Villa Hermosa (Palm Springs, California)

Villa Hermosa
Villa Hermosa, c. March 2020
Map
General information
StatusCompleted
Architectural styleInternational
Location155 W Hermosa Place
Palm Springs, California
United States
Coordinates33°50′08.6″N 116°32′50.9″W / 33.835722°N 116.547472°W / 33.835722; -116.547472
Completed1946
Design and construction
Architect(s)Albert Frey

The Villa Hermosa is a mid-century modern private complex in the Old Las Palmas neighborhood of Palm Springs, California, United States. Located at 155 W Hermosa Place, near North Palm Canyon Drive and West El Alameda, it was originally commissioned as a residential hotel for winter visitors by C.K. Fulton in 1946. The property was featured in photos by Julius Shulman in 1947,[1][2] and subsequently recognized locally as historically significant.[3][4]

Designed by architect Albert Frey, as "an ode to international style modernism"[5] with railings outfitted with yellow canvas,[6] Villa Hermosa is an "assembly of stacked and terraced apartments that forms a partial enclosure around a garden and a pool that is oriented to a mountain view...with access to all apartments through the garden".[7] In 2001, The New York Times Magazine ranked the building among the top five "most intact and notable"[8] of the 200 projects Frey designed in Palm Springs between 1934 and 1988. Former residents include Edgar J. Kaufmann who rented one of the apartments while Richard Neutra was completing construction on Kaufmann House.[9]

  1. ^ Julius Shulman. "Julius Shulman Photography Archive, 1935-2009". The Getty Research Institute. Retrieved July 26, 2020. {{cite journal}}: Cite journal requires |journal= (help)
  2. ^ Hess, Alan and Andrew Danish (2001). Palm Springs Weekend: the architecture and design of a midcentury oasis architecture. Chronicle Books, San Francisco.
  3. ^ Historical Resources Group (October 13, 2015). "Citywide Historic Context Statement & Survey Findings" (PDF). City of Palm Springs. Retrieved July 26, 2020. {{cite journal}}: Cite journal requires |journal= (help)
  4. ^ Historical Resources Group (October 13, 2015). "Post-World War II Palm Springs" (PDF). City of Palm Springs. Retrieved July 26, 2020. {{cite journal}}: Cite journal requires |journal= (help)
  5. ^ Staff (February 5, 2007). "The Time: Modern". Palm Springs Life. Retrieved July 26, 2020. {{cite journal}}: Cite journal requires |journal= (help)
  6. ^ Drucker, Stephen (October 1, 2005). "Movie Colony Hotel". Architectural Digest. Retrieved July 26, 2020.
  7. ^ Rosa, Joseph (1999). Albert Frey: Architect. Rizzoli, New York.
  8. ^ Stewart, Elizabeth (February 25, 2001). "Inside Palm Springs; In The Frey". The New York Times Magazine. Retrieved July 26, 2020.
  9. ^ Toker, Franklin (2007). Fallingwater Rising: Frank Lloyd Wright, E. J. Kaufmann, and America's Most Extraordinary House. Knopf Doubleday Publishing Group. ISBN 9780307425843.