The Racquet Club Estates tour is one of the many architecturally significant home tours happening during Palm Springs Modernism Week. If you have ever heard a house being called an “Alexander” or having a butterfly roof you are probably familiar with the custom tract house development during the 1950s and 1960s in Palm Springs.
There were a handful of architects and developers that were responsible for Palm Springs tract housing – Alexander Construction Company, Bernie Meiselman, Donald Wexler and Ric Harrison – are some of the more famous. Even though the architects were creating tract housing, they would slightly change the floor plans and roof lines from home to home to give the appearance of a custom house. The houses were not huge, but they focused on an open layout and creating an indoor/outdoor space that expressed an easy-going lifestyle.
The Kitty Hawk home was designed by Palmer and Krisel and built by the Alexander Company in 1961. The home is an “A” type plan with a narrow gable roof. Many of the original details are still intact including decorative concrete blocks and a block fireplace.
