William Krisel
Palm Springs architect William Krisel entered the arena of architecture in the boom times that followed World War II and left in 1979 when the profession became “too uptight” as a result of lawyers and stricter building codes. During his illustrative career, Krisel, now 84 and still consulting, designed more than 30,000 homes throughout Southern California, including modern tract housing for the Alexander Construction Company as well as the House of Tomorrow, a futuristic house that later became the honeymoon home of Elvis and Priscilla Presley. Here we present an extended version of our June 2009 issue Q&A with Krisel.
Why did you become a licensed landscape architect in addition to an architect?
I think the architect should be in charge of everything. To me, the indoors and outdoors are not separate; a pane of glass is not a wall but a visual continuation of the indoors and the outdoors. I never practiced landscape architecture as a separate thing; I only did it on my own projects—just as I picked the textures and colors of materials, designed the furniture and light fixtures, and everything else that the architect used to do.
What outside your field inspires you?
Music—both my wife and I are very interested in music and our daughter is involved in opera—as well as art, painting, and traveling, but architecture is in everything I see, hear, or do. There’s no way I can evaluate outside interests except to relate them to architecture.
Is there a specific object that changed how you think about design?
I’ve always been told that the egg is something that can’t be improved upon. Giving it some thought, I agree.
What is your ideal project?
My ideal project is a tough challenge with a minimum budget and lots of conditions to be met. I like doing houses with a minimal square footage that have all the comforts of an expensive place; budgets and costs aren’t criteria for doing good design. Design is design, and it has nothing to do with dollars and cents.
Where do you hope architecture will be in 20 years?
I hope architecture will be known for architecture and not starchitects. Unfortunately the profession of architecture has been reduced to one tenth of what it used to be. Today you have landscape people for gardens, kitchen people for the kitchen, and so on, and all the architect does is provide the frame for people to hang their work on. All that work used to be done under just one person: the architect.
What would today’s House of Tomorrow look like?
Reimagining the House of Tomorrow is futile; all it encompasses is taking advantage of every new gadget, from the kitchen to the bathroom to the lighting. To me, going back to more functional, comfortable, smaller places is the real challenge.
How has architecture changed since you opened your firm in the 50s??
It was a far less legalistic world in the 1950s, and people had a much simpler life. In the 1970s, everyone expected perfection, and dentists, doctors, and even architects were getting sued for things that in the past people would just work out. Architecture became a very uptight profession, and it was not very fun because everything had to be approved by a lawyer, building codes became more complicated, and contractors became much more scared of their work. The ‘50s and ‘60s were the good old days when people enjoyed what they were doing.
Who in your field inspires you?
I was a great admirer of Frank Lloyd Wright and Marcel Breuer, as well as several Swedish and Norwegian designers; they inspired me to do what I wanted to do but in my own language. I constantly say, “I don’t have a style, I have a language.” I have a language. Frank Lloyd Wright had a language. He spoke his and then I made my own.
Twin Palms by William Krisel.
Is there anything you’d still like to design?
If I had one more project, I’d mix prefab with stick-built housing, do a study of how to take prefabricated components and create a great variety of house designs like what I did in Palm Springs with the Alexander Construction Company. All those had the same floor plans but different arrangements, which created totally different atmospheres. It’s a never-ending possibility of things you can do to keep making something different.
Twin Palms Plans and Elevation Drawings by William Krisel.
What advice do you have for young architects?
Design defensively. If you make a u-shaped house the first thing people will do is close it in because they already have the first three walls. Architects have to be careful not to give people that kind of opportunity.
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As my WebSite shows William Krisel and I could have been twins. JG
TWINS ???? NOT IDENTICAL TWINS BY A LONG SHOT. REMOTELY FRATERNAL TWINS., BUT THAT'S ONLY BECAUSE WE'RE BOTH ARCHITECTS.
Does anyone know where to get the rear facade drawings of the original Racquet Club Road Estates Alexanders that show the clerestories that were designed (but not built in the production homes?) This is a frequent comment I get from clients looking to purchase Alexander homes. Although the homes are certainly wonderful as built, some of my clients have opened up the clerestories where they were originally designed, and certainly makes a huge difference.
