Aluminaire House

< All Locations
101 N. Museum Dr.
Palm Springs

Get Directions

Aluminaire House location photo

Admission


Free

Aluminaire House™ was originally exhibited in 1931 without interior fittings. Due to contemporary ADA and Fire Safety codes, interior access is not permitted.

Hours

Sunday 10:00am-5:00pm
Monday Closed
Tuesday Closed
Wednesday Closed
Thursday Noon-8:00pm
Friday 10:00am-5:00pm
Saturday 10:00am-5:00pm

101 N. Museum Dr.
Palm Springs 92262

Get Directions

The Aluminaire House Foundation has gifted the Aluminaire House™ Exhibit to the Palm Springs Art Museum as a part of their permanent collection. The icon of modernist design has been reconstructed in place of the south parking lot of Palm Springs Art Museum.

Aluminaire House has recently been listed by Architectural Record as one of the most important buildings completed worldwide in the past 125 years.

Swiss-born architect Albert Frey (1903-1998), arguably the most significant architect to have worked in the Palm Springs region of California, established the style of architecture that has become known as “desert modernism.” Having trained with Le Corbusier amongst a group of international colleagues, Frey brought a European sensibility when he came to New York and began collaborating with the American architect A. Lawrence Kocher in 1930.

Over a period of roughly five years, the two made significant contributions to the American modernist movement, including the creation in 1931 of Aluminaire House, the icon of modernist design that has been recently donated to Palm Springs Art Museum.

In 1931, the Allied Arts and Industries and the Architectural League of New York unveiled the starkly modern, all metal ‘Aluminaire’ home, constructed mostly of aluminum and glass components. It was intended to be mass-produced and affordable, using inexpensive, off-the-shelf materials. Aluminaire caught the attention of the public so much that in just one week on exhibit, more than 100,000 visitors toured the home.

It was the first all-metal house constructed in the United States, and of such importance in the architectural world that images of it were featured in the prestigious exhibition, “The International Style – Architecture Since 1922” at New York’s Museum of Modern Art in 1932.

Discover everything there is to know about Aluminaire House™

Thank you to our supporters who made generous contributions to found and secure the Aluminaire House™ Exhibit


$500,000+
Elizabeth Edwards Harris

$200,000+
L.J. Cella
Modernism Week
Trina Turk
Linda Usher, Malcolm, Lauren, & Kristin Lambe

$100,000+
Aluminaire House Foundation
Meyerman Family Trust
Palm Springs Modern Committee
Palm Springs Preservation Foundation
Jim & Kathy Simpson

$50,000+
John Boccardo & Derek Esplin
Erich Burkhart & Doug Hudson
Christian & Cristina Cigrang
Jim Gaudineer & Tony Padilla
Marmol Radziner Architects

$25,000+
Lewis Baskerville
William Land MD & Margaret Seif
Leo Marmol
Alex Rasmussen
Roswitha Kima Smale


Additional funds provided by Steve Chase Fund for Acquisitions, Mary Silver Fund for Acquisitions, Acquisition Fund of Ronald and Sydney Bushman Trust, Acquisition Fund of Leo Stanton Singer and his children and grandchildren, William F. Bowld Jr. Fund for Acquisitions, Bequest of the Charles Rolle Trust, Michael Miller and Chris Shaver, Christiansen Collection of 20th Century California Art, Estate of Dr. Arthur Albert Woodward, 2023.

$10,000+
Paul Boschetto
Barbara & Bernie Cain
Ellen Donaldson
Carol & Jim Egan
John P. Monahan
Candice & Barry Morse
Christine & Jim Scott
Ann Sheffer & Bill Scheffler
Lisa & Phillip K. Smith, III
Emily & Steve Summers
Steve Winters & Don Curtis

$5,000+
Simon K. Chiu
Joan & Gary Gand
Craig Hartzman & James John
Gary Johns
Marilyn & Alan Loesberg
Sarah J. McElroy
Becky & Phillip K. Smith Jr.
Michael Stern & David Martin

$2,500
Jane L. Emison
Amanda & Michael Erlinger
Mimi & Steve Fisher
David F. Freedman
John Frey & Jane Latourneau
Joaquin Galeano & Daniel Spencer
Thomas Given & Jeffrey Wright
Katherine & Greg Hough
Robert Kleinschmidt
Stephen Lind
William Rutherford & Joan Lamb
Nancy Sinatra
Dr. Joseph A. Zakowski & Kimberly M. Zakowski

Support Aluminaire House™ Exhibit

Participate in preserving architectural history and enriching our cultural landscape.