Neutra's Modernist Kaufmann House Up For Auction

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Do you want to own a house with a history? Renowned Richard Neutra’s Kaufmann House in Palm Springs will be part of Christie’s high-profile evening sale of postwar and contemporary art. For your info, it’s the very first house to be featured in Ms. Saeks’ book and she calls it the greatest desert house, which stands like a sentinel of Modernism on a hillside in Palm Springs. The 1946 glass, steel and stone landmark has the honor of being the vanguard of new movements in architecture, helping to shape postwar Modernism and later, as a result of a painstaking restoration in the mid-1990s, stimulating a rejuvenated interest in mid-20th-century homes. Now, the owners, Brent Harris, an investment manager, and Beth Edwards Harris think it to play a significant role in a third movement, promoting architecture as a collectible art as important as painting and sculpture. So, they have decided to put it up for auction.

Initially, the house was constructed as a desert retreat from harsh winters. The series of horizontal planes seem to float over glass walls and the house looks to take in the mood of the surrounding desert. After Kaufmann’s death in 1955, the house went through a series of owners, including the singer Barry Manilow, and a series of renovations. In the process, a light-disseminating patio was enclosed, a media room was added, the sleek roof lines were interrupted with air-conditioning units, and some bedrooms were adorned with floral prints.

The current owners, Harrises further bought quite a few adjoining plots to more than double the land around the 3,200-square-foot house. A pool house was added to serve as viewing pavilion for the main house. The Neutra’s Kaufmann House has a presale estimate of between $15 million and $25 million.