Hi Paul. I spoke with Krisel's archivist, who informed me that the Getty recently acquired Krisel's drawings and archives. Krisel himself often comments on Dwell.com and may be able to provide additional information as well. Hope this helps point you in a good direction for finding out more.
I am the manager of a small desert inn located in Borrego Springs, Ca (not far from Palm Springs) called the Palms at Indian Head (2220 Hoberg Road, Borrego Springs, Ca 92004) and it has been suggested to me that the architect of our classic 1958 hotel (originally built in 1947 and then re-built in 1958 with current Modernism style) was Mr. William Krisel. I was wondering if anyone, including Mr. Krisel himself, could confirm this. The current owners are trying to keep the hotel in its original state from 1958 and are curious if he is the creator of our beautiful property.
I DID DO A MOTEL IN BORREGO AND NEVER KNEW WHAT HAPPENED TO IT. A HOMEOWNER IN BORREBO, MR. TODD PITMAN verdedesign@sbcglobal.net IS AN ARCHIVIST FOR MY WORK IN BORREGO AND PERHAPS HE COULD CONFIRM OR NOT MY WORK. THANKS FOR YOUR INTEREST. BILL KRISEL
Does anyone, including Mr. Krisel, know what is planned for the Palm Springs "Alexander Weekend Revisited' event in 2011? I hope that either the original or an updated tribute program is published for the event . . . perhaps Mr. Krisel can add to the content with additional information on the various models and the subdivisions, too.
Hello All, My family recently moved into a (I think Palmer/) Krisel home in the San Fernando Valley tract of Marlborough Palms in Granada Hills. Other than a brochure found in a Granada HIlls book, there exists very little info on this area south of Chatsworth, east of Hayvenhurst, north of San Jose and west of Debra. My wife and I would love to hear of anything pertaining to this wonderful, albeit neglected group of fantastic homes. SInce moving in during the summer I have been fiercely busy restoring the home as best I can to it's inherent greatness and would LOVE to learn of any history of the area. Thanks so much, Mark Findler 16439 Kingsbury Street Granada Hills, CA 91344
Hi, We want to know what the original paint colors, and types were used on the exterior and trim. We recently bought a Racquetclub Road Estate home, slot window model. We were wondering if the brightwork metal aluminum frames on the windows was left bare, or painted.We also wanted to know what colors were used on the trim and exterior walls, and if they were gloss, satin, or flat. Our home has a metal awning that spans the length of the rear of the house, that we found in the 1964 Sears Roebuck Catalogue. It has remnants of an olive/Army green color, but is now white. The trim on the house also has some of the same green color visible in places, although the current color is a deep brown trim, with cream walls. The wood windbreaks in our breezeway, I painted high gloss white, and looks great to me. Any info on the original colors, interior, and exterior would be great to know. Thanks, Frank Goodhue
Hello, I am curious as to William Krisel's landscaping remodel in 2006 on a home in the Twin Palm section of Palm Springs (1957 Alexander butterfly roof house). I am going for the exact same design approach with my home in north county San Diego. I wondered how the wall was built. What material were the panels? Looks like recycled compressed material I seen, but do not know the name. The gates are great too. Also, the landscape low voltage lanterns are fab. I would love William to view my home and give me some tips. Love him.
I recently toured the "House of Tomorrow" on Ladera Circle. While I was interested in the architecture and tiered floor-plan the tour was mainly regarding Elvis and Priscilla spending their honeymoon there. Unfortunately we were not granted access to the lower level that we were advised was the internal entry to the garage and to a secondary master bedroom that Elvis sometimes used. What information or pictures are available of that portion of the house if any? Considering the house was not designed for Elvis' needs and the Alexanders resided there prior; was the lower area primarily for the usage of the Alexander's daughter or was there more to the level than was described? We were never shown the the main entrance from inside the house to this level - only the one off the upstairs master bedroom; I was curious if the door way to this level from the main level was in the circular hall just off the kitchen with the skylight above? If not there I couldn't imagine where. We only saw portions of the house and though what I saw was amazing it left me with many questions about the remainder of the house. I am just looking for additional information or a floorplan outline or something so I can picture a complete house. Any answers or direction anyone can provide would be greatly appreciated. Thanks so much.
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