Pristine Albert Frey-Designed Gem Sparkles for $995K in Palm Springs
Realtor.com
A meticulously restored Palm Springs, CA, home in a post-World War II housing area has entered the market.
It’s one of 15 homes in a development called Bel Vista, designed by local architect Albert Frey.
The home known as Bel Vista #2 is now listed for $995,000.
Frey created the early type of modernist architecture the area is known for.
This house is both a local historic landmark and listed on the National Register of Historic Places. The local designation results in “substantially reduced property taxes,” the listing notes.
ExteriorKelly Peak
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“It exemplifies Albert Frey’s indoor-outdoor lifestyle, because it has seven doors in an 1,100-square-foot house,” says listing agent and homeowner Todd Hays, with Coldwell Banker Realty. “It’s unlike most houses that were built after the war.”
The three-bedroom, one-bath home was completed in 1946. Hays bought it in 2015 for $376,000, property data shows. He then embarked on an extensive renovation.
“This house is restored to pretty much what it looked like when it was built,” Hays says. “All of the colors inside and out are the original colors of the house.”
He notes that an exterior curved block wall is original and typical of the area’s historic architecture.
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The large corner lot has a pool and fire pit in the backyard, surrounded by a Frey-inspired corrugated metal fence.
Of the 15 original houses in Bel Vista, none has been torn down but several have been dramatically altered—to the point of being unrecognizable.
“In the ensuing 75 years, they have been changed and it’s more the exterior than the interior,” Hays explains, adding that at one point all 15 homes were basically identical. “But [Frey] flipped them, rotated them, and changed the setback. So when you were originally driving down the street, they looked like 15 different houses.”
This is the second home in the tract that Hays has restored. He’s now working on a third.
“This one and the other one were in really bad shape and needed a tremendous amount of work to be brought back, but they could be brought back,” he says. “I realized they are a really important part of Frey’s body of work that needed to be saved.”
ExteriorKelly Peak
Pool and fire pitKelly Peak
InteriorKelly Peak
Hays initially listed the home in October for $1,100,000. He dropped the price to $1,050,000 in November and recently reduced it by $55,000, to its current ask.
The home’s single bathroom is problematic for many potential buyers these days, Hays admits.
“People don’t like a one-bathroom house,” he says. “I’m a part-time resident of Palm Springs, so this is not a full-time residence for me, which is probably why I’ve got zero concern about the one bathroom. I’ve had houseguests, and we’ve shared a bathroom.”
Because of historical designations and municipal red tape, Hays said the city won’t conditionally approve another bathroom.
The home’s next owner would be allowed to use the home as a short-term rental, the listing notes.
Hays says he knows the perfect buyer is out there—likely someone without big renovation dreams.
“It needs a buyer who is OK with one bathroom and really likes the house exactly the way it is,” he says.
ExteriorKelly Peak
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