Modernist architect Donald Wexler dies at 89

Donald Wexler, one of the Coachella Valley's most notable architects, known affectionately as "the man of steel" after popularizing the easy to produce "Steel Houses" in the early 1960s, died Friday at his home in Palm Desert after a brief illness. He was 89.

Wexler's architecture career spanned some 50 years in the Coachella Valley. Wexler, along with his business partner Richard Harrison, and other notable architects such as William Cody and E. Stewart Williams played a significant role in establishing the sort of modernist aesthetic Palm Springs has become known for.

"Palm Springs has lost one of its foremost modern architects," wrote Sidney Williams, curator for the Palm Springs Art Museum Architecture and Design Center, in an email Saturday. "Don was renowned for his innovative Steel Houses but his practice also included Palm Springs International Airport, numerous schools, and Desert Water Agency."

Wexler's body of work is far-reaching, and includes custom homes, schools, banks and the elegant and simple Steel Homes.

Though perhaps Wexler's most crowning achievement is the Palm Springs International Airport's main terminal, completed in 1965.

"Wexler's Palm Springs airport with its soaring walls of glass facing Mount San Jacinto provide a dramatic welcome to visitors as the first building they see when arriving," said Peter Moruzzi, an architecture historian and a member of the Palm Springs Modern Committee executive board.

Wexler also designed other familiar buildings such as the Palm Desert High School (1990), the Palm Springs Police Department (1985), the Royal Hawaiian Estates condo development (1960), Rancho Mirage Middle School (1966) and the Dinah Shore residence (1964.)

"He was involved with many different levels of architecture and style," said Richard "Kip" Serafin, a former board member of the Palm Springs Preservation Foundation, and who knew Wexler and his work. "So he just didn't build one specific thing. And he built custom homes for people, but made them livable.

"He did build for the desert, and to maximize views and the outdoor living space," Serafin added. "He was one of the most extraordinary modern architects of mid-century Palm Springs, when you look at everything, side by side that he's done."

Wexler was born on Jan. 23, 1926 in Sioux Falls, South Dakota. When he was 3 months old, the family moved to Minneapolis. Following high school, Wexler spent two years in the U.S. Navy from 1944 to 1946. He later enrolled at the University of Minnesota on the G.I. Bill.

Even though many schools of architecture around the country were still firmly grounded in the Beaux Arts style of design, the University of Minnesota was not, and had begun to explore the modernist style, which would come to define post-war America.

Following college, Wexler went on to apprentice at the firm of Richard Neutra, a legend in southern California architecture circles. Wexler spent nine months at the firm, before heading to Palm Springs for a job in William "Bill" Cody's firm.

In 1952 Wexler teamed up with Harrison to establish Wexler & Harrison. By the early 1960s, the two went their separate ways.

"In postwar architecture there was a feeling of no fear," Wexler said in April 2015.

"Just go after it, try, and develop new things. At the time, the economics guided the simplicity of the design," he added, explaining some of the guiding forces in the mid-20th century that influenced him.

"His many commercial buildings, schools, residential and institutional buildings display the breadth of his amazing talent," said Moruzzi. "Donald Wexler was one of the great masters of desert modern architecture. He will be sorely missed."

In 2000, Wexler sold his practice to WWCOT, a large corporate architectural practice in Los Angeles. "He stayed for two years, but ultimately found he wasn't a good fit in a large firm," wrote Patrick McGrew in the book "Donald Wexler: Architect," a publication produced by the Palm Springs Preservation Foundation. Wexler officially retired in 2002, though occasionally consulted with clients.

Affordable, and easy-to-assemble "steel houses" began to appear in Palm Springs in the mid-1930s. However the cluster of seven steel homes developed by Wexler & Harrison in 1962 are some of the most notable residential projects in Palm Springs. All seven homes are Class I Historic sites, a local preservation designation. Steel House Development No. 2 at 3125 N. Sunnyview Drive in Palm Springs is listed on the National Register of Historic Places. The plan was to build 38 of the prefab homes, which took fewer than 30 days to construct from ground-breaking to completion.

"His steel houses were groundbreaking designs in their elegance and simplicity," said Moruzzi.

The Racquet Club Estates neighborhood in north Palm Springs where the Steel Houses were built is a regular stop on the popular double-decker bus tours during Modernism Week in Palm Springs, an event that draws some 50,000 admirers of architecture and design for more than a week of home tours, parties, lectures and other events.

The work of architects such as Wexler is often credited with establishing Palm Springs as a destination and the embodiment of a modern, sophisticated, desert resort lifestyle.

Buildings like the Eisenhower Health Center on Palm Canyon Drive in Palm Springs are regarded by preservationists as one of Wexler's most notable buildings and a signature example of how an old building can be reused rather than torn down. Built in 1971 as a Merrill Lynch Bank, the building recently underwent a careful restoration for years of continued use.

"His signature style helped bring Palm Springs to the international stage and his body of work is still as fresh today as when first created," said J.R. Roberts, a member of the Palm Springs Planning Commission, and well-respected member of the local preservation community. "Many have and will continue to be inspired by him. I feel truly honored to have known him and to to call him a friend. A great man has walked among us."

For all of the acclaim Wexler has brought to the Coachella Valley — and himself — over the years, those who knew him recall quiet humility.

"He was very kind and modest. He didn't want to be in the limelight," said Serafin. "He didn't want the attention. He wanted to stay in the background."

"Don was such a loving, modest man whose extraordinary family is testament to his nurturing and inspiring life," echoed Williams. "I shall certainly miss him; he was a special person as well as an important architect."

Funeral arrangements are forth-coming and have not yet been finalized.