126 DIGS.NET
| 12.11.2020
S W E E T D I G S | K A U F M A N N H O U S E
M
A
R
K
E
T
n 1953, Richard Neutra's "Survival Through Design" was
published. The book was the architect's treatise on how design
could be a potent catalyst for a heightened human experi-
ence—particularly in the realm of our connection with nature.
The book had been written by Neutra throughout the 1940s,
and many of his ideas no doubt crystallized during work on one of his
most important commissions—Kaufmann House.
The origins of the Palm Springs house date to 1946, the year it was
built by Neutra after having been commissioned by Pittsburgh depart-
ment store businessman Edgar J. Kaufmann Sr. It was to be a winter
retreat from his primary residence in Pennsylvania; Kaufmann's week-
end house in Pennsylvania happened to be the splendid Fallingwater,
designed by none other than Frank Lloyd Wright. Significant is that for
this commission Kaufmann had selected Neutra, not Wright—prefer-
ring the former's open, airy structures that helped inhabitants live in
sync with their natural environment. When completed, Kaufmann House
stood as a testament to the designer's architectural premises: a roughly
3,200 square feet dwelling, cleanly articulated in stone, metal and
glass—and planted neatly in the midst of a striking desert landscape.
Nearly 75 years later, Kaufmann House has the added distinction
of being one of the most important homes in America, returning to the
market after a meticulous restoration. Arguably the most exclusive
residential listing in the U.S. at the moment, Kaufmann House is repre-
sented by Gerard Bisignano, architectural specialist and South Bay real
I
