Palm Springs Unified School District Educational Administrative Center
- Architect
- Emerson Stewart Williams
- Style
- Streamline Moderne
- City
- Palm Springs, CA
The Palm Springs Unified School District Educational Administrative Center, on the campus of Palm Springs High School, is a rare example of master architect E. Stewart Williams working in the International Style for a school building, in the early 1960s. He used a flat roof, deep overhangs, steel-frame construction, and large glass surfaces, before turning to New Brutalism for educational buildings after the mid-1960s. The building was listed on the National Register of Historic Places in 2016.
the building
Structure and glass. The building is built with a flat roof, deep overhangs, steel-frame construction, and large glass surfaces — the hallmarks of the International Style as Williams applied it here.
The desert lawn. The building's original lawn has been replaced with drought-resistant desert landscaping.
the style
Williams used the International Style here for only a brief window in the early 1960s before shifting his educational work to New Brutalism after the mid-1960s, making this building a marker of that transition — a flat roofline, deep overhangs, and expanses of glass rather than the heavier concrete forms he adopted soon after.
More on Streamline Modernethe architect
E. Stewart Williams is described as a master architect who used the International Style for educational buildings only briefly, in the early 1960s, before moving to New Brutalism for school projects after the mid-1960s — this building sits at that hinge point in his career.
significance
The building was listed on the National Register of Historic Places in 2016.
nearby
- Palm Springs City Hall
- Koerner House
- Twin Palms
- First Church of Christ, Scientist
- Santa Fe Federal Savings and Loan Association
- Coachella Valley Savings No. 1