The Orchid HousePalm Springs, California1971Book your stay
Image: The Jon B. Lovelace Collection of California Photographs in Carol M. Highsmith's America Project, Library of Congress, Prints and Photographs Division

Kaufmann Desert House

Street-facing view of the Kaufmann Desert House with pale stone, metal shade fins, boulders, cacti, and palms.

Palm Springs house history · Driving stop 6

Steel, glass, and pale Utah stone make this a distinctly different finale: a house commissioned by an architectural patron, rather than a Hollywood star.

Built
1946–47S02
Architect
Richard NeutraS02
Materials
Steel, glass, wood & Utah stoneS02
Architectural standing
Internationally recognized modernismS02

Celebrity history

Edgar J. Kaufmann at Kaufmann Desert House.

Department-store owner and architectural patron Edgar J. Kaufmann commissioned the desert house after having commissioned Frank Lloyd Wright’s Fallingwater.S02

Architecture

Design, materials, and historic status.

Richard Neutra designed the house in 1946–47 using steel, glass, wood, and Utah stone to frame desert light, air, and mountain views.S02

A wood-and-steel structural system minimizes vertical supports so walls can appear to slide away toward the pool. A protected patio and lily pond connect the guest wing to the main house.S02

Neutra set vertical aluminum louvers and redwood flooring against horizontally and vertically laid Utah buff stone, using texture and shadow to sharpen the contrast between light and dark.S02

Architectural details

  • Stone and shadow

    Pale Utah stone runs both vertically and horizontally, its rough surface casting shadows beside the aluminum louvers.S02

  • Opening toward the pool

    Few vertical supports interrupt the glass walls; the living-room roof continues beyond the room toward the pool.S02

The wider story

The house in context.

Neutra treated the rocky desert and mountain backdrop as deliberately harsh rather than picturesque. His writing described the building as inserted into that setting—a different proposition from Kaufmann’s earlier Fallingwater commission.S02

A four-year restoration and reconstruction by Marmol Radziner for Beth and Brent Harris returned exceptional attention to the masonry, with each asymmetrical stone individually worked into place.S02

House chronology

Key dates in the house’s history.

Dates come from the records cited below.

  1. Richard Neutra designs the desert house for Edgar J. KaufmannS02
  2. Off-market sale sets a then-city recordS05
  3. Garden-only Modernism Week toursS06

Research notes

Sources for Kaufmann Desert House.

Claims on this page are tied to the records below. Research was checked .

  1. Palm Springs historic resources registryCity of Palm Springs · checked
  2. Edgar J. Kaufmann HouseNeutra Institute for Survival Through Design · checked
  3. Open Source Routing Machine service informationFOSSGIS and OpenStreetMap contributors · checked
  4. 470 W Vista Chino property and ownership historyHomes.com · checked
  5. Richard Neutra Kaufmann House sells for a record price in Palm SpringsNeutra Institute for Survival Through Design · checked
  6. Garden Tour of Kaufmann ResidenceModernism Week · checked