Around 9 years ago Greg took me to Palm Springs, somewhat against my will. I had visions of geriatric golfers and bleak desert scenery swimming in my head. What I didn't realize was the amazing mid-century splendor that lay hidden there. Now keep in mind this was like, 1999 - 2000 and Palm Springs Modern wasn't even a glimmer in Kelly Wearstler's eye. We were in heaven, it was so perfectly retro. Even the Bank of America building was cool.
We loved driving around the residential neighborhoods and taking in all the cool architecture. The majority of it was built by the Alexander Construction Company —George and Robert, a father and son team who are responsible for turning Palm Springs into the modern motherland it is today. So one afternoon we're driving around. We happened to make a right turn onto Ladera Circle, a cool little cul de sac, and there it was. The House. Looming like a giant, space-age pale pink piece of gorgeousness.
We saw an older woman out front puttering in the garden and thought "WOW! I bet she doesn't even know what she has here. This place is AHmazing." After doing a little research we realized that this house was designed by William Krisel and built by Robert Alexander for his wife Helene in the early 1960s. It was dubbed "The House of the Future" when it was featured in the September 1962 issue of Look magazine in an article called, 'The Way Out Life.' Check out how suave Bob Alexander is:
It would become even more famous when a certain Mr. Elvis Presley rented it out as the site for his future wedding. Gossip columnist Rona Barrett tipped off the press so Priscilla and Elvis snuck off to Vegas instead. But the house....the house! Elvis loved it so, that he rented it out for their honeymoon and stayed nearly a year.
Let's take a lil look inside!
See those huge round circular stones? They're stepping stones...flip a switch and a water fall comes rushing down the sides of the steps. The first thing you see is the amazing living room. There is a spectacular built-in, white leather, 64-foot curved sofa that runs around the length of the room. Hot hot hot!
The master bedroom is the room that you can see from the very front of the house.
Legend has it that Lisa Marie was conceived in this bed. Hubba hubba! (and if you do the math, it's pretty clear that she really was conceived in that honkin' bed!)
Finally, The Tub. I love sunk-in bathtubs and this one doesn't disappoint.
You might be wondering how I know so much about this house and just what made me suddenly think about posting about it. Well, I'll give you a little hint. Eight years ago, THIS happened:
More to come tomorrow.....hee.
