Aluminaire House Palm Springs

The Aluminaire House, designed by modernist architect Albert Frey, is a prototype aluminum, steel and glass home that was the first all-metal house constructed in the United States. Frey (1903-1998) was one of the most important modern architects of the twentieth century and helped established a style of architecture that came to be known as "desert modernism." Frey was born and raised in Switzerl

and, and obtained his degree there. While waiting to immigrate to the United States, Frey worked in the Paris atelier of the noted International Style architects Le Corbusier and Pierre Jeanneret. In 1928, Frey left the atelier and moved to New York City to find work. Lawrence Kocher, the managing editor of Architectural Record, entered a revolutionary design prototype at an exposition sponsored by the Allied Arts and Industries and the Architectural League of New York. Called “The Aluminaire,” a three-story aluminum and steel house, intended to be mass-produced and affordable, using inexpensive, off-the-shelf materials. Built in ten days, the Aluminaire House was a study in disciplined, rectilinear geometry. The design allowed for modern living in a compact space, with features including a dumbwaiter, garden terrace, sliding screens and retractable furniture. When it was unveiled in New York City, the starkly modern Aluminaire House was an overnight sensation that emboldened an architectural movement. In 1932 images of the house were featured at the prestigious architectural exhibition at the Museum of Modern Art in New York City, titled “The International Style - Architecture Since 1922.”

When the 1931 exhibition ended, the building was purchased by architect Wallace K. Harrison, who relocated it to his country estate in Huntington, on Long Island, outside of New York City. Used first as a country house, then added on to, it was later relocated elsewhere on the estate, undergoing significant changes. After years of poor maintenance, the severely deteriorated structure became at risk for demolition in the late 1980s. A concerned group of preservationists, led by architects Michael Schwarting and Julio M. San Jose, Dean of the New York Institute of Technology, saved it, dismantled it, and arranged for it to be donated to the school for their campus, where it was restored and reassembled by architecture students with Prof. When that campus closed, Schwarting and Campani took charge of the house and formed the Aluminaire House Foundation in 2011. The house was again dismantled in 2012 and put into storage in New York where it languished in a shipping container. Schwarting and Campani were invited to Modernism Week several years ago to present on Aluminaire. To an auditorium full of architectural enthusiasts, they presented their story about studying the home for more than 20 years, saving it from demolition, dismantling it once, reassembling it and then having to dismantle it yet again and put into storage, homeless. That day an idea was hatched by a core group of local 'believers,' who thought Palm Springs would make the perfect home. Immediately after this, the California chapter of the non-profit Aluminaire House Foundation was registered, dedicated to raising funds to move the house to Palm Springs and reassemble it here for permanent display. This local committee, including Tracy Conrad, Mark Davis, Brad Dunning, Beth Edwards Harris and William Kopelk, began the task of raising funds to secure the permanent location for the architecturally significant house. In 2017, the disassembled house was shipped to Palm Springs and has been in storage. In August 2020, the Aluminaire House Foundation announced that it had donated the structure to be part of the permanent collection at the Palm Springs Art Museum, where it will be a year-round attraction that pays homage to Palm Spring’s thriving architectural tourism focus. To be located in what is currently the south parking lot of the museum, pending final City of Palm Springs approvals, construction should begin in 2021. Funds are being raised by the Aluminaire House Foundation to reassemble the masterpiece. By locating the house in Palm Springs, where Frey lived and practiced from 1935 until his death in 1998, architecture enthusiasts from around the world will have a rare opportunity to view a complete timeline of his work, from 1931 to 1989. Located on the grounds of the popular Palm Springs Art Museum, the Aluminaire House is destined to become a key attraction in the re-developed downtown district of Palm Springs. Albert Frey in Palm Springs
In 1934, Dr. J. Kocher of Palm Springs, the brother of his Aluminaire House collaborator A. Lawrence Kocher, hired Frey to work on an office/apartment dual-use building in Palm Springs. Finding that he loved the desert environment and the surrounding towering mountains, Frey decided to make the California desert his home for the rest of his long, productive life. Over his long and prolific career, he produced more than 200 building designs, including such notable local landmarks as the Palm Springs City Hall and the Aerial Tramway Valley Station with John Porter Clark. Frey House ll, completed in 1964, was Frey’s longtime residence and is perched on the hillside overlooking the city of Palm Springs. This important structure is also part of the Palm Springs Art Museum’s permanent collection. The Aluminaire House Foundation is a 501 (c) (3) California and New York Registered nonproft. Federal Tax ID 45-2475132

For more information and to send a donation, please visit aluminaire.org. Media please contact O'Bayley Communications at 760-778-3525