Slim Aarons Immortalized This Richard Neutra Home in ‘Poolside Gossip.’ Now It’s Selling for $25 Million.

Generally known as the Kaufmann Desert Home, the property, which is called for its unique proprietor, American division retailer entrepreneur and structure fanatic Edgar J. Kaufmann, Sr., is coming available on the market for $25 million, in accordance with itemizing agent Gerard Bisignano of Vista Sotheby’s Worldwide Realty.

The story of the house gives an perception into the structure rivalries and shifting tastes of the day. Mr. Kaufmann, who was trying to construct a winter getaway, initially thought-about architect Frank Lloyd Wright, who had designed his dwelling in Mill Run, Penn. Designed in 1935, that dwelling, often called Fallingwater, is an natural Fashionable that sits instantly above a waterfall and has cantilevered terraces of native sandstone. It’s one among Mr. Wright’s best-known works.

Ultimately although, Mr. Kaufmann selected Mr. Neutra, a youthful architect identified for his extra Modernist method. Mr. Neutra had labored beneath Mr. Wright earlier than beginning his personal observe in 1930.

“Kaufmann’s son Edgar, Jr., an architect, historian and fond disciple of Wright’s, wished his father to interact Wright once more to design the brand new Palm Springs winter home, however the senior Kaufmann, whereas a heat admirer of Wright, wished for the desert home a better feeling of lightness and openness than Wright had imparted” to Fallingwater, writes Thomas S. Hines within the e book, “Richard Neutra and the Seek for Fashionable Structure.”

The value tag matches the pedigree: The most costly property ever bought in Palm Springs was a house owned by the late entertainer Bob Hope, which traded for about $13 million in 2016 to investor Ron Burkle, data present.

In-built 1946, Kaufmann Home is 3,200 sq. ft and is cruciform in form, anchored within the middle by the residing and eating room.

Separate wings department out from the middle, every with their very own separate operate, in accordance with Mr. Bisignano. One is dwelling to the visitor quarters, one other is dwelling to the service wing and one includes the primary bed room suite.

The five-bedroom home is basically on one degree apart from an open-air lined patio on the second degree which Mr. Neutra named “the Gloriette,” from the Twelfth-Century French phrase “gloire” which means “little room.” Mr. Neutra was additionally a fan of the pool. It was accomplished earlier than the home, and Mr. Neutra “loved critiquing the remainder of the development whereas splashing and floating within the water,” in accordance with Mr. Hines’s e book. The greater than 2-acre property additionally features a pool pavilion constructed by the present proprietor.

The property is a throwback to the early postwar increase of the late Forties and to the rise of Modernism on the West Coast.

“Although many consumers nonetheless most well-liked conventional kinds, their architects, dedicated to Fashionable concepts, championed its trigger,” in accordance with a report by the Palm Springs Metropolis Council on the postwar interval. In a single case, singer Frank Sinatra requested a Georgian Revival-style home for lots he had bought within the space. His architect E. Stewart Williams as an alternative designed a low-slung Fashionable home constructed from stone, stucco and redwood siding, the council report mentioned.

Palm Springs quickly turned a haven for Modernist architects like Mr. Neutra, John Lautner and Albert Frey, because of its shiny, dry local weather, which is nicely suited to Modernist design, with its flat roofs, shaded verandas and sliding glass. The Kaufmann dwelling has been captured on digicam by a number of notable photographers, together with Julius Shulman, who shot a well known image of the house at twilight in 1947. The shot, a time lapse picture, reveals a glow behind the desert mountains.

Mrs. Kaufmann helped with the arrange by mendacity down within the backyard to dam the pool mild, and an odd shadowy determine on the grass is the household canine, which sneaked into shot, in accordance with Leo Marmol, managing companion on the architectural restoration agency Marmol Radziner, which labored on a restoration of the house within the Nineties. He calls the shot “one of many seminal definitions of Fashionable structure in California,” noting that “it captured the Fashionable fantasy.”

