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Palm Springs Modern Committee

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The Palm Springs Modern Committee is a non-profit organization dedicated to the appreciation and preservation of Desert Modern architecture & design.

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As we count down to the 2026 Architectural Preservation Awards, we’re proud to recognize the community of partners helping make this celebration possible.

Preservation takes a village. It depends on people, businesses, cultural institutions and civic partners who understand that Palm Springs’ extraordinary architectural legacy is worth protecting, celebrating and carrying forward.

Our sincere thanks to our 2026 Supporting Sponsors:

LifeSource Water Systems
CFR Patio
Arizona Tile
City of Palm Springs
Mosaic Wine Alliance
Palm Springs Art Museum
Eight4Nine Restaurant & Lounge

Your support helps PSModCom continue its work advocating for, educating about and celebrating the architecture that makes our desert community unlike anywhere else.

Join us October 10 for the 2026 Architectural Preservation Awards as we honor the people and projects helping preserve this legacy for generations to come.

#psmodcom #palmspringslife #architecturalpreservation #palmsprings #desertmodernism

@palmspringslifemagazine @lifesourcewater @cfrpatio @arizonatile @cityofps @mosaicwinealliance @psartmuseum @eight4nine by @psmodcom

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2 days ago

FRANK SINATRA ALMOST BUILT A GEORGIAN MANSION

Before Twin Palms became one of Palm Springs’ most iconic modernist landmarks, Frank Sinatra had something very different in mind.

A two story Georgian mansion. Columns. Stone balustrades. The works.

In 1947, Ol’ Blue Eyes walked into architect E. Stewart Williams’ office wanting a grand traditional estate, and he wanted it finished in time for a Christmas party.

According to Williams’ brother Roger, “Stew almost dropped his teeth.”

But Williams had an idea.

He drew two designs: the Georgian mansion Sinatra had requested and a radically different, low slung modern house designed for life in the desert.

Sinatra chose modern.

The result was Twin Palms, Williams’ first stand alone residential commission and an early landmark of Desert Modernism, with long horizontal lines, expansive glass, deep overhangs, and a seamless relationship between indoors and out.

Palm Springs came remarkably close to getting a Georgian mansion instead of an architectural icon.

PSMODCOM HAPPY HOUR HISTORY:

Nobody was happier with Sinatra’s decision than the Williams brothers.

Roger Williams later recalled their reaction:

“We were so glad because we’d have been ruined right then and there if we’d been forced to build that here in the desert.”

Thankfully for the Williams brothers, and Palm Springs, Frank went modern.

CREDIT:
Photographs by Julius Shulman, courtesy of the Getty Research Institute, Julius Shulman Photography Archive © J. Paul Getty Trust.

#psmodcom #franksinatra #estewartwilliams #palmspringsmodernism #palmsprings by @psmodcom

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6 days ago

SAVED BY THE DESERT

In 1940, the future of the Palm Springs Desert Museum came down to a simple question: Do we want a museum or not?

Founded in 1938 at La Plaza, the museum began with a fascination for the desert itself: natural science, Cahuilla history and excursions into the surrounding landscape.

Then the money ran out.

Leadership issued a dramatic plea in The Desert Sun: “Shall Palm Springs have a Desert Museum? It is for you to decide!” Without enough community support, they warned, the museum would disband.

Palm Springs answered.

What followed was decades of community support, donations and growth. The museum moved, expanded its mission and eventually outgrew its home. In 1974, architect E. Stewart Williams was commissioned to design the monumental Museum Drive building we know today.

When it opened on January 24, 1976, 4,000 people showed up. Just look at that crowd!

Fifty years later, we’re thrilled to gather here for the 2026 PSModCom Preservation Awards.

We extend our thanks to the Palm Springs Art Museum for hosting this year’s celebration and for their generous ongoing support of PSModCom.

Celebrating preservation inside an institution that exists because its community once rallied behind it feels especially fitting!

PSMODCOM HAPPY HOUR HISTORY:

Talk about an extraordinary evolution.

The museum didn’t start out as an art museum at all. Its original focus was the desert, with natural science exhibits, Cahuilla artifacts and hiking excursions.

Fine art eventually became part of the mission, and among the pivotal early additions was an Alexander Calder gouache gifted by Olga and Joseph Hirshhorn.

From desert hikes to Alexander Calder to E. Stewart Williams.

Not bad for a museum that once had to ask Palm Springs if it wanted a museum at all!

#PSModCom #PalmSpringsArtMuseum #PalmSpringsModernism #DesertModernism #HistoricPreservation

Photo Credit: Courtesy of Palm Springs Art Museum

Newspaper clippings: The Desert Sun, via Newspapers.com by @psmodcom

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13 days ago

PALM SPRINGS CITY HALL HAS LANDED

When Palm Springs built a new City Hall in the 1950s, Albert Frey saw zero reason municipal government couldn’t be an absolute showstopper.

Largely Frey’s vision, City Hall was designed by Clark, Frey & Chambers in collaboration with Williams, Williams & Williams.

The result was pure desert genius, packed with deep overhangs, custom cylindrical sunscreens, and some seriously wild geometry.

