Tour the House of Tomorrow and Elvis Presley’s Honeymoon Hideaway
By Colin Flavin /
The recently renovated Palm Springs home returns to glory with spectacular geometry and indoor-outdoor connections.
The House of Tomorrow hovers over the cul-de-sac it’s located on in Palm Springs, California, like a stealth aircraft. In a town of low-slung midcentury houses with few windows facing the street, it has a startling presence: The front of the house has wraparound windows and cantilevers over a stone wall a full floor above the ground. Visitors climb a meandering series of pebbled concrete disks over a waterfall and stream to reach the front door.
There was nothing like the home in Palm Springs when it was completed in 1960.
Above: The House of Tomorrow, viewed from Ladera Circle. Photo by Colin Flavin.
The restoration involved replacing the home’s 69 original windows, including the living room's angled transom windows just below the ceiling. Photo by Colin Flavin.
The restored terrace. Recently, after years of neglect, the house underwent a 21-month restoration that returned it to its original glory in time to be celebrated during this year’s Modernism Week, a festival of modern design, architecture, art, fashion and culture. Photo by Colin Flavin.
Floor plan, drawn by Flavin Architects. The design also stands apart from the more modest tract houses that the home’s architect, William Krisel, and client Robert Alexander of Alexander Construction collaborated on in the desert and upon which they built their reputations.
