Sunday, April 4, 2010

sunday drive: racquet club estates

A special destination for a milestone. The Sunday Drive feature made its debut on Easter Sunday 2008 with a look at historic signage in Santa Monica. We've had a lot of fun drives since then, and now being in Palm Springs there's a lot more I'd like to share with you in the next year, all hiding in plain sight waiting to be discovered.

For today's drive we are going to the height of mid century modernmism - the Racquet Club Estates of Palm Springs. Designed by William Krisel of Palmer and Krisel, and built by the Alexander Construction Company between 1959 and 1962 as weekend homes for the tragically hip, this little neighborhood started life with a cocktail shaker in its hand and a Thunderbird in the carport. My personal favorite is the butterfly, but all feature the kicky elements of mid century at its most expressive- decorative block masonry, stone screening, cathedral ceilings and maximum glass.

For our special Easter 2010 Sunday Drive, grab a Martini and check out these great homes of Racquet Club Estates:















The neighborhood website is here
See many more photos here

3 comments:

Birdie said...

This looks so much like my childhood neighborhood it's scary. It's also in Florida, so there are fewer rocks and more bushes.

Desperate Palms said...

Ahh, Palm Springs, one of my favorite places. I love the architecture there. Having grown up in South Florida in the "mid century" and being part of a family that had a construction supply company, I can totally relate and appreciate your pix. I hope to get back to Palm Springs soon and "be in heaven" again.

Roy

Anonymous said...

Hi Jeff,
My name is Jane and I'm with Dwellable.
I was looking for blogs about the Racquet Club Estates in Palm Springs to share on our site and I came across your post...If you're open to it, shoot me an email at jane(at)dwellable(dot)com.
Hope to hear from you!
Jane