December 29, 2003
First Peek: Interior
Name that fluid!
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Meiselman Primer and Floor Plan
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What is a tract home?
The term tract refers to a large parcel of land. A builder would buy large parcels and using a single floorplan, he would then alter the orientation of the house on the site or change the front elevation of the home slightly and build small communities. These homes were very popular and affordable in mid-century America. But a few names stand above the crowd and shine as beacons for "California Mass Market Modernism" in the 1950's.
Eichler
Alexander
Meiselman
What characterizes a Meisleman Home?
(pronounced "MY-zill-min")
Like the more well known Alexander Homes of Palm Springs and the Eichler Homes of Los Angeles and Northern California, a Meiselman Home epitomizes the mid-century tract home revolution. It's indoor/outdoor desert friendly design was on the cutting edge of mass-market modern movement. Indeed they were sleek and modern with crisp clean lines, butterfly roofs and soaring clerestory windows. They were built using Post and Beam construction with tongue and groove ceilings and generous amounts of architecturaly sculpted concrete block. There were walls of glass that look out onto an oversized pool and the homes themselves are situated on 1/4 acre lots. They were also quite technologically advanced for thier time with forced air heating and central air conditioning, an amenity that suddenly offered year round enjoyment of the desert. And the best part? They were cheap. Initial sales price for the "entry level model" was around $18,500 in 1959.
Most of these homes were not year round residences however, they were weekend party bungalows for Hollywood hipsters.
Alexander and Meiselman Homes are often confused because they are so similar in appearance and they are interspersed with one another, primarily on the Northend of Palm Springs. But there are two distinct differences between the homes.
A) Alexanders have the kitchen on one end often integrated into the living room in one large open space. Meiselmans always have a galley kitchen off the living room.
B) Alexanders have all three bedrooms in a row on one side of the house. Meiselmans always have a separation of bedrooms, with the two guest rooms on one end and the master suite on the other end of the house.
Who is this Meiselman character anyway?
First a word about The Alexander Construction Company...
The Alexander Construction story is well known here. It has been told time and time again. Father and Son (George and Bob) built a thriving construction business in post-war Los Angeles. Seeing the successes of other builders (mainly Eichler) who were building new concept "tract homes", they decided to bring the idea to the desert.
Designed by Palmer and Krisel, AIA, the homes were a perfect fit for desert. The Alexanders built over 2500 homes in Palm Springs alone from 1955-1965, when tragically, the entire family, save the daughter, were killed in a plane crash. They are legends around these parts.
Little is known about Jack Meiselman. I've asked everyone I've ever met down here what they know, the answer is not much. I have however cobbled together a few details worth mentioning.
I've learned that Jack Meiselman, a local builder, worked with Bob Alexander in a joint venture on a number of the Alexander Construction homes. At some point there was a falling out between the two men, rumor has it that finances were involved, and Jack Meiselman decided to get out of the deal. Seeing a lucrative opportunity in these new tract homes, they were selling like hot cakes after all, he and his brother Bernie Meiselman would follow wherever Alexander was buying land, then they would buy the adjacent parcels. Old school parasites. He came up with a "Modified Alexander" layout and built roughly 350 tract homes sprinkled amongst the Alexander Homes.
I met Bill Krisel (architect for Bob Alexander's homes) a few years ago and asked him what he knew about Jack Meiselman. His face turned flush and a wave of anger washed through him. I believe his exact words were "Jack Meiselman was a cheap hack who stole our plans and built a poor imitation using inferior materials and unskilled labor! That's all I have to say about him." And with that he turned on his heel and walked away from me.
Alrighty then. While I will admit that Jack Meiselman's methods were unscrupulous at best, I have to disagree with Mr. Krisel on a few points. First, a Meiselman Home is no more cheaply built than the equivalent Alexander. While not exactly death traps, they all used the cheapest materials available. Secondly, I actually prefer the Meiselman layout to the Alexanders. Meiselman introduced a nice separation of space by configuring the guest rooms on the opposite side of the house from the Master. Perhaps Mr. Krisel wishes he had come up with the idea himself?
And finally, Alexander and Meiselman were both in this game for the money. To make money on these homes you had to do 3 things; Buy the land cheap, use cheap labor, and build with cheap materials. Plain and simple. To pretend otherwise is absurd. What happened in the process is that they defined affordable desert modernism and carved out a unique niche of modern homes in the late 50's.
An interesting bit of trivia: There are four streets in a row off Via Esquela that are named after these characters. They are as follows; Berne (Bernie Meiselman), Jacques (Jack Meiselman), George (George Alexander) and finally Roberto (Robert Alexander). I have yet to find out which streets were named first...
The designs of these homes are still as strong today as they were 50 years ago. Witness the incredible resurgence of mid-century mania here in Palm Springs in the last 6 years. Still somewhat affordable by California standards, the smaller homes are still selling anywhere from $200-$400K depending on condition.
Many of these homes fell into great disrepair during the 80's and 90's. Hard times hit Palm Springs and the economic downturn actually turned out to be a blessing for preservation. People could not afford to tear the old houses down. So they stood and rotted away. With the the dot com boom and the resurgence of interest in all things mid-century, these petrified jewels became hot tickets. People started buying them in the late 90's for a song ($20-$120K) and fixing them up. Some fixed up properly, some are complete travesties. A mid-century tract home was never meant to be remodeled in the Spanish Revival style. Or worse, the Victor Mature house with it's hideous mansard roof. Most of them however, have been treated with the respect they deserve.
A word about preservation.
While I am a strong advocate of accurate period restoration and preservation, sometimes it's just not possible with these homes. In an effort to integrate mid- 20th century into the 21st century, choices need to be made. You need a dishwasher, you need insulation, you need modern conveniences. Therefore "restoration" is not possible. These homes are not one of a kind architectural masterpieces like the Kaufman house or Maslon house. But they do represent a very important period for Palm Springs. With that said, it's vital to keep the integrity of the house intact, but also offer a little wiggle room to make them livable by today's standards.
That's our story, and we're sticking to it!