Albert Frey is often described as one of the founding architects of Palm Springs, California, and indeed it would be hard to imagine the desert city without the numerous masterpieces he designed there over his long, productive career. His more dramatic structures, including the angular Tramway Gas Station, have become modernist icons, but I have long been enchanted by the more modest 800-square-foot residence he built for himself atop Mount San Jacinto.

Constructed of cinder blocks, steel, aluminum, and glass, Frey House II is a deceptively simple building positioned so naturally in its surroundings that it can be hard to spot from a distance. Before he began construction, Frey studied the angle of sun throughout the seasons in order to site the home. The results are unparalleled views and a unique connection to the environment.

Frey was born in Switzerland and received his early training in Zurich, where he studied Beaux Arts design. He worked with Le Corbusier in Europe for ten months and then moved to New York. On a trip to Palm Springs for a commission, he fell in love with the desert landscape and decided to make it his home. It was here that he was able to unite his education, experience, and passion to forge his own style of modernism.

Recently, I was lucky enough to receive a personal tour of Frey House II led by Elizabeth Armstrong, executive director of the Palm Springs Art Museum, which owns the building. Armstrong had been staying at the small guesthouse Frey added to his building in 1969, and she told me the experience widened her understanding of Frey’s genius. “It is simply an extraordinary experience thanks to the architect’s brilliant configuration of the house in its spectacular desert setting,” she said. “Waking up next to a rock with the sunrise isn’t too bad either.” Join me below for a photographic tour or Frey House II. And for those interested in learning more about Frey's work, Palm Springs' annual Modernism Week , which runs this year from February 11–21, features lectures about, and tours of, some of his designs.

Join me on a tour of Frey House II.