And Frey wasn’t afraid to play with shapes.

Over the Council Chamber entrance, a massive solid concrete disc appeared to hover above the walkway.

When City Hall neared completion in 1957, The Desert Sun zeroed in on the rather space-age addition with a headline announcing:
“FLYING SAUCER OVERHANG.”

Another report noted that the Council Chamber entrance had “a landed flying saucer.”

Julius Shulman captured the space in 1958, proving that paying your property taxes can, in fact, look extraordinarily cool.

PSMODCOM HAPPY HOUR HISTORY:
If you visit City Hall today, you’ll see three towering palm trees bursting through the circular opening in the entrance canopy.

But look closely at Shulman’s 1958 photographs.

No palms.

Frey’s original design had a single flagpole rising through the center of that perfectly placed circle.

The three palms came later!

#palmsprings #psmodcom #albertfrey #desertmodernism #midcenturymodern

CREDIT:
Photographs by Julius Shulman, courtesy of the Getty Research Institute, Julius Shulman Photography Archive © J. Paul Getty Trust.

ARCHIVAL RESEARCH:
The Desert Sun, via Newspapers.com. by @psmodcom

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20 days ago

Get your tickets now — the @psmodcom Architectural Preservation Awards are just one month away.⁠
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Join us on Oct. 10 for the awards ceremony followed by an evening reception at the @psartmuseum celebrating the places worth protecting.⁠
⁠
Secure your spot at the link in bio. ✨⁠
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—⁠
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Video by @elevationcreativeagency by @psmodcom

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23 days ago

LABOR DAY AT RAYMOND LOEWY’S

If we could spend Labor Day weekend anywhere in Palm Springs history, Raymond Loewy’s living room would be top of the list.

And yes, that is the living room.

In 1946, industrial design titan Raymond Loewy hired modern masters Albert Frey and John Porter Clark to build a desert hideaway in Little Tuscany.

Their solution? Eliminate boundaries entirely.

Frey and Clark designed the swimming pool to slide right under the glass wall and pour directly into the living room, while integrating massive natural boulders straight into the floorplan. Desert, architecture, and poolside lounging became one seamless playground.

When Julius Shulman photographed the house in 1947, he immortalized what might be one of the most enviable layouts in desert modernist history.

If doing absolutely nothing is the goal of Labor Day, doing it half submerged in your living room feels like peak luxury.

PSMODCOM HAPPY HOUR HISTORY

Turns out putting a swimming pool in your living room has consequences.

At one of Loewy’s parties, actor William Powell reportedly fell straight into the pool fully clothed. Loewy responded by jumping in after him and calling for another round of drinks.

There is, however, one small problem with our Labor Day fantasy.

Loewy built the house as his winter retreat.

So chances are, on a 100 degree September weekend, nobody was lounging elegantly in that living room pool at all.

Details, details.

#psmodcom #palmsprings #midcenturymodern #juliusshulman #albertfrey

Image Credit: Photographs by Julius Shulman, courtesy of the Getty Research Institute, Julius Shulman Photography Archive © J. Paul Getty Trust.

This home will be featured on a PS ModCom Iconic Home Tour during Modernism Week 2027! by @psmodcom

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a month ago

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a month ago

Apparently, you wanted to bring the whole gang... We listened! By popular request, tables for six are now available for the 2026 Architectural Preservation Awards.

Join us Saturday, October 10 at the Palm Springs Art Museum for an evening celebrating the people, places and projects shaping the architectural legacy of the Coachella Valley.

Your table includes admission for six to the awards ceremony, apéro dînatoire and valet parking.

Availability is limited. Reserve your table now at psmodcom.org.

We are proud to recognize the generous sponsors making this year’s celebration possible: Presenting Sponsors Design Within Reach, Intersect Palm Springs, and The Shag Store, Architect Level Sponsors Banc of California and Santa Barbara Designs, and Supporting Sponsors LifeSource Water Systems, CFR Patio and Arizona Tile.

@designwithinreach @intersectartanddesign @theshagstore @santabarbaraumbrella @cfrpatio @arizonatile @bancofcal @lifesourcewater @palmspringslifemagazine @psartmuseum by @psmodcom

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a month ago

Gene Autry went looking for radio rights. He came home with a Major League Baseball team. Then he bought them a hotel!

In December 1960, the Singing Cowboy arrived at Major League Baseball’s winter meetings hoping to secure the broadcast rights for a new Los Angeles team. Instead, executives talked him into buying the whole franchise.

Just like that, the Los Angeles Angels were born.

With two months to assemble a roster and pick a spring training spot, Autry knew right where to go: “There’s a nice little stadium in Palm Springs.”

The Angels set up camp at the old Polo Grounds. Soon after, Autry bought a hotel nearby and turned it into their desert headquarters.

He renamed it Gene Autry’s Melody Ranch and dialed up the luxury: first class suites, tennis courts, rowdy bars, and a second swimming pool reserved exclusively for the team. Because nothing says athletic preparation like a private pool :)

Soon known simply as the Gene Autry Hotel, it became the ultimate desert crossroads where cowboys, Hollywood royalty, and professional ballplayers gathered under one glamorous roof.

