Modern life, vintage look

William Krisel, 83, pictured here outside his Los Angeles home, never won as much acclaim as Richard Neutra, Albert Frey or other great architects who designed the custom homes that defined mid-century modernism in Palm Springs. But it was Krisel who helped to popularize many of the same ideas, bringing a different sensibility to affordable housing for the middle class. Working with the Alexander Construction company in the 1950s, Krisel saw 2,500 of his tract houses built in Palm Springs, nearly doubling the size of that city.