Aluminaire House
The Aluminaire House was described by the architects, A. Lawrence Kocher and Albert Frey, as “a House for Contemporary Life.” The three-story, 1,200-square-foot house was built using materials — aluminum, steel and glass — donated by manufacturers who were exploring the use of preassembled parts for affordable housing. The first all-metal house in the United States was built in a short ten days as a case study debuting at the Architectural and Allied Arts Exposition of New York in 1931. It was bought by architect Wallace K. Harrison and relocated to his country estate on Long Island. It was moved and modified several times, threatened with demolition and finally deconstructed and put in storage in 2012. It was purchased and moved to Palm Springs in 2017, but reassembly didn’t start until 2023 on a parking lot just south of the Palm Springs Art Museum.
Palm Springs, Riverside County
Photographer: Jacki Roberts