BARLOW HOUSEEach Wexler house has a unique

“hat,” such as this one, with it’s

folded-steel panels. The roof

design depends on the placement

of the glazing on the north-south

orientation. The Barlow House was

remodeled during the early 1980s

and became adobe for a while.

O’Donnell + Escalante Architects

did major surgery on this house

during the latest restoration, peel-

ing off layers of concrete block

and wood siding to get down to

the original structure. At the end

of the job, the project lost half of

its square footage and was sold

for twice its purchase price.

How many times have we heard that the futureof the American home lies in steel? Or thatthe customized factory-built house is rightaround the corner? Whether it’s the sexy

post-and-beam framing of the Case Study House pro-gram or the stucco-clad steel-stud framing thatpromises “you’ll never know it’s steel!” the stories arefrustratingly futile. Wood always wins.

Most midcentury houses that defied conven-tion prevail only as pedigreed collectibles. Nonetheless,supporters are still out there, arguing for them not asartifacts but as robust prototypes. In Palm Springs backin the early 1950s, well-known local architect DonWexler recognized he could harness an innovative newsystem for school classrooms devised by Bernard Perlin, a civil

engineer, with steel fabricator CalcorCorporation. Faced with a rapidlyincreasing population, the local schooldistrict challenged the two men todesign classrooms cheaper than $10 persquare foot. The steel-panel systemthey delivered also proved quick tobuild, aesthetically striking, and, aboveall, durable for generations of kids andmaintenance workers.

Then the two turned to hous-ing. U.S. Steel and Bethlehem Steelprovided funding, and an experienced,open-minded residential developer,the Los Angeles–based AlexanderConstruction Company, provided theland. Built for less than $8 per squarefoot ($45 today), the seven mass-pro-duced Steel Development Houses rosein a few days in 1962 in a notoriouslywindy northern corner of the city. Thetract’s unprecious title fit the scruffy,generic neighborhood as well as itsmarket: low-cost housing for the mid-

11.03 Architectural Record 159

dle class. The glass-and-steel, terrazzo-floored homes sold for around $15,000(about $91,000 today) and were the first—and last—built in a proposed housingproject of 38. The radical houses attracteda lot of press. Plenty of steel-trade journalsand architectural magazines, includingarchitectural record’s Record Housesof 1963, featured the project by Wexlerand his partner at the time, Ric Harrison.“What’s unique is that we utilized thelight-gauge panel system structurally, so itacts as bearing wall, shear wall, and roofdiaphragm. I developed it, tested it, but

Don made it aesthetically viable. I remember going to his office with a testpanel. He fell in love with it and took it from there,” said Perlin.

The engineer’s system is simple, sturdy, elastic; the architect’scompositions asymmetrical and complex. With the punishing climate’spropensity to warp wood beams, a twisting that can telegraph to the roofconstruction, “I thought that steel was ideal for the desert,” said Wexler.Calcor’s kit of parts used interlocking, 16-inch-wide steel panels rangingfrom 18- to 22-gauge with 3-inch flanges or ribs at each end. The panels,typically spanning 13 feet, were screwed, pop-riveted, or bolted togetherand placed into a steel channel raceway inset into the concrete floor slabto hold walls. Identical roof panels received steel tabs every three panels tohang ceilings and mechanical runs. Where columns were necessary atopenings or corners, instead of electing more expensive hot-rolled struc-tural steel, Perlin employed the system’s galvanized cold-rolled steel forhollow square tubes with 3⁄16-inch-thick walls. (The tubes also becamehandy vehicles to drain roof water, something today’s fire ratings pro-hibit.) Insulation consisted of pieces of drywall set into the cavitiesoverlaid with fiberglass batt and an added .5-inch-thick drywall, whichdeadened the unresidential sound of a light metal building, Wexler said.Like the classrooms, Perlin’s own 1960, Wexler-designed, 3,400-square-foot home also included an added 24-gauge painted steel liner for its

Project: Barlow House, Palm

Springs, California

Architect: Don Wexler

Renovation architect: O’Donnell +

Escalante Architects—Ana Maria

Escalante-Lentz, AIA, partner in charge;

Lance C. O’Donnell, AIA, codesigner;

Martin Brunner-Ethz, Rosalinda Chapa,

Marco Garcia, design team

General contractor: Pacific West

Contractors

Kitchen remodel: Les Matzek

Size: 3,600 square feet (existing);

1,400 square feet (after restoration)

Date built: 1962

Date renovated: 2001

In the early 1960s, Don Wexler’s graceful steel houses revolutionized home design and made

the California desert sparkle with Modernist gems

Barbara Lamprecht’s second book on Richard Neutra will appear in March. She

practices architecture, teaches architectural history, and writes for publications

including The Architectural Review and Fine Homebuilding, among others.

By Barbara Lamprecht

PR

OJE

CT

S

Sources

Metal/glass curtain wall: Calcraft

Company

Kitchen tile: Ann Sachs

Appliances: Amana; Fisher Paykel

An arid desert landscape sets the scene.

