BARLOW HOUSE

Each Wexler house has a unique

hat, such as this one, with its
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.
ODonnell + 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.
 In the early 1960s, Don Wexlers graceful steel
houses revolutionized home design and made
the California desert sparkle with Modernist gems

By Barbara Lamprecht

H
ow many times have we heard that the future dle class. The glass-and-steel, terrazzo-

PRO JECTS
of the American home lies in steel? Or that oored homes sold for around $15,000
the customized factory-built house is right (about $91,000 today) and were the rst
around the corner? Whether its the sexy and lastbuilt in a proposed housing
post-and-beam framing of the Case Study House pro- project of 38. The radical houses attracted
gram or the stucco-clad steel-stud framing that a lot of press. Plenty of steel-trade journals
P H OTO G R A P H Y : DAV I D G LO M B

promises youll never know its steel! the stories are and architectural magazines, including
frustratingly futile. Wood always wins. architectural records Record Houses
Most midcentury houses that deed conven- of 1963, featured the project by Wexler
tion prevail only as pedigreed collectibles. Nonetheless, and his partner at the time, Ric Harrison.
supporters are still out there, arguing for them not as Whats unique is that we utilized the
artifacts but as robust prototypes. In Palm Springs back light-gauge panel system structurally, so it
in the early 1950s, well-known local architect Don An arid desert landscape sets the scene. acts as bearing wall, shear wall, and roof
Wexler recognized he could harness an innovative new diaphragm. I developed it, tested it, but
system for school classrooms devised by Bernard Perlin, a civil Don made it aesthetically viable. I remember going to his office with a test
engineer, with steel fabricator Calcor panel. He fell in love with it and took it from there, said Perlin.
Corporation. Faced with a rapidly The engineers system is simple, sturdy, elastic; the architects
Project: Barlow House, Palm increasing population, the local school compositions asymmetrical and complex. With the punishing climates
Springs, California district challenged the two men to propensity to warp wood beams, a twisting that can telegraph to the roof
Architect: Don Wexler design classrooms cheaper than $10 per construction, I thought that steel was ideal for the desert, said Wexler.
Renovation architect: ODonnell + square foot. The steel-panel system Calcors kit of parts used interlocking, 16-inch-wide steel panels ranging
Escalante ArchitectsAna Maria they delivered also proved quick to from 18- to 22-gauge with 3-inch anges or ribs at each end. The panels,
Escalante-Lentz, AIA, partner in charge; build, aesthetically striking, and, above typically spanning 13 feet, were screwed, pop-riveted, or bolted together
Lance C. ODonnell, AIA, codesigner; all, durable for generations of kids and and placed into a steel channel raceway inset into the concrete oor slab
Martin Brunner-Ethz, Rosalinda Chapa, maintenance workers. to hold walls. Identical roof panels received steel tabs every three panels to
Marco Garcia, design team Then the two turned to hous- hang ceilings and mechanical runs. Where columns were necessary at
General contractor: Pacic West ing. U.S. Steel and Bethlehem Steel openings or corners, instead of electing more expensive hot-rolled struc-
Contractors provided funding, and an experienced, tural steel, Perlin employed the systems galvanized cold-rolled steel for
Kitchen remodel: Les Matzek open-minded residential developer, hollow square tubes with 316-inch-thick walls. (The tubes also became
Size: 3,600 square feet (existing); the Los Angelesbased Alexander handy vehicles to drain roof water, something todays re ratings pro-
1,400 square feet (after restoration) Construction Company, provided the hibit.) Insulation consisted of pieces of drywall set into the cavities
Date built: 1962 land. Built for less than $8 per square overlaid with berglass batt and an added .5-inch-thick drywall, which
Date renovated: 2001 foot ($45 today), the seven mass-pro- deadened the unresidential sound of a light metal building, Wexler said.
duced Steel Development Houses rose Like the classrooms, Perlins own 1960, Wexler-designed, 3,400-square-
Sources in a few days in 1962 in a notoriously foot home also included an added 24-gauge painted steel liner for its
Metal/glass curtain wall: Calcraft windy northern corner of the city. The
Company tracts unprecious title t the scruffy, Barbara Lamprechts second book on Richard Neutra will appear in March. She
Kitchen tile: Ann Sachs generic neighborhood as well as its practices architecture, teaches architectural history, and writes for publications
Appliances: Amana; Fisher Paykel market: low-cost housing for the mid- including The Architectural Review and Fine Homebuilding, among others.

