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Overview

The Alexander Construction Company commissioned the Palm Springs architectural firm of Wexler and Harrison to design 38 steel-frame residences for its Racquet Club Estates development in the early 1960s. Costs of steel rapidly escalated during the period of construction cutting the profit margin for the Alexanders. They discontinued production after only seven were erected.

Building History

Wexler designed seven houses with steel frames for the Alexander Construction Company, operated by George and Robert Alexander, in Palm Springs, CA. Wexler and Harrison worked with the steel fabricator Calcor Corporation and the civil engineer Bernard Perlin. The interior designer, Arthur Elrod, undertook the interior design of three of the Alexander Steel Development houses. Elrod spent about $3,500 on one residence's interior design. (See Adele Cygelman, Arthur Elrod: Desert Modern Design, [Layton, UT: Gibbs Smith, 2019], np.)

United States Steel Company and Bethlehem Steel Corporation provided funding for this experiment in steel-frame housing; the houses cost $8 a square foor to erect.

Building Notes

The Alexander Steel Development Houses were located at 290 East Simms Road, 3125 North Sunnyview Drive, 3133 North Sunnvview Drive, 3165 North Sunnyview Drive, 300 East Mollino Road, 330 East Mollino Road. and 3100 North Sunnyview Drive. The City of Palm Springs designated the Alexander Steel Houses to be Class 1 Historic Sites in 2001.

The Steel Development House #2 at 3125 North Sunnyview Drive, was added to the National Register of Historic Places in 2012.

PCAD id: 3008