These midcentury modern houses are by the famed Los Angeles architectural firm Palmer & Krisel, which has built a phenomenal number of iconic houses in this style in California and Nevada. (See House of Tomorrow, for example.) And Bill Krisel is still working today! Of the photos below, the house directly below is new; the rest are truly midcentury. Above is a bungalow in the Las Palmas neighborhood of Palm Springs, “just a couple of doors down from the Lawford-Kennedy house where legend has it that Jack had a tryst with Marilyn.” All these photos are all by Darren, aka Chimay Bleue on Flickr, who introduced me to this architect and many others.

Below is Darren’s own Palmer & Krisel house in San Diego. It was designed in 1960 by Bill Krisel, who’s been back to visit it many times and must be very happy with the way it’s been preserved. (By the way, that’s Bill’s wife Corinne in the photo above, and that’s him, at bottom, in Darren’s house.) Darren and Elise renovated their Krisel house a few years ago, very beautifully as you can see. The before and after shots are particularly fun to look at – I could include only a few of Darren’s photos but there are many more here. Darren and Elise deserve a lot of credit for not demolishing this spacious bungalow, something Darren says is happening more and more often in San Diego and beyond. Such a waste. Of Bill Krisel, Darren says “Bill is probably one of the most creative and interesting people I’ve ever had the pleasure to know. He is very funny and warm and considerate. And his passion, skill, and talent in the field are truly amazing. He clearly needs to be better recognized for his accomplishments, as one of the first of only a few architects who understood how to truly realize the dream of making modernism accessible to everyday people, and successfully working with merchant builders to implement his designs in a very cost-effective way without sacrificing good design. I think he may be the most prolific architect ever, when you consider the total number of homes he’s designed in his life (nearly 40,000 single family homes).” Thanks to Darren for all of these photos! More in the Palmer Krisel Flickr group here.

Hallowe’en is over but this fantastic Japanese raccoon figure survives. I wish it could stay there all winter. It was seen at this cool little bungalow – brick, which is unusual for Vancouver – a block away from the studio. The owners refurbished it and landscaped it themselves, but I was still taken aback by their pumpkin carving skills.

PS Addendum to this post: Scott Plumbe, the carver of this tanuki (Japanese raccoon dog) pumpkin, wrote in to say he took a night photo of it below and he has kindly let me add it here (see link for story). Farther below that is the “No Face” pumpkin carved by his wife Rosemary a few years ago. No Face is a character in my favourite animated film of all time, Spirited Away by Japanese filmmaker Hayao Miyazaki. Scott, not surprisingly, turns out to be a professional illustrator. This is an interesting way to meet your neighbours. See also this post on a house a few doors down from Scott and Rosemary’s.

For those who aren’t familiar with the song In Every Dreamhome A Heartache, it appeared on the 1973 Roxy Music album For Your Pleasure. See here for a live performance featuring Brian Eno on keyboards, looking like a sick Ziggy Stardust, and Andy Mackay wearing some quite amazing blistered spaceman pants in green satin. The decor-filled lyrics are below, but here’s a sample: “Open plan living/Bungalow ranch style/All of its comforts/Seem so essential.” There’s a certain nostalgia for 70s decor happening at the moment. Not surprisingly, back in 1973 there was a different, more skeptical take on opulent, “utopian” postwar interior design and its discontents. As an aside, I think the houses being sung about here were actually the 50s rancher bungalows Bryan Ferry would have grown up with, but then the 1970s “dreamhome” styles would probably have had their roots in 50s modernism.

The top two photographs are from 1973; the photo at far bottom is from 1974.

Thanks to glen.h and vytaute and Miss Retro Modern on Flickr.

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