PH

OTO

GR

AP

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: ©

DA

VID

GLO

MB

Project: Isermann-Blomster House,

Palm Springs, California

Architect: Don Wexler, owner-restored

house. Studio addition designed by

O’Donnell + Escalante Architects—Ana

Maria Escalante-Lentz, AIA, partner in

charge; Lance C. O’Donnell, AIA,

codesigner; Martin Brunner-Ethz,

Rosalinda Chapa, Marco Garcia, team

Engineer: Peyton-Tomita & Associates

General contractor: Wallace & Assoc.

Size: 1,400 square feet (existing);

433 square feet (new construction)

Date built: 1962

Date renovated: 1998

Date studio addition added: 2002

Sources

Carpet, heart-shaped chairs:

Verner Panton

Conference table: Knoll

Credenza: Raymond Loewy

Side chairs: Eero Saarinen

ISERMANN-BLOMSTER HOUSEAlthough air-conditioning was added

to all the restored Wexler houses, the

light-gauge steel-panel walls still get

hot. O’Donnell + Escalante Architects

designed the adjoining studio to have

a conductive break made of plywood

lining the interior steel-paneled walls.

11.03 Architectural Record 161

California codes for historic build-

ings forbid additions from touching

the original house. The new pavilion

for the Isermann house has a roof

that gives the illusion of touching the

original house. The studio’s roof

overhangs the original structure with

an inch to spare (this page).

162 Architectural Record 11.03

durability—“When they were little, our kids would just throw [metal]stuff at the walls and it would stick,” said Perlin. The liners, however, weredeemed too costly for the houses. The exterior walls and the factory-built,9-by-36-foot core of two bathrooms and a kitchen supported the roof,permitting flexible interior configurations. Like architect Gregory Ain anddeveloper Joseph Eichler, Wexler animated the site plan by flipping floorplans and variously orienting the houses. Different roof configurations,folded and flat, further individualized the modest orthogonal buildings.

Wexler’s designs possess a grace and easy affability with the out-doors despite their efficient spaces and factory-built mechanical cores. Intheir asymmetry, deep cantilevers, and opposing directions of shiftinglines and planes of painted steel or glass, the designs also show some debtto Wexler’s early employer, Richard Neutra. Playing off the 9-foot ceilings,the light-colored walls, and the white and beige gravel landscapes, thedaylighting in the houses is bright but soft.

In recent decades, both neighborhood and buildings deterio-rated so badly that Wexler avoided the area. Today, all but one are restored,protected as a Class I Historic District. Now touted as “Modernist gems,”one sold for $465,000 in April and another is quietly listed for substantially

higher. One owned by artist Jim Isermann boasts a new, freestanding addi-tion using the system by the Palm Springs firm O’Donnell + Escalante.Principals Lance O’Donnell and Ana Escalante said that after trying to getit right quickly, they slowed down to analyze. With Wexler’s encourage-ment, they “took six months to understand the system,” said Escalante.“Itwas an investment.” Now, with three projects under way employing thesystem, “it’s much faster.” The firm adapted the system for today’s energyrequirements, thickening the wall section with an inch of rigid insulationand plywood as a thermal break for good reason apart from codes. Thethin-walled 1962 houses are uncomfortable in summer and expensive toair-condition. Isermann said the original walls were noticeably hotterwhere the steel flanges conducted heat through the drywall, adding thatthe houses had typically been sold as second homes for temperate desertwinters. He has retreated to the studio for the summer.

But the question remains: “If the system was so good, whyhaven’t we seen any more in 50 years?” asks architect Bill Krisel, a friendof Wexler and award-winning designer of some 40,000 living unitsthroughout the western states, including many for Alexander. He men-tioned several reasons. Construction costs for contemporary woodhomes ran as low as $6.50 per square foot, so the profit margin wasmuch higher. Unions didn’t like prefabricated mechanical runs andcores, even forcing them to be dismantled and reassembled on the site.Workers were uninterested in learning new techniques. They found itdecidedly unpleasant to handle the metal in the scorching summers,exactly when developers wanted to build so that houses were ready forbuyers escaping cold, dreary weather.

For Perlin and Wexler, in the desert, steel will rule in the longrun. “My dream was to be able to go to a lumber yard and buy the sec-tions, the panels. It made sense. To this day, it makes sense. Maybe we’re alittle old for it, but someone is going to do it,” Perlin said. ■

Project: Lane-Rush House, Palm

Springs, California

Architect: Don Wexler, owner-

restored house. Restoration drawings

by O’Donnell + Escalante Architect

Size: 1,400 square feet (existing)

Date built: 1962

Date renovated: 2001

WEXLER’S DESIGNS POSSESS A GRACEAND EASY AFFABILITY WITH THE OUT-DOORS DESPITE THEIR EFFICIENT SPACESAND FACTORY-BUILT MECHANICAL CORES.

LANE-RUSH HOUSEWexler’s idea for these houses in

this region was to be able to use a

basic floor plan and create a unique

elevation for each house by rotating

the plan, mirroring the plan, or flip-

ping the location of the carport.

For more information on these projects, go to Projects at www.architecturalrecord.com.