Category Archives: John Lautner Buildings

Article on Leland Lee Features Elrod Photographs

CA-Modern, a magazine that partners with the Los Angeles Conservancy, is featuring a photograph of the Elrod residence taken by architectural photographer Leland Lee many years ago. The article is about Lee and the tragic loss of most of Lee’s negatives and other photographic materials in a flood in the 1980s, and the loss of the remaining materials in a fire in 2002. Lee, now 91, is trying to resurrect his archive. Additional photographs of Lee and of the Elrod house are included in the article.

See the article in CA-Modern in a flip-book version online (requires Flash). Scroll down this page from the LA Conservancy to find the Elrod photograph and link to the flip-book.

Palm Springs Television to Feature Exhibit

KPSP, Palm Springs area’s local CBS station, will feature the upcoming exhibit on John Lautner on its “Eye on the Desert” segment Monday, February 15, from 6:45 to 7:00 p.m. Exhibit Co-Curator Frank Escher and Palm Springs Museum Curator Sidney Williams were both interviewed for the segment.

The exhibit, titled “Between Earth and Heaven: The Architecture of John Lautner”, was produced by the Hammer Museum in Los Angeles. It has traveled to Glasgow, Scotland, and now to Palm Springs, where it opens February 20. Because of the fragile nature of the original materials in the exhibit, no more traveling is planned. The Palm Springs exhibit will close May 23.

Update: Elrod House for Sale

Updated Feb. 1, 2010: added sales flyer link

Lautner’s Elrod House in Palm Springs is on the market again, after many years owned and cared for by its current owner. The sale price is over 13 million, and it is being sold along with two other properties in the same development, under the same ownership.

The house has been featured extensively in magazine articles and was, of course, the house used in the James Bond film, Diamonds are Forever. It is one of three buildings in the Palm Springs area designed by Lautner (the other two are the Hope house and the Desert Hot Springs Motel).

See more information in the curbed LA article, including realtor links. And this flyer from the realtor.

Hammer Exhibit Opens in Palm Springs in February

The Hammer Museum’s well-received major exhibition on John Lautner, Between Heaven and Earth, opens in Palm Springs on February 20, 2010 and continues until May 23, 2010.  The Palm Springs Art Museum is hosting the exhibit, with the exclusive presenting sponsor the City of Indian Wells.

Events related to the exhibit:

Feb. 19: FREE (MUSEUM MEMBERS ONLY) Lecture on exhibition Between Earth and Heaven: The Architecture of John Lautner; Lecture by Frank Escher, co-curator of the exhibition; reception follows (lecture starts 5:30 p.m.)

February 20: Exhibition opening:  Between Earth and Heaven: The Architecture of John Lautner (runs through May 23)

February 20: Symposium and tour: From Frank Lloyd Wright to John Lautner and After: Reassessing the Organic Tradition in American Architecture (at Ace Hotel) ($50 for symposium, $250 symposium, lunch and tour of Lautner-designed sites)

Check the Palm Springs Museum website for details.

Museum Hours

Tuesday, Wednesday, Friday, Saturday and Sunday: 10:00 a.m. – 5:00 p.m., Thursday 12 p.m. – 8 p.m.

Closed Mondays and major holidays ; Store, Box Office, and Cafe are open during museum hours

Museum Admission

Free to members; youths 12 and under and active military personnel and their families ; $12.50 adults; $10.50 seniors 62 and over; $5.00 for students.  Free public admission every Thursday from 4 – 8 pm during VillageFest, sponsored by the City of Palm Springs. Free admission to AAM, NARM, and WMA members with I.D. Group tours available. Free every Second Sunday through support from the Berger Foundation.

More info: Visit us on the web at: www.psmuseum.org

Infinite Space screens with two other Lautner-related films in Rotterdam

Three films that feature Lautner architecture will screen at the Architecture Film Festival in Rotterdam this year. The opening film of the festival will be Visual Acoustics, the remarkable film on architecture photographer Julius Shulman. It will screen Oct. 29 and Nov. 1.

A short film named 10104 Angelo View Drive, by Dorit Margreiter, will screen Oct. 30 and 31st. The film is on the Sheats-Goldstein residence and is silent.

Infinite Space, the Murray Grigor film on John Lautner, will screen Oct. 30 and 31.

You can read about all of the films in this festival on the English-language version of the program (assuming you do not read Dutch).

Martha Stewart Visits Elrod Residence

In the October 2009 edition of Martha Stewart Living is a mention of Lautner’s Elrod residence:

The Elrod house(1968), my favorite, was designed by John Lautner, an apprentice to Frank Lloyd Wright. A soaring poured-concrete ceiling punctuated with glass, took my breath away and the views from the retractable windows captured the landscape.

Find it on page 25, along with a nice photograph of the Elrod living room.