Signature Home Tour Video Series
Touring modernist homes is an annual staple at the Palm Springs Modernism Week, and the online expression is no exception. Coming in two installments as a video series, tours this year feature iconic architecture and lesser known gems in various of the city’s neighbourhoods. Examples include The Morse Residence (by Hal Levitt, 1961), The Cahuilla Hills House by O’Donnell + Escalante (by Lance O’Donnell, 2009), The Southridge Glass House (by William Cody, 1963), Trina Turk’s Ship of the Desert (by Erle Webster and Adrian Wilson, 1936), and Martyn Lawrence Bullard’s Villa Grigio (by James McNaughton, 1963).
The 1931 Aluminaire House Comes to Palm Springs
A film tells the story of the Aluminaire House, which was designed by celebrated desert modernist Albert Frey and A. Lawrence Kocher. Aluminaire was designed for a 1931 exhibition in New York City and shows clear influences from Frey’s time in Paris, as an employee at Le Corbusier’s studio. The modernist house has now been moved and found a permanent home on the grounds of the Palm Springs Art Museum.
‘Best of Modernism’ Auction
This year’s programme features an online auction of rare and distinctive items, linked to the theme of ‘Modernism’. Online bidding will be open between February 1 – 15 and spans experiences and specialty pieces. Overnight stays at key modernist hotels and homes, a private helicopter tour, signed photographs by iconic photographer Julius Shulman and art by Leo Marmol of Marmol Radziner are among the offerings. Grab your cards and get bidding, from February 1 at 12 p.m. PST.
Hollywood Revisited Online Musical Extravaganza
Palm Springs is well known for its iconic desert modernism, but it’s equally famed for attracting the Hollywood elite during the cinema’s golden age. Cue parties, cocktails and all manner of extravaganzas. These are reflected in the musical Hollywood Revisited, which sold out three years in a row during Modernism Week. For 2021, the event takes place virtually, continuing to convey the glitz and the glamour Palm Springs has come to become synonymous with.
Modern New Canaan – Evolution of Design: Bauhaus | Harvard GSD| New Canaan
Breaking beyond the geographical boundaries of Palm Springs to explore modernism in America as a whole, this screening takes the audience to New Canaan in Connecticut. This East Coast town became a centre of midcentury modern architecture during the 20th century. The film visits three of New Canaan’s most iconic houses and talks to the homeowners who cherish them.
Philip Johnson and the Glass House
Plenty of talks will be broadcast during the Modernism Week in February, including this one, on Philip Johnson’s Glass House. Ian Volner, author of the new book, ‘Philip Johnson – A Visual Biography’ and Wallpaper* contributor, is joined by Hilary Lewis, chief curator and creative director of the Glass House. The event includes a tour of the 47-acre compound and new footage of the house. §