In 1970, Mr. Aarons snapped “Poolside Gossip,” which turned one among his best-known footage, in accordance with the e book “Slim Aarons: Girls.” “Was it the massive hair and naked midriffs, the mod Nineteen Seventies outfits, the dramatic view, or its ‘martini Fashionable’ aesthetic?,” posited the e book.

Palm Springs socialite Nelda Linsk owned the house on the time and is within the picture. She recalled that years later, Mr. Aarons as soon as requested her why she thought the {photograph} was so well-known. She joked, “Slim, it’s as a result of I’m in it.”

“These had been the great days,” added Ms. Linsk, who lived on the property within the Nineteen Seventies earlier than promoting it to Eugene Klein, the late onetime proprietor of the San Diego Chargers. “Clark Gable, Marilyn Monroe, they had been all right here in Palm Springs. They got here out to the desert as a result of nobody would trouble them right here.”

The house has since cycled by a number of homeowners over the a long time, together with singer Barry Manilow, Mr. Bisignano mentioned. The present proprietor is Brent R. Harris, managing director at Newport Seashore, Calif.-based Pacific Funding Administration Co. Mr. Harris bought the property together with his then-wife within the early-Nineties. The analysis and restoration took about 5 years, in accordance with the agent.

Beginning in 1993, Marmol Radziner performed what the agent described as an “architectural dig” to find out the unique supplies, finishes and colours that the house had been constructed with. The home had undergone years of alterations, and the architects peeled again the layers to disclose the unique supplies. They then changed sections of the house utilizing unique producers and craftsmen. Additionally they used archival analysis within the Neutra archives on the College of California, Los Angeles and Mr. Shulman’s pictures to confirm their work.

The crew used petrographic evaluation—an investigation of the chemical and bodily options of a rock pattern—to find out the supply of the stone used for the home, then persuaded a quarry in Utah to reopen an outdated part used within the Forties to safe the unique sandstone in the identical sunset-pinkish hue to interchange sections that had been broken. Crimped metallic trim was produced in Kansas on a machine that had beforehand been out of labor for about 50 years.

“I feel there have been many individuals who thought we’d misplaced our minds,” mentioned Mr. Marmol. “We had been re-creating lighting fixtures from the Forties.”

After finishing the restoration, Mr. Harris coaxed Mr. Shulman out of retirement to take one other set of photographs of the home within the Nineties, this time in shade, in accordance with the agent.

Mr. Bisignano mentioned his shopper is promoting the property as a result of “he feels prefer it’s time to move it on.” The property has since undergone one more restoration, costing a further $2.5 million, Mr. Bisignano mentioned.

The property is the “crown jewel,” of the Palm Spring market, mentioned native agent Jeff Kohl of real-estate brokerage The Company, who just isn’t concerned within the itemizing. He mentioned it’s extremely uncommon to discover a property with such compelling architectural pedigree in such good situation within the space. “It’s insane,” he mentioned.

Mr. Bisignano famous that the property taxes on the home are about $8,000 a yr, because of a historic designation the property was granted beneath the Mills Act, which gives tax breaks to California homeowners who actively take part within the restoration and upkeep of their historic properties.

“This isn’t only a dwelling. This can be a dwelling that modified how we see structure immediately,” Mr. Marmol mentioned.

Mr. Kohl famous that the Palm Springs market has been extraordinarily lively over the previous few months as patrons from Los Angeles, San Francisco and San Diego, uninterested in being holed up in denser areas on account of the coronavirus, fled to the desert to flee town and play golf and tennis. Earlier than that, the market had been simply “plugging alongside,” he mentioned.

Palm Springs gross sales information factors to a exceptional turnaround available in the market this yr. Gross sales within the third quarter skyrocketed by 70% in contrast with the identical quarter one yr in the past, mixed with a median worth improve of 14% over the identical interval, in accordance with information from The Company. The fast tempo of gross sales has diminished the variety of lively properties available on the market by 39%.

“The market has exploded,” Mr. Kohl mentioned. “Historically the summer time months are deader than a doornail. We’ve seen extra offers within the final three months than within the final two years mixed. Every thing has bought—except it’s actually considerably overpriced or wants plenty of work.”

Write to Katherine Clarke at katherine.clarke@wsj.com