As Modernism Week is just around the corner we’ve started to search for lesser known Modernist architecture between Los Angeles and Palm Springs. The fact that we didn’t even know that a Swiss style alpine village such as Idyllwild even exists in Southern California made us curious – and we found this hidden gem that is actually also open for photo/video shootings and tours.
Architect John Lautner brings you closer to Nature in the serene setting of Idyllwild nestled in the San Jacinto Mountains. The area is approximately 5500 feet in elevation and the landscape is dominated by granite outcroppings and tall pine and ceder trees.
Cabins provide basic shelter in isolated areas throughout the world. They are in essence a way of bringing us closer to our natural environment and the infinite beauty it beholds. No cabin brings you closer to the natural environment than the Pearlman Cabin.
Lautner’s big idea for the design of the 1957 cabin in Idyllwild was to provide comfort and shelter while opening the interior space to the outside and eliminating the boundaries between. Lautner achieved this feat by brilliantly using rough unmilled logs as the structural support along the exterior edge of the panoramic view.
For more information about the cabin and to schedule a tour check out Nancy Pearlman’s website:
We can’t wait to contact her for a visit in February 2017! What about you?
Images: Joshua White, L.A. Times, Wikipedia, Palm Springs Life
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Nancy Pearlman will be showing the interior and exterior of the Pearlman / Lautner Cabin this weekend. Several foreign and American devotees of Lautner will be taking time off from Modernism Week to drive up to Idyllwild to see the cabin and hear the story of how the Pearlman family, Dr. Carl Pearlman and Agnes Branch Pearlman, bought the ‘unbuildable’ property, then commissioned John Lautner to work with Agnes Branch Pearlman to design what may be the first circular Lautner project.
In 1957, no contractor would attempt the project. The brother of Agnes Pearlman, Bill Branch, took on the construction. From the Launter blue-prints, Bill Branch built the cabin, working alone, good weather and snow. The difficulty of living and working in the freezing cold led Bill Branch to alter the blue-prints to add a bedroom to the one circular room.
Nancy Pearlman will be hosting the visits during Saturday and Sunday of Modernism Week, February 22 and 23. Call Nancy Pearlman at 213 705 – 4992. Saturday and Sunday visitors can also call 951 – 659 – 3416.
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