Built in 1960 as the personal residence of Robert Alexander, his wife Helene, and their daughter Jill, the House of Tomorrow was both a family home and a showcase for the Alexander Construction Company. The family had relocated from Los Angeles to Palm Springs three years earlier, and though Alexander initially intended the house as a speculative property, they moved in themselves. An eight-page spread in Look magazine's September 1962 issue christened it "The House of Tomorrow," photographing the family as an advertisement for a future available almost exclusively to white buyers under the restrictive-covenant and redlining regime that governed Vista Las Palmas. The family's story ended abruptly in 1965 when Robert, Helene, and both of his parents died in a plane crash, collapsing the company that had built a third of the city.
Palmer & Krisel organized the roughly 5,000 square feet across three levels as four interlocking circular pods under a dramatic winged roof. Not a single room is square. A 64-foot built-in banquette wraps through the living spaces, anchored by stacked lava-rock and stone walls and poured terrazzo floors. A floating hearth supports a beaker-shaped fireplace hood, while a stepped waterfall occupies the center of the plan. The circular kitchen island, a primary bath built around a circular tub, and a polygonal glass bedroom visible from the street complete the composition. It was the largest Alexander-built home, sited on the largest lot with the largest pool.
