and the Village Manor is the Orbit In (nine rooms). With their prime locations, period furnishings, prices beginning at less than $150 and playful retro interiors, the two are stars in the modernist tourism revival.

“That chair came from a dumpster. It had pink upholstery,” said Nelson, pausing at a reclaimed retro armchair at the Hideaway.

The refurbished Chase Hotel (26 rooms), which went up in the late 1940s, used to be the Holiday House. A few blocks over are the stacked boulders and off-kilter angles of William F. Cody’s Del Marcos Hotel (16 rooms), a brilliantly designed but somewhat bedraggled 1947 spot with some renovation.

On the bending stretch of East Palm Canyon Drive that used to be called Indio Road is another sleek Herb Burns design from 1951: the Desert Riviera (11 rooms), a stark, U-shaped outpost with a pool in the middle.

Across the street is the bohemian Ace Hotel (which opened as a Howard Johnson’s hotel in 1965, with a Denny’s next door) and the quiet Alexander Inn, which was probably apartments in 1959.

With the recession knocking down rates, these small hoteliers would rather see adult couples than kids. Families are more welcome at the bigger resorts.

The former 1959 Holiday Inn sits at the south end of town on East Palm Canyon Drive. Since 1959, multiple owners have nudged the property upscale, including Gene Autry and Merv Griffin. Since 2004, it’s been known as the Parker Palm Springs. The midcentury bones of the 13-acre, three-pool, 144-room compound are amended with designer Jonathan Adler’s eclectic whimsy — knights in armor, butterfly chairs. Mister Parker’s is the hotel’s upscale eatery. The extremely low light (a flashlight comes with menu) and the groovy 1960s and ’70s art, are reflected by mirrored ceilings.

The reborn Parker’s, Moruzzi writes, is proof “that Palm Springs truly is the face-lift capital of the desert.”

Of course, plenty of ’50s Palm Springs landmarks have been lost, including the Desert Air (a fly-in hotel) and the Chi Chi Club (closed in the ’60s).

And up and down the valley, scores of new hotels and restaurants and golf courses and condos and water parks and such have arisen. But in a territory that’s so mutable, it’s a great comfort to lie in the shade of the rediscovered buildings that endure.

TO LEARN MORE: Palm Springs Bureau of Tourism, www.palm-springs.org. Palm Springs Desert Resort Communities Convention and Visitors Authority, www.palmspringsusa.com. Palm Springs Modern Committee, www.psmodcom.com.

1959 Time-line

In January, Fidel Castro takes over Cuba.

In February, Texas Instruments seeks a patent for the integrated circuit, aka “the microchip.”

Alaska and Hawaii gain statehood. The U.S. and Russia rush their space programs forward. G.D. Searle seeks approval for Enovid as a contraceptive “” “the pill.” The first Barbie doll is unveiled at a New York toy show. “The Sound of Music” opens on Broadway.

New film releases “Ben-Hur,” “Some Like It Hot” and “North by Northwest” do boffo box office. Francis Truffaut releases “The 400 Blows.”

Bobby Darin is on the pop-music charts with “Mack the Knife” and “Dream Lover,” as is Frank Sinatra with “High Hopes.” Chubby Checker introduces “The Twist.” Buddy Holly, Ritchie Valens and J.P. “The Big Bopper” Richardson die in a plane crash. Miles Davis records “Kind of Blue.” John Coltrane records “Giant Steps.” Dave Brubeck records “Take Five.”

Norman Mailer publishes “Advertisements for Myself.” D.H. Lawrence”s “Lady Chatterley”s Lover,” written more than 30 years earlier but blocked over alleged obscenity, debuts in the U.S. and becomes a best-seller.

In October, the Los Angeles Dodgers, only two seasons removed from Brooklyn, defeat the Chicago White Sox to win the World Series. Meanwhile, on a seven-day vacation in greater Palm Springs, President Dwight D. Eisenhower plays golf six times at El Dorado Country Club.

In December, Frank Sinatra tapes a TV special in Palm Springs with guests Ella Fitzgerald, Juliet Prowse and Peter Lawford “” but a surprise rainstorm forces filming indoors.

Palm Springs – Retro Martini Party Feb 19th

Paul Kaplan — Wed, 10 Feb 2010 00:14:09 +0000

Enjoy a martini with your fellow hipsters…as you watch the sun set…from the Arthur Elrod House, one of the world’s most acclaimed examples of modernist architecture.

Designed by architect John Lautner in 1968, the Elrod House entered the popular culture in 1971 as the setting for a famous scene in the James Bond “007” movie Diamonds are Forever.

Purchase your tickets early – the Retro Martini Party is the “hot” ticket of Modernism Week and tickets are limited. Remember, last year’s Retro Martini Party sold out early and this year’s incomparable venue will surely do the same.

For tickets, visit www.PalmSpringsPreservationFoundation.org

SEE YOU THERE!

Palm Springs is a Mecca for Mid-Century Modern Architecture

Paul Kaplan — Wed, 03 Feb 2010 16:49:46 +0000

Over 10,000 architecture aficionados will be flocking to Palm Springs for the annual Modernism Week to discover the largest collection of mid-century modern architecture in the country. The 10-day event is scheduled for February 12-21, 2010, featuring more than 40 events including architectural tours, films, book signings, and film screenings, as well as chic galas and tours of mid-century modern homes. A vintage car and Airstream trailer show are new events this year. www.VisitPalmSprings.com and www.ModernismWeek.com

STOP BY MY BOOTH AT THE MODERNISM SHOW ON FEB 13 and 14th and pick up a free Palm Springs Mid-Century Neighborhoods Map.

Here’s the schedule of events for the week: