There is no such thing as a single view on this tour.
It’s multiple views.
With seven homes mapped for a self-driving tour through Palm Springs and Rancho Mirage, a new event added to the Modernism Week Fall Preview lineup promises to fill your camera roll with unusual views and Instagram-worthy snapshots exuding all things mod.
The Framed Spaces Home Tour, slated for Oct. 21 during Fall Preview’s Oct.19–22 run, intersects art, desert lifestyle, and architectural wonder. “I think the homes on this tour are very reflective of the desert lifestyle in that everywhere you look there is a view worth framing,” says artist Bonnie Ruttan, who assisted event organizer Keith Zabel with picking properties for the tour. “They all have fabulous views of something unique — sometimes it’s the yard and the pool, sometimes it’s the view of the city beneath you, or sometimes it’s the art and décor, and sometimes it’s all of those elements.”
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Many of the midcentury homes have significant art collections, Ruttan says, including the single Rancho Mirage house on the tour belonging to artists Karen and Tony Barone, whose work stands in front of the Palm Springs Animal Shelter and graces the facade of the recently opened Acqua California Bistro restaurant in Rancho Mirage. Two of the Palm Springs homes have vintage sculptures and pottery. Each house is a vignette that tells a story within its own framed space, Ruttan adds.
PHOTO BY DAVID A. LEE
“We wanted this to be about the art of living in the desert,” says event organizer Keith Zabel.
PHOTO BY DAVID BLANK
You can view this Vista Las Palmas living room.
PHOTO BY JAMES SCHNEPF
The exterior of Karen and Tony Barone’s art studio in Rancho Mirage showcases some of their pieces.
Zabel says some of the homes have not been part of previous Modernism Week tours. “We wanted this to be about the art of living in the desert,” he says. “The tour highlights the lifestyle of living in the desert and how amazing it is to live here — a combination of beautiful weather, amazing mountains, gorgeous flora and fauna, and fabulous homes. The way people have curated their homes, it all comes together in such an inspiring experience.”
The tour will conclude with a light reception from 5 to 8 p.m. hosted by local artist Shawn Savage at an E. Stewart Williams–designed building in downtown Palm Springs. Savage is making a series of paintings that will be for sale at the reception and 100 percent of those proceeds, as well as the tour proceeds, will benefit the Palm Springs Animal Shelter.
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“For me, these Modernism Week tours are great,” says Zabel, who is vice president of programs for Friends of the Palm Springs Animal Shelter. “They [engage] my passion for midcentury modern architecture.”
Zabel notes past tours have raised more than $30,000 to help the animals. So not only will a ticket to this Modernism Week home tour indulge one’s love of architecture and design, it will support the community’s four-legged residents as well.
PHOTO BY MELISSA GIDNEY PHOTOGRAPHY
On the tour is this Little Tuscany neighborhood home in Palm Springs.
“We think people will say ‘Wow, the view is amazing, the architectural features are amazing, and the art on the walls is incredible’,” Zabel says.
Framed Spaces Home Tour, Modernism Week Fall Preview, Oct. 19–22. The self-driving tour runs 2:30–6:30 p.m. Oct. 21 with a reception 5–8 p.m. Tickets and schedule available at modernismweek.com.