Modernism Week in Palm Springs has grown from a modest antique fair at the turn of the century into a massive, sprawling celebration of midcentury design and architecture that draws tens of thousands of fans from around the world. Now, the design festival is steering some of that global interest in Southern California modernism back to Los Angeles with a series of architecture tours this fall.
The new series kicked off this weekend with a day trip to Pasadena where visitors toured homes by Richard Neutra, John Lautner, Buff & Hensman, Harwell Hamilton Harris and Craig Ellwood. On November 14, Frank Lloyd Wright is the center of the action when the group visits his 1921 Hollyhock House in Barnsdall park, a UNESCO World Heritage site. The landmark design jumpstarted modernism in Los Angeles when two Austrian wunderkind, Rudolph Schindler and Richard Neutra, came here to work on the project.
Renowned architectural historian, restoration consultant, and author Barbara Lamprecht, M.Arch., Ph.D. will then take visitors to Neutra’s home in Silver Lake for a tour of the VDL Research House, a walk through Silver Lake’s Neutra colony and a visit to his son Dion’s nearby home, completed in 1951.
On December 12, the modernists go inland to Claremont. This day in the artsy foothill community is dedicated to painter Millard Sheets and the generations of artists that he influenced. David Shearer, Executive Director of Claremont Heritage, will lead a tour of commercial, institutional, and residential sites connected to the Sheets studio, famous for mosaics, stained glass and decorative arts.
French antique dealer Jacques Caussin, who had launched the Miami Modernism show in the 1990s, teamed up with local promotes in Palm Springs to launch the first Palm Springs Modernism Show & Sale in 2001.
Five years later, Modernism Week was born, with a committee that included representatives of the Palm Springs Modernism Show, Palm Springs Preservation Foundation, Palm Springs Modern Committee, Palm Springs Historical Society, and Palm Springs Art Museum.
Modernism Week now convenes twice a year, with a ‘mini’ week October 15-18 and the extravaganza happening February 11-21 of next year.
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