Think of an Alexander home as a flawless cake — elegant, clean, and simple. Best of all, it’s a versatile foundation for many kinds of frosting.
During the late 1950s and ’60s, the Alexander Construction Company built more than 2,000 of its Alexander homes in the Palm Springs area. Similar in floor plan but with a variety of rooflines, they were versatile for owners without extravagant means who wanted a PIECE of the Palm Springs dream.
Many people find the architecture irresistible, and for good reason. Typically, rooms are small with slanted ceilings, but the windows are expansive, bridging the indoor living areas with the desert landscape. The homes were not just functional spaces — They came to characterize the carefree, Southern California lifestyle.
Here’s a look at two designers and one design team, all of whom approached a classic Alexander structure and topped it off with atypical icing.
PHOTO BY LANCE GERBER
Stewart Mohr Designs returned the modest home built in 1962 to its roots and kept colors consistent inside and out. Small mosaic tiles cover the fireplace surround in the living room.
The Hot Swanktuary by Bill Stewart
“You need to have a very light hand when designing an Alexander,” Bill Stewart says. “It’s like being overdressed for a night out. Look in the mirror and take one thing off.”
Fourteen years ago, the man behind the Atlanta-based Stewart Mohr Designs (until recently, known as William Stewart Designs) vacationed at the Orbit In hotel. He was so enchanted by the swank Palm Springs lifestyle, he wanted a slice for himself.
“To me, life is meant to be lived in a good backdrop,” he says. “So what I’ve created for myself is an amped-up, East Coast idea of what Palm Springs really is.”
Stewart purchased his Alexander in Vista Las Palmas, a midcentury tract between Old Las Palmas and the mountains where modernist architecture is passionately embraced.
“It’s almost like a neighborhood frozen in time. But a really great time,” he says.
Stewart likens the renovation to an archeological excavation. The floor plan had not been altered, but the windows and doors had been changed to a Colonial style, which didn’t suit the architecture. A garage door enclosed the carports. The landscaping was overgrown. As the layers were peeled away, Stewart was pleased to uncover some great Alexander bones.
The ceilings are pitched tall. The brise-soleil, which extends along the front of the house, reduces the effects of the bright sun and teases a breeze out of the desert air. The backyard loggia offers a cool place to relax. Floor-to-ceiling glass doors blur the distinction between indoors and out.
To stay true to the period, Stewart held on to the midcentury lighting fixtures, but took some leeway with the furniture design and arrangement. Inspired by the likes of Pierre Cardin, Christian Dior, and Hermès, Stewart’s style merges the 1960s with later years, nodding to the fashion designers’ home collections from the 1970s.
“I love mixing brass and stainless together, using plastic laminates, keeping black and white undertones with bright accent colors,” he says. “I imagined it as bright and fresh by day, but moody and sexy at night.”
PHOTO BY LANCE GERBER
Decorative concrete block is seen through uncovered windows.
PHOTO BY LANCE GERBER
Bill Stewart with partner Joe Peterbilt.
PHOTO BY MICHAEL GARLAND
A color palette that explores the many sides of green and blue was inspired by the hedges and pool outside this Alexander by Grace Home Furnishings. “We wanted the house to stand out and feel midcentury but updated,” says designer Michael Ostrow. “The upholstery is new so it sits comfortably but has midcentury style.”
The Easy, Breezy Alexander by Grace Home Furnishings
Designer Michael Ostrow, co-founder of Grace Home Furnishings, wants to dispense with the notion that midcentury homes require vintage furniture to fill them.
“The purist houses look great, but the problem is that the stuff made in the 1960s isn’t that comfortable,” he says. “We’re not building a museum. We’re making a living space.”
For the redesign of an Alexander once owned by philanthropist Jeannette Edris Rockefeller, Ostrow was determined to move the Old Las Palmas house out of the past and thrust it into the future. To do so, he used contemporary furniture that fits with the scale of the home, mixed with vintage lighting and accent pieces that wink toward retro chic.
“The idea is to create the feel of vintage Palm Springs without adhering to purist Palm Springs,” he says.
White interior paint provided a blank slate. Then Ostrow added powerful pops of color with wallpaper in fun patterns, like a David Hicks honeycomb with large-scale geometric hexagons.
In a departure from many midcentury designs, Ostrow purposely employed an array of blue and aqua hues, from navy to peacock, that ebb and flow over the chairs, shaggy rugs, benches, and throw pillows.
“I wanted this house to stand out, and these are colors that aren’t typically used.”
With the openness of the Alexander design and the walls of glass, the shimmery blues of the home reflect the deep teal of the pool and a cloudless desert sky. The update accomplished exactly what Ostrow’s clients had asked for: something fun, bright, and very different from their beachy, shingle-style home in Manhattan Beach.
“Right after the house was finished, I remember all the lights were on, and it was just beautiful the way the whole place seemed to open,” Ostrow says. “All the colors flowed one into the other.”
PHOTO BY MICHAEL GARLAND
The geometric wallpaper in assorted blues was one of the first design choices. It serves as a focal point and energetic backdrop for toned down furnishings. Black-and-white vintage images from Condé Nast lend a relaxed, poolside feel.
PHOTO BY MICHAEL GARLAND
All glassware and most accent lighting in the home are vintage. An aqua sheepskin adds fun on the floor.
PHOTO BY PATRICK KETCHUM
The original fireplace takes center stage in another Thomboy Alexander.
The Neutral Alexanders by Thomboy Properties
Jackie Thomas and DeeAnn McCoy, owners of Thomboy Properties, believe in letting a home reveal itself. It’s what makes their Alexander makeovers distinctive — furnishings are restrained, while the houses’ clerestories, beams, and glass stand in the spotlight.
Thomboy’s approach, they say, is “addition by subtraction.” In one of their two Alexander projects, for instance, the team returned the structure to its original state by exposing the soaring tongue-and-groove ceilings, removing a wrought-iron gate that had been added to the breezeway, and showcasing the original fireplace.
Thomboy tends to use a neutral palette in its designs: an airy, sophisticated, aesthetic that allows the strong form of the house to dominate. That’s of the utmost importance in these renovations for resell.
“We take risks in areas that can easily be changed by a prospective buyer: door color, bed linens, pillows, or art,” Thomas says.
She believes their style lends itself to tranquility, like packaging a refreshing California vacation into a house.
“We love white boxes. They are relaxing, and many people come to Palm Springs as a getaway from their busy lives,” Thomas says. “Our classic ‘Thomboy white’ feels quintessentially midcentury modern and quintessentially Palm Springs.”
PHOTO BY PATRICK KETCHUM
White walls, ceiling beams, and contrasting posts are a fresh foundation in a neutral Alexander. Choose black furniture for a strong statement, white to soften the look. High-gloss white floors add polish. Palmer-Kreisel designed this 1959 Alexander in Racquet Club Estates renovated by Thomboy Properties.