California: Retro Palm Springs Architecture

Palm Springs Visitor Center (former Tramway Gas Station) with Distinctive Angular Roof

Round Boulders Behind Palm Springs Visitor Center

 

Colorful Mid-Century Modern Home

Elvis Honeymoon Hideaway – 1960 “House of Tomorrow”

“Swiss Miss” A-Frame Home

Home Featuring Decorative Concrete Privacy Walls

Home’s Dramatic Entrance Windows Overlook Desert Landscape

Palm Springs, California, has one of the largest concentrations of Mid-Century Modern architecture in America.  The Desert Modernism style combines sleek lines and modern materials with desert living.  Important elements of design include color, lighting, and texture.  Windows are placed to overlook the desert landscape.   Many Desert Modernism style homes built in the 1950s and 1960s are now in top demand as chic retro-style housing.  Shops in town specialize in matching atomic/space age furniture. This architecture is so popular that tourists flock to Palm Springs every year for Modernism Week (http://www.modernismweek.com/).  Popular architectural landmarks are detailed in do-it-yourself driving tours:  (http://www.visitpalmsprings.com/page/mid-century-modern-architecture/8185).  More info is at:  (http://www.oldhouseonline.com/mid-century-modern-houses-in-palm-springs/)