Architect Richard Neutra designed over 300 houses during his career. Now his best known home, the Kaufmann Desert House in Palm Springs has been listed by Sotheby’s Realty for € 21,09 (US $25) million.
Richard Neutra designed the house as a retreat for harsh winters. Its five bedrooms and six full baths at 297 sqm, pay emphasis on the connection to the surrounding desert landscape.
The house sits on more than two acres and its large sliding glass walls open rooms up to a series of terraces, and garden, an area lawn surrounding the famous pool, showing the typical California’s concept "indoor outdoor" living.
The main exterior-facing rooms are surrounded by a row of movable vertical fins that offer flexible protection against sandstorms and intense heat.
In the center of the house there is a living and dining room, approximately square that articulates an east-west axis, extending with four long wings perpendicular according to the cardinal points. Careful placement of the largest rooms at the end of each wing helps define the adjacent exterior rooms, with exterior and interior circulation.
The south wing connects to the public realm and includes a garage and two long, covered hallways. These steps are separated by a huge stone wall and lead to the public and service entrances, respectively. The east wing of the house is connected to the living space by an internal gallery facing north and houses a master bedroom. To the west, a kitchen, service spaces and staff quarters are accessed through a covered hallway. In the north wing, an open path runs along an exterior patio, which leads to two rooms.
After Kauffman, its original owner, died in 1955, the house remained empty for several years, then passed through the hands of different owners who were transforming it, making additions and even changing the roof with the addition of an air conditioning system. .
In 1992, after more than three years awaiting sale, the house was rediscovered and bought by the marriage of Brent Harris, investment manager, and Beth Edwards Harris, architectural historian.
The Harrises bought the house for $ 1.5 million, and began its resnovation to restore the original project. Neutra had died in 1970 and the original plans were not available, so the couple commissioned to Los Angeles architects Leo Marmol and Ron Radziner for renovation. In a meticulous and delicate process of researching the original project, the Harrisons examined Neutra's extensive archives at UCLA, found additional documents at Columbia University, and were able to work with photographs of the interior never printed and provided by Julius Shulman. They sourced parts from the original paint suppliers, accessories, and bought a metal crimping machine to reproduce the sheet metal membrane that lined the ceiling.
Additionally, the Harrises were able to reopen a closed section of a Utah quarry to obtain matching stone to replace what had been replaced or damaged. To help restore the desert hinterland Neutra had envisioned for the home, the Harrisons also purchased several adjoining parcels.
The restoration work was widely awarded, and the house is recognized as one of the most important houses of the 20th century.
Richard Neutra designed the house as a retreat for harsh winters. Its five bedrooms and six full baths at 297 sqm, pay emphasis on the connection to the surrounding desert landscape.
The house sits on more than two acres and its large sliding glass walls open rooms up to a series of terraces, and garden, an area lawn surrounding the famous pool, showing the typical California’s concept "indoor outdoor" living.
The main exterior-facing rooms are surrounded by a row of movable vertical fins that offer flexible protection against sandstorms and intense heat.
In the center of the house there is a living and dining room, approximately square that articulates an east-west axis, extending with four long wings perpendicular according to the cardinal points. Careful placement of the largest rooms at the end of each wing helps define the adjacent exterior rooms, with exterior and interior circulation.
The south wing connects to the public realm and includes a garage and two long, covered hallways. These steps are separated by a huge stone wall and lead to the public and service entrances, respectively. The east wing of the house is connected to the living space by an internal gallery facing north and houses a master bedroom. To the west, a kitchen, service spaces and staff quarters are accessed through a covered hallway. In the north wing, an open path runs along an exterior patio, which leads to two rooms.
After Kauffman, its original owner, died in 1955, the house remained empty for several years, then passed through the hands of different owners who were transforming it, making additions and even changing the roof with the addition of an air conditioning system. .
In 1992, after more than three years awaiting sale, the house was rediscovered and bought by the marriage of Brent Harris, investment manager, and Beth Edwards Harris, architectural historian.
The Harrises bought the house for $ 1.5 million, and began its resnovation to restore the original project. Neutra had died in 1970 and the original plans were not available, so the couple commissioned to Los Angeles architects Leo Marmol and Ron Radziner for renovation. In a meticulous and delicate process of researching the original project, the Harrisons examined Neutra's extensive archives at UCLA, found additional documents at Columbia University, and were able to work with photographs of the interior never printed and provided by Julius Shulman. They sourced parts from the original paint suppliers, accessories, and bought a metal crimping machine to reproduce the sheet metal membrane that lined the ceiling.
Additionally, the Harrises were able to reopen a closed section of a Utah quarry to obtain matching stone to replace what had been replaced or damaged. To help restore the desert hinterland Neutra had envisioned for the home, the Harrisons also purchased several adjoining parcels.
The restoration work was widely awarded, and the house is recognized as one of the most important houses of the 20th century.
