Table Of Content
- Featured in Modernism Week Magazine
- Uchronia founder designs own home as "love letter to French craft"
- For a Cool $25 Million, You Can Buy Richard Neutra’s Most Famous Palm Springs Home
- The Kaufmann Desert House by Richard Neutra
- Inside the $25 Million Kaufmann Desert House
- Neutra’s Poolside Gossip House Asks $25M in Palm Springs
- The Hidden History of the Kaufmann House
- A PROFESSIONAL, LICENSED AND INSURED CALIFORNIA ARCHITECTURAL AND INTERIOR DESIGN CORPORATION

The house underwent “an award-winning restoration” by Marmol Radziner in the 1990s that included the installation of air conditioning. Nestled in the foothills of Palm Desert, California, the Annenberg Estate is a stunning example of mid-century modern architecture. Quincy Jones for media mogul Walter Annenberg, the original estate is comprised of 25,000 square foot house on 200 acres. Palm Springs’s commitment to its midcentury legacy and architectural flair has allowed it to remain a sought-after vacation home locale well into the 21st century. Today, it’s been announced via The Wall Street Journal that one of its most legendary examples of California modernism—the 1946 Richard Neutra property made unforgettable by Slim Aarons’s 1970 Poolside Gossip photo—has sold for $13.06 million.
Featured in Modernism Week Magazine
Its representation in popular media has played a pivotal role in shaping public perceptions of modernist architecture, portraying it as an ideal of sophistication and modern American lifestyle. Its principles of indoor-outdoor living, environmental responsiveness, and minimalist aesthetics have been echoed in contemporary architectural practices, influencing new generations to value sustainability and harmony with the natural environment in their designs. David R. Olson Architects artfully designed this impressive contemporary residence to embrace the lot’s enviable mountain views and position overlooking three fairways of Toscana Country Club’s Jack Nicklaus golf course.
Uchronia founder designs own home as "love letter to French craft"
In 1946 Edgar Kaufmann commissioned Richard Neutra to design a winter vacation home in Palms Springs, California. A decade earlier, he hired Frank Lloyd Wright to design his renowned Fallingwater house. However, while still an enthusiast of Wright’s work, Edgar wanted a lighter feeling than their Fallingwater home and felt Neutra could deliver. Olivia Hosken is the deputy managing editor of House Beautiful, where she oversees operations across the brand's print and digital platforms.
For a Cool $25 Million, You Can Buy Richard Neutra’s Most Famous Palm Springs Home
Fusing glass, steel, and stone, "it is an architectural marvel that helped define the modernist aesthetic," says Gerard Bisignano, partner at Vista Sotheby’s International Realty, who is handling the sale of the 3,162-square-foot home. The home is a one-story structure that subtly accommodates itself to the site by stepping up slightly on three levels, made more dramatic through the introduction of a roofed (but otherwise open-air) second floor room. Centered above the main entrance, Neutra called this outdoor room a "gloriette" -- from the 12th century French for "little glory." Neutra's use of the term derives from history's' largest and best-known gloriette in the Schönbrunn Palace garden in Vienna.

The collaboration between the client and architect was grounded in a mutual appreciation for cutting-edge design and technological advancement, setting the stage for creating a landmark in modernist architecture. Richard Neutra, an emblematic figure of 20th-century Architecture, excelled in blending technology, aesthetics, and the nuances of the natural environment into his designs. Among his illustrious works, the Kaufmann House in Palm Springs, California, is the quintessential example of his approach to modernist architecture. This dramatic new build from developer Claudio Bravo in the exclusive Mirada Estates enclave was highly anticipated before hitting the market, shares agent Rich Nolan. Perched over The Ritz-Carlton Rancho Mirage, the open floor plan wraps around a sleek-as-can-be pool deck, visible through floor-to-ceiling expanses of glass. Comparing the top 10 sellers of 2023 with the prior year reveals shifts in the market.
If you are an Orange County property owner, you may be interested in the new loan program aimed at helping homeowners build an ADU on their property. Orange County Housing Finance Trust has developed a program to encourage property owners to invest in an ADU by providing access to low-interest, deferred, partially forgivable loans for qualified owners. The house still stands today and is considered one of the essential pieces of 20th-century architecture among projects such as Fallingwater, Robie House, Gropius House, and Gamble House. This allowed home inhabitants to walk from the interior to the exterior without sensing a temperature change on the floor. They would feel as though they were on the same surface even after crossing the glass line and over to the exterior hardscape slab.
For a Cool $25 Million, You Can Buy Richard Neutra’s Most Famous Palm Springs Home - Dwell
For a Cool $25 Million, You Can Buy Richard Neutra’s Most Famous Palm Springs Home.
Posted: Tue, 27 Oct 2020 07:00:00 GMT [source]
Edgar J. Kaufmann, Sr. was a Pittsburgh department store tycoon who commissioned the home in 1946. It was initially intended to be a winter retreat for his family from the unforgiving Midwest and East Coast winters, but it ended up becoming one of Palm Springs—and modern architecture’s—most important landmarks. While the house favors an east-west axis, four long perpendicular wings extend in each cardinal direction from the living areas.
The Hidden History of the Kaufmann House
The tour was fascinating in its detail, but Beth's personal recollections left the most lasting impression. The Kaufmann House has gone through several owners after the Kaufmann’s owned the house, which led to the house to fall in disrepair and a lack of concern and preservation of the modern dwelling. However, a couple that appreciated 20th Century modern homes restored the house back to its original luster with the help of Julius Shulman. The Kaufmann House is now considered to be an architectural landmark and one of the most important houses in the 20th Century.
A PROFESSIONAL, LICENSED AND INSURED CALIFORNIA ARCHITECTURAL AND INTERIOR DESIGN CORPORATION
Arguably the most famous home in Palm Springs, in 1996 it was the twentieth1 building to be designated as a local landmark, or "Class 1 Site" as protected properties are known locally. In 2008, a small crowd of about thirty people gathered at the site for the dedication of a bronze marker denoting the designation. The crowd included a couple of friends of mine, the mayor, and owners Beth and Brent Harris who accomplished the exacting restoration. After the crowd dispersed, Beth (who is devoted to an informed public) spontaneously invited the few of us who lingered for a private tour.
Along its eastern side, the walkway widens into an outdoor terrace between the living area and the guest rooms. Neutra created another outdoor seating area by placing a lookout pavilion above the living area of the otherwise one-story building. The pavilion’s western and northern sides are lined with the same aluminum louvers as used below, while the other two sides are left open. Neutra named this elevated room a “gloriette,” a northern European Baroque term that denotes an elevated pavilion offering views of a garden or a landscape. In 1945, Kaufmann acquired a large 200' x 300' (2.6 acre) site that was isolated near the foot of Mt. San Jacinto and studded with rugged desert landscape.
The flexible floor plan and the two-bedroom attached guest quarters are perfect for separation and privacy when desired. Homeowners here can also socialize at the Old World–inspired Toscana Club Village or recharge at Spa Bella Vita. Wright might have been resentful that Neutra’s reputation had eclipsed in his own in the ’30s, when Neutra won an international reputation for work such as the 1936 Joseph Kun house in Los Angeles. In 1937, he designed an intimate living/work space for a St. Louis socialite and fitness advocate named Grace Miller. If the Kaufmann house site was considered the edge of civilization when it was built, the Miller house — which still stands — on North Indian Canyon Drive near East Racquet Club Road was in the wilderness.