Autry even built a private two bedroom villa for himself on the grounds.

After a legendary 30 year run, Autry sold the property in 1994. Today, the former Gene Autry Hotel is the Parker Palm Springs.

Yes, that Parker.

And Autry’s private midcentury villa is still standing on the grounds. You can even rent it for the weekend.

PSMODCOM HAPPY HOUR HISTORY:

Before becoming Gene Autry’s Hotel, the property opened as California’s very first Holiday Inn!

Built by local developer Milt Hicks, the modest cinderblock setup sat on what was then the far edge of town. Clearly, it had ambitions!

#palmsprings #theparker #losangelesangels #baseball #geneautry

*Color home movie footage provided by Palm Springs' local home movie archive Deserted Films (702. [“California, 1964, 1.”] 8mm. Color. Silent. desertedfilms.org) by @psmodcom

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a month ago

The 27th annual Architectural Preservation Awards return Saturday, October 10, at the @psartmuseum! ✨️

Join the Palm Springs Modern Committee to celebrate the people working to preserve the desert’s architectural legacy with an evening of cocktails, conversation, and recognition.

Find all the information and purchase your tickets at the link in bio.

—

Photography courtesy @psmodcom taken in Palm Springs, California by @psmodcom

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a month ago

THIS HOUSE IS LANDMARKED. THAT DOESN’T MEAN IT’S SAFE.

Perched over a steep canyon in Los Angeles’s Brentwood neighborhood sits one of Frank Lloyd Wright’s smallest masterpieces.

And right now, it’s in trouble.

Built in 1939 for George and Selma Sturges, the 1,200-square-foot Sturges House is Wright’s only Usonian residence in SoCal. His fix for an impossibly steep lot? Anchor the house into the hillside and thrust a dramatic 21-foot deck straight out over empty air.

Supervising construction was a young John Lautner, fresh off his Taliesin apprenticeship and a name Palm Springs would come to know intimately.

In 1993, the house became an LA Historic-Cultural Monument. Today, it sits vacant, neglected, and rotting.

The @laconservancy reports decaying structural beams, crumbling original redwood, and gaps leaving that famous cantilever exposed. The city issued an official Notice of Code Violation, giving the owner 30 days to act. Those 30 days are up, and an Order to Comply is effective August 24.

It’s a stark reminder: landmark status alone isn’t preservation. It doesn’t put a roof over a building’s head or fix the rot.

Visit www.laconservancy.org and see how you can help protect the Sturges House. We’ll be watching August 24 very closely.

PSMODCOM HAPPY HOUR HISTORY:

That “unbuildable” piece of Brentwood real estate? George and Selma Sturges bought the lot for $10 (roughly $240 today) then hired Frank Lloyd Wright to handle the rest. Best ten bucks ever spent in LA history!

#psmodcom #laconservancy #franklloydwright #sturgeshouse #preservation @laconservancy by @psmodcom

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a month ago

FAREWELL TO MR. LUCITE

Charles Hollis Jones looked at a slab of industrial plastic and thought: fabulous.

And the wild part? He was right.

Starting in the 1960s, Jones took acrylic out of the factory and turned it into the sexiest furniture in California. Naturally, Hollywood lost its mind. Frank Sinatra, Lucille Ball, Dean Martin, Diana Ross, and Tennessee Williams all had to have it.

Then came Palm Springs.

Jones teamed up with heavyweights Arthur Elrod and John Lautner to deck out some of the desert’s most jaw-dropping pads, including the legendary 1968 Elrod House. Lautner supplied the concrete, curves, and sheer drama. Jones supplied furniture you could see right through.

Then, James Bond crashed the party.

The Elrod House and Jones’s futuristic Lucite pieces took center stage in the 1971 007 classic Diamonds Are Forever. Because concrete, high-concept plastic, and Sean Connery in one room was just peak 1970s swagger.

Jones spent his entire career proving that plastic could be pure luxury, furniture could have undeniable sex appeal, and mid-century modernism definitely didn’t need to play by the rules.

Charles Hollis Jones passed away on August 7 at 81.

Mr. Lucite, transparently speaking, you made the future look completely fabulous.

PSMODCOM HAPPY HOUR HISTORY:
Arthur Elrod once confessed to Charles Hollis Jones that he’d used Jones’s furniture in over 500 houses, then immediately swore him to secrecy.

The reason?

Professional jealousy.

Elrod told him to publicly dial it down and just say it was “over 100.”

Jones took that enforced modesty about as seriously as he took European design royalty.

Years later, while reflecting on his 1968 Sling Chair, Jones acknowledged that legends like Le Corbusier and Eileen Gray certainly knew their way around a drafting table.

And then:

“I did this f**king really simple chair… and it’s better than anything they ever did.”

He caught himself a second later.

“I’m sounding like Trump all of a sudden.”

Mr. Lucite, ladies and gentlemen. Legend.

#palmsprings #charleshollisjones #midcenturyfurniture #midcenturymodern #psmodcom by @psmodcom

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2 months ago