Words: Kim Silverman
Built in 1954 by the pioneering modernist architect E. Stewart Williams – who had already designed the Twin Palm Estate, or the Frank Sinatra House 7 years earlier – Edris House stands true to an era of America’s optimistic ideals of minimalistic architectural design and living space, which helped define what became known as the ‘Desert Modern’ style.
Today, Edris House is looking for its third owner, and asking-for price of $4.2m. The original owners, William Edris (a theatre and tomato farm owner) and his wife Marjorie were close friends of architect Williams, and they permitted him complete creative freedom with no budget limitations when designing this iconic example of modernist architecture, nestled in the middle of Coachella Valley, California.
And so, Williams designed the home to look “as if it grew out of the ground rather than falling out of the sky.” He was successful in doing so, as the 2,700-square-foot timber-clad, single-story home stands proudly above the rocky terrain – like an architectural oasis amidst the otherwise unforgiving desert landscape.
Large, floor-to-ceiling walls of glass (which are just as modern now as they were in the fifties) on all perimeters of the three-bed, three-bath residence allow a plethora of light and desert scenery to be experienced – making the interior decor feel exposed, a revolutionary intention of the Desert Modern style which brought the vastness of nature into the home through open-plan living.
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