Albert Frey ( ; October 18, 1903 – November 14, 1998) was a Swiss-born
architect
An architect is a person who plans, designs and oversees the construction of buildings. To practice architecture means to provide services in connection with the design of buildings and the space within the site surrounding the buildings that h ...
who established a style of
modernist architecture
Modern architecture, or modernist architecture, was an architectural movement or architectural style based upon new and innovative technologies of construction, particularly the use of glass, steel, and reinforced concrete; the idea that form ...
centered on
Palm Springs
Palm Springs (Cahuilla: ''Séc-he'') is a desert resort city in Riverside County, California, United States, within the Colorado Desert's Coachella Valley. The city covers approximately , making it the largest city in Riverside County by land ...
, California, United States, that came to be known as "
desert modernism".
European years
Born in
Zurich, Switzerland, Frey received his architecture diploma in 1924 from the
Technikum engineering school in
Winterthur
, neighboring_municipalities = Brütten, Dinhard, Elsau, Hettlingen, Illnau-Effretikon, Kyburg, Lindau, Neftenbach, Oberembrach, Pfungen, Rickenbach, Schlatt, Seuzach, Wiesendangen, Zell
, twintowns = Hall in Tirol (Austria ...
, Switzerland. There Frey trained in traditional building construction and received technical instruction rather than design instruction in the then popular
Beaux-Arts style
Beaux-Arts architecture ( , ) was the academic architectural style taught at the École des Beaux-Arts in Paris, particularly from the 1830s to the end of the 19th century. It drew upon the principles of French neoclassicism, but also incorpor ...
. Prior to receiving his diploma, Frey apprenticed with the architect A. J. Arter in Zurich and worked in construction during his school vacations.
It was also around this time that Frey became aware of the Dutch
De Stijl
''De Stijl'' (; ), Dutch for "The Style", also known as Neoplasticism, was a Dutch art movement founded in 1917 in Leiden. De Stijl consisted of artists and architects. In a more narrow sense, the term ''De Stijl'' is used to refer to a body ...
movement, the German
Bauhaus
The Staatliches Bauhaus (), commonly known as the Bauhaus (), was a German art school operational from 1919 to 1933 that combined crafts and the fine arts.Oxford Dictionary of Art and Artists (Oxford: Oxford University Press, 4th edn., 20 ...
school and movement, and the
modernism
Modernism is both a philosophy, philosophical and arts movement that arose from broad transformations in Western world, Western society during the late 19th and early 20th centuries. The movement reflected a desire for the creation of new fo ...
movement developing in
Brussels
Brussels (french: Bruxelles or ; nl, Brussel ), officially the Brussels-Capital Region (All text and all but one graphic show the English name as Brussels-Capital Region.) (french: link=no, Région de Bruxelles-Capitale; nl, link=no, Bruss ...
. All would prove to be significant influences to Frey's later work.
From 1924 through 1928, Frey worked on various architectural projects in
Belgium
Belgium, ; french: Belgique ; german: Belgien officially the Kingdom of Belgium, is a country in Northwestern Europe. The country is bordered by the Netherlands to the north, Germany to the east, Luxembourg to the southeast, France to th ...
. In 1928, Frey secured a position in the Paris
atelier
An atelier () is the private workshop or studio of a professional artist in the fine or decorative arts or an architect, where a principal master and a number of assistants, students, and apprentices can work together producing fine art or ...
of the noted
International Style architect
Le Corbusier and
Pierre Jeanneret
Pierre Jeanneret (22 March 1896 – 4 December 1967) was a Swiss architect who collaborated with his cousin, Charles-Édouard Jeanneret (who assumed the pseudonym Le Corbusier), for about twenty years.
Early life
Arnold-André-Pierre Jea ...
. Frey was one of two full-time employees of the atelier and coworkers included
Josep Lluís Sert
Josep Lluís Sert i López (; 1 July 190215 March 1983) was a Spanish architect and city planner.
Biography
Born in Barcelona, Catalonia, Sert showed keen interest in the works of his uncle, the painter Josep Maria Sert, and of Gaudí. He s ...
,
Kunio Maekawa, and
Charlotte Perriand
Charlotte Perriand (24 October 1903 – 27 October 1999) was a French architect and designer. Her work aimed to create functional living spaces in the belief that better design helps in creating a better society. In her article "L'Art de Vivre" f ...
. During his period of working for Le Corbusier, Frey worked on the
Villa Savoye
Villa Savoye () is a modernist villa and gatelodge in Poissy, on the outskirts of Paris. It was designed by the Swiss-French architect Le Corbusier and his cousin Pierre Jeanneret, and built between 1928 and 1931 using reinforced concrete.Courlan ...
project and other significant projects. In 1928, Frey left the atelier to take up work in the United States, but continued to maintain a friendship with Le Corbusier for many years.
American years
In September, 1930, Frey returned to
New York from another visit to France. Frey, the first architect in America to have worked directly with Le Corbusier, now began working with the American architect
A. Lawrence Kocher who was also the managing editor of
Architectural Record
''Architectural Record'' is a US-based monthly magazine dedicated to architecture and interior design. "The Record," as it is sometimes colloquially referred to, is widely-recognized as an important historical record of the unfolding debates in a ...
. Their collaboration would last until 1935, and they would reunite for a brief collaboration again in 1938.