11.03 Architectural Record 159

ISERMANN-BLOMSTER HOUSE
Although air-conditioning was added
to all the restored Wexler houses, the
light-gauge steel-panel walls still get
hot. ODonnell + Escalante Architects
designed the adjoining studio to have
a conductive break made of plywood
lining the interior steel-paneled walls.

Project: Isermann-Blomster House,

Palm Springs, California
Architect: Don Wexler, owner-restored
house. Studio addition designed by
ODonnell + Escalante ArchitectsAna
Maria Escalante-Lentz, AIA, partner in
charge; Lance C. ODonnell, 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
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 studios roof
overhangs the original structure with
an inch to spare (this page).

11.03 Architectural Record 161

durabilityWhen they were little, our kids would just throw [metal] LANE-RUSH HOUSE
stuff at the walls and it would stick, said Perlin. The liners, however, were Wexlers idea for these houses in
deemed too costly for the houses. The exterior walls and the factory-built, this region was to be able to use a
9-by-36-foot core of two bathrooms and a kitchen supported the roof, basic floor plan and create a unique
permitting exible interior congurations. Like architect Gregory Ain and elevation for each house by rotating
developer Joseph Eichler, Wexler animated the site plan by ipping oor the plan, mirroring the plan, or flip-
plans and variously orienting the houses. Different roof congurations, ping the location of the carport.
folded and at, further individualized the modest orthogonal buildings.
Wexlers designs possess a grace and easy affability with the out-
doors despite their efficient spaces and factory-built mechanical cores. In
their asymmetry, deep cantilevers, and opposing directions of shifting Project: Lane-Rush House, Palm
lines and planes of painted steel or glass, the designs also show some debt Springs, California
to Wexlers early employer, Richard Neutra. Playing off the 9-foot ceilings, Architect: Don Wexler, owner-
the light-colored walls, and the white and beige gravel landscapes, the restored house. Restoration drawings
daylighting in the houses is bright but soft. by ODonnell + Escalante Architect
In recent decades, both neighborhood and buildings deterio- Size: 1,400 square feet (existing)
rated so badly that Wexler avoided the area. Today, all but one are restored, Date built: 1962
protected as a Class I Historic District. Now touted as Modernist gems, Date renovated: 2001
one sold for $465,000 in April and another is quietly listed for substantially

WEXLERS DESIGNS POSSESS A GRACE

AND EASY AFFABILITY WITH THE OUT-
DOORS DESPITE THEIR EFFICIENT SPACES
AND FACTORY-BUILT MECHANICAL CORES.
higher. One owned by artist Jim Isermann boasts a new, freestanding addi-
tion using the system by the Palm Springs rm ODonnell + Escalante.
Principals Lance ODonnell and Ana Escalante said that after trying to get
it right quickly, they slowed down to analyze. With Wexlers encourage-
ment, they took six months to understand the system, said Escalante. It
was an investment. Now, with three projects under way employing the
system, its much faster. The rm adapted the system for todays energy
requirements, thickening the wall section with an inch of rigid insulation
and plywood as a thermal break for good reason apart from codes. The
thin-walled 1962 houses are uncomfortable in summer and expensive to
air-condition. Isermann said the original walls were noticeably hotter
where the steel anges conducted heat through the drywall, adding that
the houses had typically been sold as second homes for temperate desert
winters. He has retreated to the studio for the summer.
But the question remains: If the system was so good, why
havent we seen any more in 50 years? asks architect Bill Krisel, a friend
of Wexler and award-winning designer of some 40,000 living units
throughout the western states, including many for Alexander. He men-
tioned several reasons. Construction costs for contemporary wood
homes ran as low as $6.50 per square foot, so the prot margin was
much higher. Unions didnt like prefabricated mechanical runs and
cores, even forcing them to be dismantled and reassembled on the site.
Workers were uninterested in learning new techniques. They found it
decidedly unpleasant to handle the metal in the scorching summers,
exactly when developers wanted to build so that houses were ready for
buyers escaping cold, dreary weather.
For Perlin and Wexler, in the desert, steel will rule in the long
run. 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 were a
little old for it, but someone is going to do it, Perlin said.

For more information on these projects, go to Projects at

www.architecturalrecord.com.

162 Architectural Record 11.03