Recent member Paul Tullis has this nice piece in Fraser magazine on singing legend Frank Sinatra's desert house in Palm Springs, now renovated and available for getaway rentals. From his story:
Twin Palms is a wonder to behold. It was one of the era’s architectural gems, immortalised by the photographer Julius Shulman. Juxtaposing his pictures against the house as it currently exists shows how well the restoration remained faithful to the original – while not sparing contemporary standards of luxury, such as a flat-screen TV in every room and an all-Viking appliances chef’s kitchen – and how well the new interior design evokes the style of the era.
The most prominent change is the restoration’s reorientation of the house. Its most impressive features, including a dramatic covered breezeway that casts shadows on the ‘keyboard’ of the piano-shaped pool, are now the first that a visitor beholds. This grandentrance leads to double glass doors to the great room, which features sliding glass doors (tinted, for comfort) opening to the pool area. These doors are emblematic of the indoor-outdoor seamlessness that would become a hallmark of the midcentury modern style. The living area features plush carpeting that would make a cashmere goat jealous, grand piano and recording equipment (no longer functional) that Sinatra himself used.
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