The Albert Frey Aluminaire House in Palm Springs

Let's take a look at one of my favorites of modern architecture - the Aluminaire house, which since 2024 has been on permanent display at the Palm Springs Art Museum in downtown Palm Springs. If you are looking for things to do on your Palm Springs vacation or visiting Palm Springs for Modernism Week, viewing the Aluminaire House exhibit is free - check info on hours below.

Designed by Albert Frey, a Swiss architect and an American A. Lawrence Kocher, the Aluminaire House was built of ready-made materials and intended to be affordable for the middle class.

It was proclaimed a “home of the future” when it was first unveiled in 1931 and was the first metal house in the United States. Still stunning today, can you imagine what it must have looked like to people almost 100 years ago?

Architectural Record considers the Aluminaire House to be one of the most important buildings completed worldwide in the past 125 years.

Over the years it had been taken apart and put back together at least four times and supposedly was even once moved intact. At one point, it was put into storage and lost to the public before finding its permanent home in Palm Springs.

The Aluminaire house was first shown at the biennial expo of the Allied Arts and Industries and Architectural League in New York. The next year, it was featured in the historic Modern Architecture: International Exhibition at the Museum of Modern Art.

Echoing elements of Le Corbusier’s architectural style, such as supports that raise a building above the ground, ribbon windows, and a roof garden, the Aluminaire House has a similar aesthetic.

Frey said in a New York Times interview:

"After working with Le Corbusier in Paris, my aim in life was to use permanent materials that don’t require maintenance. Aluminum was an up-and-coming material, much more durable than wood or plaster, which cracks. And it went up very quickly.”

The 1,200-square-foot house is roughly cubic in shape, resting on six columns, with five rooms.

Unfortunately visitors can’t go inside today but here’s what I can tell you.

The ground floor has a drive through garage. How cool is that and I love the garage doors - still in style today.

The second level includes a spacious combined living and dining area spanning the entire width of the house, accentuated by a double-height ceiling. Folding screens and translucent partitions add to the sense of openness, transforming individual rooms into multi-functional spaces.

The top level has a library and an outdoor terrace.

Exterior walls consist of corrugated metal sheathing backed by waterproof paper over a structure of two-inch steel angles. The interior finish is thin insulation board covered with fabric.

Designed as a prototype for prefabricated housing, the Aluminaire aimed at affordability, with projections suggesting a cost of $3,200 per unit if produced in sufficient quantities (10,000 units). That’s 1930s dollars. Today it would be considered priceless and I don't think you'll find comps on Zillow!

In 1931, the house was built in 10 days. Try doing that today with all of our codes and permits in California or New York!

Palm Springs is a great final home for this unique structure. Frey's work led to the desert modern and mid-century modern movement and all those amazing homes you see on display during Modernism Week in Palm Springs.

The Aluminaire house is free to view but it is not open every day and you should check the hours on the Palm Springs Art Museum website here:

https://www.psmuseum.org/visit/alumin...

There's also a great video with more background on the PSAM site.

Frey moved to Palm Springs in the late 1930s and lived there until his death in 1998.

Frey's home in Palm Springs - Frey House II built in 1964, is another architectural gem and masterpiece of modernism.

Albert Frey also designed both the Palm Springs City Hall and one of my favorites, the Tramway Gas Station - now the Palm Springs visitors center. Both are great architectural structures and examples of desert modernism.

You often see the visitor center as the backdrop for some of my video intros on this channel.

If you love Palm Springs and modernism as I do, subscribe to this channel for more about Palm Springs.

Thinking of buying a modern home in Palm Springs? I'm a real estate agent and can help you with that too. Feel free to reach out with any questions whether you are thinking of making a move now or in the future. I've helped hundreds of people buy homes in Southern CA and can help you too.

Ellis Posner, Real Estate Broker
CA DRE license 01416970
Text 760.235.1471

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