With Modernism Week in full flow, what better time to release a new tome that celebrates the desert haven of Palm Springs and its architectural allure. Design and architectural photographer Tim Street-Porter has previously contributed to many architectural volumes including L.A. Modern, Casa Mexicana, The Los Angeles House, Tropical Houses, and now he is honouring the mid-century marvels of Palm Springs.
Street-Porter takes us on a tour of the hotbed of designs in the Coachella Valley in Palm Springs: A Modernist Paradise, offering up a gleaming catalogue of architectural jewels, from the landmark Tramway Gas Station (also know as the Palm Springs Visitors Centre) by Albert Frey and Robson C Chambers, to William F Cody’s minimalist glass house.
Photography inside Palm Springs: A Modernist Paradise
But Street-Porter doesn’t just chart the structure of these mid-century marvels, he peeks inside some of the masterpieces displaying details such as John Lautner’s Elrod House where he captures the concrete and stone canopy and its intriguing shapes. Plus the weekend home of Hollywood-based designer Martyn Lawrence Bullard, who renamed his 1960s James McNaughton-designed house Villa Grigio, after his favourite poolside drink. Its at these points when furniture gets its moment in the sun too showing how Palm Springs isn’t just about outdoor Slim Aarons-style scenarios, but also awash with art and contemporary design collectors too.
His appreciation extends to the the desert surrounds of the resort, ensuring succulents, sandy scapes, and azure pools and sky are part of the canvas. Elsewhere sunlight and shadows play a key role in giving the images further character and added depth alongside the 20th-century buildings, showcasing the complete modernist paradise in all its glory.
Cody Glass house designed by William F Cody
Street-Porter captures the impressive details of the modernist marvels
Edris House by E Stewart Williams
John Lautner’s Elrod House and its impressive concrete canopy
The tome also explores the interior of 20th-century houses
The Florsheim House by Donald Wexler, and updated and modernised by interior designer Luis Ortega
Villa Grigio by Martyn Lawrence Bullard
INFORMATION
Palm Springs: A Modernist Paradise, $75, published by Rizzoli New York
-
A new Athens gallery is a celebration of old and new, a stone's throw from the AcropolisNew Athens gallery Melas Martinos by Local Local is a contemporary art space, a stone's throw from the Acropolis, in the Greek capital's Monastiraki neighbourhood
-
Haute Couture Week A/W 2025: live updates from the Wallpaper* teamFrom 7-9 July, Haute Couture Week A/W 2025 arrives in Paris. Follow along for a first look at the shows, presentations and other fashion happenings, as seen by the Wallpaper* editors
-
Boundaries between art and life dissolve in Katherine Hubbard's intimate documentation of her mother's illnessIn 'The Great Room', Katherine Hubbard merges caregiving for her mother with an unflinching documentary of the process
-
A Rancho Mirage home is in tune with its location and its architect-owners' passionsArchitect Steven Harris and his collaborator and husband, designer Lucien Rees Roberts have built a home in Rancho Mirage, surrounded by some of America’s most iconic mid-century modern works; they invited us on a tour
-
Inside a midcentury modern house so good, its architect didn’t want to mess with it‘I was immediately a little bit frightened, because it was such a great house,’ says architect Casper Mork-Ulnes of Roger Lee-designed gem in Berkeley, California
-
A guide to modernism’s most influential architectsFrom Bauhaus and brutalism to California and midcentury, these are the architects who shaped modernist architecture in the 20th century
-
Mayumi Miyawaki’s Fukumura Cottage puts this lesser-known Japanese modernist in the spotlightDiscover the little-known modernist architect through this private home in Japan’s Tochigi prefecture countryside
-
Eileen Gray: A guide to the pioneering modernist’s life and workGray forever shaped the course of design and architecture. Here's everything to know about her inspiring career
-
Discover Canadian modernist Daniel Evan White’s pitch-perfect homesCanadian architect Daniel Evan White (1933-2012) had a gift for using the landscape to create extraordinary homes; revisit his story in an article from the Wallpaper* archives (first published in 2011)
-
Tour this fire-resilient minimalist weekend retreat in CaliforniaA minimalist weekend retreat was designed as a counterpoint to a San Francisco pied-à-terre; Edmonds + Lee Architects’ Amnesia House in Napa Valley is a place for making memories
-
A night at Pierre Jeanneret’s house, Chandigarh’s best-kept secretPierre Jeanneret’s house in Chandigarh is a modernist monument, an important museum of architectural history, and a gem hidden in plain sight; architect, photographer and writer Nipun Prabhakar spent the night and reported back
