Midcentury Marvel: Is That a Pool in the Living Room?

By Colin Flavin / March 22, 2018

Step inside the Raymond Loewy house, a modernist hideaway in the California desert designed by architect Albert Frey

The Raymond Loewy house in Palm Springs, California, designed by Albert Frey for the celebrated industrial designer in 1946, isn’t what you might expect of a home created for a celebrity client. Instead of a large, lavish house, Frey’s design is pint-size, built with low-cost materials and beautifully integrated into the landscape, an innovative approach that continues to be relevant.

The house punches above its weight by making a seamless connection between the home’s interior, the exterior courtyard and the desert beyond. Frey’s approach to design, so different from the Spanish-style homes popular at the time, helped create a new style of architecture called Desert Modern.

(Top photo by David A. Lee)

carport exterior of home with desert landscape

Next to the carport, the boulder field was left intact.

mid-century modern home with pool in living room

The view south from the living room looks toward the pool and desert. Sunlight reflected by the pool plays on the ceiling.

mid-century modern cad drawing floor plan

The site plan is color-coded to show the interior spaces of the house in red. The courtyard spaces, shown in orange, more than double the perceived dimensions of the home.

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