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Preservation in Print | The Palm Springs School: Desert Modernism 1934-1975

Tuesday, August 12th | 12pm - 1pm

Join the California Preservation Foundation for Preservation in Print, a free lunchtime series for anyone interested in historic preservation, architecture, planning, history, and related fields. Each one-hour session features a conversation with the author or a key contributor of a recent preservation-related title. There’s no need to read the book in advance—whether you’ve read every page, browsed the photos, or are simply curious, you’re invited to join. The program includes a brief presentation by the guest speaker, followed by a Q&A with questions from CPF’s Education Committee lead and audience members. 

About the Book: The Palm Springs School: Desert Modernism 1934-1975

(from publisher website)

Palm Springs is at the center of a unique tradition in architecture marked by invention and a sensitivity to local conditions that has resulted in design that exerts an influence far greater than the town’s small size. The book is the first to fully explore the wide ranging forms this architecture has taken, from houses to gas stations, hotels to airports, banks to restaurants and spas.

Much more than a resort destination, Palm Springs has served as a laboratory of the Modern; here so much architectural innovation and design took form. From the steel-and-glass boxes of Richard Neutra to the earthy organic homes of John Lautner, and everything in between, the solutions of architects and designers—including notably William F. Cody, E. Stewart Williams, and Albert Frey—were diverse and are ever more relevant in the face of contemporary challenges. Their answers addressed questions that still hold urgency: How to design sustainably in harsh climates? How to use technology efficiently and creatively to meet those challenges? How to build affordable and high-quality mass-produced housing? How to reflect a region’s culture, economy, and distinctive atmosphere?

Architects here responded to nature’s climatological demands, and Palm Springs became a center for innovations that were rooted in practice more than theory. Benefitting from the architectural freedoms offered by the remoteness of the California desert, designers explored new approaches that we can now identify as central to the Palm Springs School, shown here in rich archival and contemporary photography.

Purchase the book! https://www.rizzoliusa.com/book/9780847842551/

About the Speakers: 

Alan Hess
Architect and historian Alan Hess is the architecture critic for the San Jose Mercury News and the author of nineteen books on mid-20th-century Modern architecture and urbanism, including monographs on architects Oscar Niemeyer, Frank Lloyd Wright, and John Lautner; as well as architectural histories of Las Vegas and Palm Springs. He is active in the preservation of post-World War II architecture and serves on the California State Historical Resources Commission and the boards of Preserve Orange County and Palm Springs Modernism Week.

Hess was a National Arts Journalism Program Fellow at Columbia University's School of Journalism, and received a grant from the Graham Foundation for Advanced Studies in the Fine Arts to research the work of Brazilian landscape architect Roberto Burle Marx. He holds a Master of Architecture degree from UCLA’s Graduate School of Architecture and Urban Planning.

Christine French
Christine is a historian, author, and leader in the fields of historic preservation and American architecture. She brings a wealth of experience and deep passion to her work, with a career that spans both national and local preservation efforts. A graduate of the University of Utah and the University of Virginia, she has served as an architectural historian with the National Park Service in Washington, D.C., and at western national parks including Zion, Mesa Verde, and Arches.

Christine led the Modernism + Recent Past Program at the National Trust for Historic Preservation and later served as Director of Development and Marketing at the California Preservation Foundation, where she helped launch the statewide “Doors Open California” tours. Most recently, as Director of Advocacy, Programs & Communications at San Francisco Heritage, she played a key role in the advocacy effort for the Castro Theatre and developed new programming to promote the city's cultural and architectural legacy. She currently serves as Executive Director of Napa County Landmarks, a nonprofit dedicated to preserving and enhancing Napa County’s unique architectural and cultural identity.

Posted in: Architectural Styles & Periods, Book Club, Webinars