The Chicago connection is alive and well in Greater Palm Springs.
A Modernism Week tour of two midcentury homes will help fundraise the restoration of the House of Tomorrow, which was designed by George Fred Keck and constructed for the 1933-34 Century of Progress World’s Fair in Chicago. The restoration is a partnership between the National Trust for Historic Preservation and Indiana Landmarks. To fully restore the House of Tomorrow, which is being leased from the National Park Service, Indiana Landmarks is raising $2 million.
The two homes will be open Feb. 24 during Modernism Week. One is a Palm Springs Class 1 Historic Site designed by Harold “Hal” Levitt, famed architect to the stars. The second residence is designed by the late Palm Springs architect Donald Wexler in 1957 for Harold Florsheim of Florsheim Shoes in Chicago.
A House of Tomorrow presentation will be held Feb. 25. The history of the house will be presented by Todd Zeiger, director of Indiana Landmarks’ northern regional office.
Among the first residential buildings to employ a glass curtain-wall, Keck’s House of Tomorrow beat out both Mies van der Rohe’s 1945-51 Farnsworth House and Philip Johnson’s 1949 Glass House.
Visit modernismweek.com to purchase tickets for both the home tour and presentation.