The architects who built Palm Springs: Hugh Kaptur
Inspired by midcentury aesthetics and philosophy, some of Kaptur’s (b. 1931) most famous commissions include homes for actors Steve McQueen (1964) and William Holden (1956). While Kaptur played with local vernacular and Spanish heritage, he always merged his influences with the International Style’s teachings.
Few of the creatives who came to define Palm Springs' particular brand of modernism actually came from the Coachella region. Hugh Kaptur, one of the Californian town’s most prolific architects, was no exception, hailing in fact from the cold expanses of Michigan and Detroit. Yet he lived and worked in Palm Springs most of his professional life, quickly becoming the true architectural embodiment of the Desert Modern spirit.
Born in 1931, Kaptur studied architectural engineering at the Lawrence Institute of Technology, before opting, in an almost spur-of-the-moment decision, to stay in Palm Springs for good, during a trip there in 1956. He quickly set up shop and began what would become an over 50-year-long career spanning many typologies from private and multi-family houses, to civic and commercial buildings.
Impala Lodge, now known as the Triangle Inn, completed in 1958, was one of his first projects in Palm Springs – when he started practising solo, out of his family garage. His Tahquitz Plaza, a 1970s complex of retail and office space on Palm Springs’ central East Tahquitz Canyon Way has been a landmark destination for the locals, occupied even today by popular cafes in its modernism-meets-Spanish-pueblo style. It has been appointed Class 1 Historic Site and recently received a thorough refresh, the restoration involving, fittingly, Kaptur himself.
He is however, most well known for his residential work. His houses inspired by midcentury aesthetics and philosophy, and on a par with contemporaries such as Donald Wexler (for whom he briefly worked, at Wexler & Harrison) and William Cody. Some of his most famous commissions include homes for actors Steve McQueen (built in 1964) and William Holden (built in 1956), the low-rise, clean-lined forms of which echo the vast landscapes of the Coachella Valley desert.
While Kaptur played with local vernacular and Spanish heritage, he always merged his influences with the International Style’s teachings – but much of his work is quite straightforward Californian midcentury modern, characterised by fluid, open-plan interiors, minimalist porches, colonnades, canopies and water features (swimming pools are common in this part of the West Coast), low rise volumes, clean surfaces and honest use of materials. Large expanses of glass and patios reinforce the relationship between indoors and outdoors.
Yet it is the lesser known works that make Kaptur so omnipresent in the desert town. His post-and-beam style architecture can be found in many Palm Springs homes, reflecting the ‘quiet elegance’ he always says his work aims to represent. ‘Keep the proportions good, keep it pleasing, and it will be noticed through its quiet elegance’, he said on a documentary in 2014. Many of his designs are located in the Desert Park Estates neighbourhood, while his portfolio includes more than 200 residences (as well as some 40-plus commercial projects) in the wider area.
Kaptur – who still resides in Palm Springs to this day – received a Palm Star in the city’s famous Palm Springs Walk of Stars in 2014 and has been honoured with events during the city’s annual Modernism Week several times. For the upcoming edition of the highly anticipated festival, taking place 14-24 February 2019, visitors will get the chance to find out more and discuss Kaptur’s work as part of a major panel presentation on ‘Hollywood Modern’ (drawing on a book authored by Alan Hess and Michael Stern and published in 2018 by Rizzoli) at the Annenberg Theatre of the Palm Springs Art Museum. The museum is also going to present 'Hugh Kaptur: Organic Desert Architecture', the first major exhibition on the architect's work, to open on the 2 February at A+D Center.
INFORMATION
Wallpaper* Newsletter
Receive our daily digest of inspiration, escapism and design stories from around the world direct to your inbox.
For more information visit the website of Palm Springs Modernism Week
Ellie Stathaki is the Architecture & Environment Director at Wallpaper*. She trained as an architect at the Aristotle University of Thessaloniki in Greece and studied architectural history at the Bartlett in London. Now an established journalist, she has been a member of the Wallpaper* team since 2006, visiting buildings across the globe and interviewing leading architects such as Tadao Ando and Rem Koolhaas. Ellie has also taken part in judging panels, moderated events, curated shows and contributed in books, such as The Contemporary House (Thames & Hudson, 2018), Glenn Sestig Architecture Diary (2020) and House London (2022).
-
Maude’s Brâncuși-inspired sex toys go on display in a new Paris exhibition
Maude’s design-led vibrators are now on display at Musée des Arts Décoratifs in Paris, as part of ‘Private Lives: From the Bedroom to Social Media’. Brand founder Éva Goicochea talks to Wallpaper* about partnering with the museum and opening up cultural conversations around sex
By India Birgitta Jarvis Published
-
‘I was captivated by the idea of merging two iconic brands’: Nigo on his 1990s-inspired collaboration with Moncler and Mercedes-Benz
Unveiled at Moncler’s ‘The City of Genius’ event in Shanghai this past weekend, Japanese fashion designer Nigo unpacks his three-way collaboration with Moncler and Mercedes-Benz, which includes a play on the G-Class alongside a fashion collection in his eclectic style
By Jack Moss Published
-
Cathay Pacific’s new business class Aria Suites take flight
Cathay Pacific raises the bar for business-class travel with the launch of the much-anticipated Aria Suites
By Lauren Ho Published
-
First look: step inside 144 Vanderbilt, Tankhouse and SO-IL’s new Brooklyn project
The first finished duplex inside Tankhouse and SO-IL’s 144 Vanderbilt in Fort Greene is a hyper-local design gallery curated by Brooklyn studio General Assembly
By Léa Teuscher Published
-
Tour Ray's Seagram Building HQ, an ode to art and modernism in New York City
Real estate venture Ray’s Seagram Building HQ in New York is a homage to corporate modernism
By Diana Budds Published
-
Populus by Studio Gang, the ‘first carbon positive hotel in the US’ takes root in Denver
Populus by Studio Gang opens in Denver, offering a hotel with a distinctive, organic façade and strong sustainability credentials
By Siska Lyssens Published
-
This Californian home offers the unexpected through ‘deconstructed’ desert living
Gardens & Villas, a home in La Quinta, California, brings contemporary luxury to its desert setting through a collaboration between architects Andrew McClure and Christopher McLean
By Ellie Stathaki Published
-
First look inside 62 Reade Street, a clock factory turned family home
62 Reade Street, a boutique New York residential project by architects ODA, unveils its first apartment interior, styled courtesy of Hovey Design
By Ellie Stathaki Published
-
Paul Rudolph at The Met: ‘from Christmas lights to megastructures’
‘Materialized Space: The Architecture of Paul Rudolph’ opens at the Met in New York, exploring the modernist master's work through a feast of an exhibition
By Stephanie Murg Published
-
A new exhibition marks Chandigarh’s modernist legacy
‘Celebrating the Capitol’, an exhibition of photographic work by architect Noor Dasmesh Singh, opens just in time for the famed modernist Indian city’s anniversary
By Ellie Stathaki Published
-
Jewel Box is a Californian project of small scale and big impact
Jewel Box by Red Dot Studio is the reimagining of a Californian 20th-century gem through a creative addition
By Ellie Stathaki Published