Donald Wexler, FAIA, Architect | The Wexler Residence, 1955. The property is listed on the National Register of Historic Places, and is designated as a Palm Springs Class 1 Historic Resource, with substantial Mills Act tax savings. On nearly a third of an acre in the fashionable Movie Colony East, just two blocks from Ruth Hardy Park, the architect’s own home stands as a testament to the enduring appeal of Mid-Century Modern design. Donald Wexler—widely regarded as the father of desert modernism and “the architect who gave shape to Palm Springs, ” according to The New York Times—is celebrated for the Palm Springs International Airport, the Dinah Shore estate, and the innovative Steel Development Houses. Here, in the home where Wexler lived with his family for nearly forty years, he applied a softer hand with an all-wood structure inspired by his apprenticeships with Richard Neutra and William F. Cody. The wood post-and-double-beam system, a Wexler signature, created a flexible open plan that could evolve with family life. Interior walls extend through floor-to-ceiling glass, visually merging indoors and out. Tongue-and-groove ceilings, slender fascia, and deep overhangs lend both elegance and shade. The current steward has preserved these defining elements—vertical fir siding, spun metal can lights, and other original finishes—while collaborating with Wexler himself, architect Lance O’Donnell, and designer Darren Brown on a full restoration that earned the Palm Springs Modern Committee’s Residential Restoration of the Year Award. New terrazzo floors, stainless steel appliances, marble surfaces, and European fixtures align the home with contemporary standards, unified by a custom “Wexler White” palette. A new roof, HVAC, and solar system complete the upgrades. The site, enclosed by a tall hedgerow, opens inward to ancient boulders, native plantings—likely by landscape designer Antone Dalu—and a black-bottom pool and spa framing distant San Jacinto mountain views.