Although only four buildings were built by the pair, they contributed significantly to the American modernist movement through their numerous articles published in Architectural Record on urban planning, the
modernist
Modernism is both a philosophy, philosophical and arts movement that arose from broad transformations in Western world, Western society during the late 19th and early 20th centuries. The movement reflected a desire for the creation of new fo ...
aesthetic, and technology. One collaboration was the 1931
Aluminaire House, designed for an exhibition, and later sold to New York architect
Wallace K. Harrison
Wallace Kirkman Harrison (September 28, 1895 – December 2, 1981) was an American architect. Harrison started his professional career with the firm of Corbett, Harrison & MacMurray, participating in the construction of Rockefeller Center. He is ...
for $1000. Harrison used it as a guest house on
his Long Island property for years. Another of their commissions was an office/apartment dual-use building for Kocher's brother, Dr. J. J. Kocher of Palm Springs. This project introduced Frey to the California desert, which was to become his home and the backdrop for most of his subsequent work.
From 1935 to 1937, Frey worked with
John Porter Clark (1905–1991), a Cornell-educated architect, under the firm name of Van Pelt and Lind Architects as both were yet unlicensed in California. In 1937, Frey briefly returned to the east coast to work on the
Museum of Modern Art
The Museum of Modern Art (MoMA) is an art museum located in Midtown Manhattan, New York City, on 53rd Street between Fifth and Sixth Avenues.
It plays a major role in developing and collecting modern art, and is often identified as one of ...
in New York. While in New York, Frey married Marion Cook, a writer he had met in Palm Springs. In 1938, Frey and his wife went to France and returned to America on the
''Normandie'', a floating art deco masterpiece.
Upon completion of his work on the Museum of Modern Art in 1939, Frey and Marion returned to California to resume his collaboration with Clark, which would continue for nearly twenty more years. Frey and Marion divorced in 1945 and neither remarried.
At the end of
World War II
World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great powers—forming two opposing ...
Palm Springs' population almost tripled, and the city experienced a building boom. Known as an escape for the Hollywood elite and a winter haven for east coast industrialists, Palm Springs emerged post-war as a resort community for a broader segment of the American populace with more leisure time than any previous generation.
Frey and Clark were well positioned to capitalize on this, and both the city and their firm benefited from an unprecedented period of construction. Significant buildings by Frey during this period include the following:
* Kocher-Samson Building
* Cree House II
* Frey's private residences, ''Frey House I'' and ''Frey House II''
* ''Loewy House'', built for
industrial designer
Raymond Loewy
*
North Shore Beach and Yacht Club at
North Shore,
Salton Sea
The Salton Sea is a shallow, landlocked, highly saline body of water in Riverside and Imperial counties at the southern end of the U.S. state of California. It lies on the San Andreas Fault within the Salton Trough that stretches to the Gulf ...
– renovated (May 2010)
*
Palm Springs Aerial Tramway Valley Station
* Palm Springs City Hall (1952)
* Salton Bay Yacht Club, Salton City
*
Villa Hermosa (1946) – updated in 1956 by Frey & renovated in 2003
*
Tramway Gas Station, with an iconic "flying wedge" canopy, at the entrance to the
Palm Springs Tramway, now used as a
visitors center.
Frey died in
Palm Springs
Palm Springs (Cahuilla: ''Séc-he'') is a desert resort city in Riverside County, California, United States, within the Colorado Desert's Coachella Valley. The city covers approximately , making it the largest city in Riverside County by land ...
, aged 95, and was buried at Welwood Murray Cemetery.
Legacy
After some consideration, a shopping center at the corner of Sunrise Way and Ramon Road in Palm Springs that bore a Frey-designed façade was demolished and replaced with an entirely new center that incorporates architectural touches in Frey's style. Newly designed structures along Palm Canyon Drive are now being fitted with Frey-styled accents, including butterfly rooflines, glass walls, rock facings and exposed ceilings.
Frey's buildings helped establish Palm Springs as a progressive desert mecca for innovative modern architecture during the 1950s, 1960s and 1970s. He produced designs for the spectrum of architectural commissions, from bespoke custom homes to institutional and public buildings, most of which are still in use today.
In comparison with his contemporary and fellow European transplant,
Richard Neutra, Frey's designs are more integrated into the surrounding landscape and draw from the local surroundings for color and metaphor. In contrast to Neutra, Frey's designs are more commercial and less philosophically dogmatic, and hence more accessible. By embracing the American idiom while incorporating the modernist philosophy influenced by Le Corbusier, Frey produced a new regional vernacular. In 1996, he was awarded the
Neutra Award for Professional Excellence.
A Golden Palm Star on the
Palm Springs Walk of Stars
The Palm Springs Walk of Stars is a walk of fame in downtown Palm Springs, California, where "Golden Palm Stars", honoring various people who have lived in the greater Palm Springs area, are embedded in the sidewalk pavement. The walk includes po ...
was dedicated to Frey in 2010.
Palm Springs Walk of Stars: By Date Dedicated
Notes
References
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External links
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{{DEFAULTSORT:Frey, Albert
Modernist architects
Expressionist architects
1903 births
1998 deaths
Modernist architects from the United States
Modernist architecture in California
Artists from Palm Springs, California
People from Zürich
Burials at Welwood Murray Cemetery
20th-century Swiss architects
20th-century American architects
Architects from California
Swiss emigrants to the United States