One of the truly intriguing facts of mid-century
history in Borrego Springs is the incredible concentration
of talented builders, designers and architects who coalesced
in this very remote location over 50 years ago. Many cities
of far greater size do not have half the inventory of mid-century
architectural resources that can be found within Borrego Springs.
It is therefore not entirely surprising that one of modernisms
most prolific designers found his way to the Borrego Valley
early in its development.
William Krisel AIA was born in 1924 in Shanghai. His parents
at that time worked for the U.S. State Department. The family
would remain in China until returning to the United States
in 1937. Krisel attended Beverly Hills High School and prior
to attending college enlisted in the service to serve in
World War II as a Chinese language interpreter. Following
the war Krisel returned to California and received his degree
in architecture from the University of Southern California.
He became licensed to practice architecture in 1950 and
was one of the first licensed landscape architects in California,
receiving that license in 1954.
Where desert modernists such as Albert Frey, William Cody
and others of this era are widely acclaimed for their dramatic
custom homes, Krisel is the architect who brought modern
to the masses. By the early 1970s Krisel and his partner
Dan Palmer had designed over 30,000 residential units, 8
of those units found their way to the Borrego Valley.
Krisel's creative use of various roof forms including his
famous "butterfly" along with intelligent building
siting allowed him to create tracts of homes where each
unit looked unique despite an identical floor plan. His
signature style was wildly popular in the desert communities
of Palm Springs and Palm Desert where he created countless
vacation homes for the nations growing middle class. These
same homes have again gained immense popularity with the
rediscovery of desert modernism.
Borrego Golf Club Estates
In 1959 La Jolla based developers Fred Corey Jr. and John
Wilhelm recognized the potential to bring affordable desert
modernism to San Diego County. Krisel had met Corey through
his involvement with Irvin Kahn who had begun construction
of several of Palmer and Krisel tracts in San Diego. Following
a harrowing airplane flight with Wilhelm and Corey from
San Diego to Borrego Springs Krisel was commissioned to
build an initial tract of 12 homes in the Golf Course Annex
subdivision located just south of the de Anza Golf Course.
The new Borrego Golf Club Estates would mirror exactly a
development that had just begun construction in Palm Springs
known as the Racquet Club Road Estates http://www.racquetclubestates.com/
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In 1959 local designer and builder Hal Martinez was awarded
the construction contract to build 6 homes within the new
tract. The homes would be built on generous ½ acre
lots and could be customized to include enhanced landscaping
with in ground pool option that would add $995 to the $20,500
purchase price. The first lot to be built was on Lazy S
and would feature Krisel's A-1 design which included his
now iconic "butterfly" roof form. Future Plans
called for a similar development on the west side of Lazy
S along with 6 more units within the Borrego Golf Club Estates
only two of which were ultimately built.
In 2007 one of the seven remaining Krisel designs was purchased
and restored to its original 1959 design. The home has recently
been published in the Borrego Sun as well as San Diego Home
and Garden and Ageleno Magazines. One of two A-1 designs in
the tract, it features the "butterfly" roof form
and the classic Krisel shadow block masonry wall at its south
elevation. The new owners recognized that although the house
had suffered due to deferred maintenance and some exterior
modifications including the enclosure of the original carport;
the interior remained substantially intact. Following their
purchase they embarked on an ambitious restoration effort
which included the removal of the garage and restoration of
the original carport design. Later additions of a non historic
deck off the master bedroom were removed and original tile
in both bathrooms and kitchen were restored. Most all of the
original appliances in the kitchen and bathrooms remained
at the time of purchase and were retained as part of the restoration.
A new pool and desert appropriate landscape plantings were
designed by the current owners and reflect features associated
with other Palmer and Krisel designs of the period.
Bill Krisel was contacted as part of the restoration effort
and graciously provided consultation on color and some of
the history of the Borrego Development that he designed
nearly 50 years ago. The home received a People in Preservation
Award from Save Our Heritage Organisation (SOHO) in 2008.
Upon completion of the restoration Krisel emailed the current
owners:
"CONGRATULATIONS ON THE AWARD FROM SOHO AND THANK
YOU FOR RETURNING ONE OF MY MANY "CHILDREN"
BACK TO NORMALCY. THE PLACE LOOKS GREAT."
-Bill Krisel
Borrego Springs Park
In the late 1950s Krisel began work on a large tract community
just east of the University of California at San Diego.
At that time it was envisioned that the community would
provide convenient home sites for faculty and staff for
the new University. The real estate developer Irvin J. Kahn
had met Krisel through business contacts and other developers
working in the San Diego area. At that time most of the
large tract developers including Leonard Drogin, Bill Starr
and others were using Krisel for their tract design work.
Kahn had recently become the principle stockholder in the
Borrego Springs Park Corporation which was planning a large
residential project that would include an 18 hole golf course
and recreation facilities. Krisel's experience in residential
development and award winning desert designs made him and
obvious choice to begin work on the master plan.
The Borrego Springs Park Corporation purchased the Ensign
Ranch for a reported $1,420,000. The initial land use plan
for the development outlined a 18 hole golf course that
would be sited adjacent to a 200 unit residential complex
that would include community pools, tennis courts and clubhouse.
Krisel had gained significant experience in similar developments
in both Los Angeles, Palm Springs and Palm Desert.
Completed in September of 1962 Krisel's conceptual design
for the initial 200 units called for a dramatic circular
modern design. The main vehicular circulation would loop
around the site; carports would line the exterior of the
development separating the vehicular and pedestrian environments.
Manicured lawns and meandering paths would be provided at
the interior of the site linking the individual units to
the community oriented center. The individual units would
be of steel post and beam construction and would have small
courtyards providing a link to the landscape beyond and
visual spaciousness to the interior.
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Sadly, and for unknown reasons Krisel's design for the
Borrego Springs Park was never built. However, rumors persisted
that although his plans were never completed the project
was eventually built using the concepts that had provided
but without the necessary oversight to ensure that they
were properly executed. In 1964 the Club Circle development
began construction and according to Borrego Sun articles
of that time was the design of the partnership of Henry
Hester and Robert Jones (see Henry Hester) although the
development as built clearly does not show the refinement
envisioned in Krisel's original concepts it certainly bears
a remarkable resemblance to his original site designs…..after
all how likely is it that 2 different designers would envision
a "circle" in the middle of the Anza Borrego desert
individually and on their own?.......Yet another Borrego
mystery; you be the judge.
Editors Note: Special thanks to Todd Pitman, Carmen
Pauli, Jude Pauli and Andrew Hinkley for allowing their
home to be featured in BorregoModern.com. and to Jim Brady
for the use of the photos to accompany this article.
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