William Krisel, Southern California Modernist architect known for butterfly roofs, dies

Palm Springs Desert Sun

Architect William Krisel talks about how his architecture played a role in Palm Springs modern architecture at his home office on Friday, February 4, 2011 in Brentwood, Calif.

William Krisel, a mid-century modern architect whose butterfly roofs now define many Palm Springs neighborhoods, died at his home in Beverly Hills on Monday. He was 92.

The death was confirmed by Chris Menrad, a member of the executive board of the Palm Springs Modern Committee, and a longtime friend of Krisel.

Krisel designed more than 30,000 homes in Southern California. His work in Palm Springs includes the "House of Tomorrow," where Elvis honeymooned; Ocotillo Lodge; Las Palmas Estates in Vista Las Palmas; Canyon View Estates; and hundreds of homes on the Twin Palms neighborhood, according to the Palm Springs Modern Committee. He also designed the Sandpiper condo complex in Palm Desert.

Perhaps Krisel’s most significant contribution to modern architecture in the 1950s and ‘60s was his ability to translate the simple modern forms many designers were exploring at the time into the sort of mass-produced tract-home developments making up post-war suburbia, said Menrad, who lives in a Krisel-designed home.

William Krisel, a giant among architects who are renowned for their mid-century modern buildings in Palm Springs, was honored during Modernism Week in 2016 with a street renamed for him.

“The concept for offering the builder various roof lines — flat, gables, inverted butterfly or whatever — is something that he sort of brought to the table so that they could essentially have very similar floor plans but have homes that looked quite different,” said Menrad. “And that look, as well as that concept, did get adopted.”

Krisel was born on Nov. 14, 1924 in Shanghai to diplomat parents. He moved to Southern California when he was 13, where he attended Beverly Hills High, according to the Palm Springs Modern Committee. He served as a Chinese interpreter in World War II, then received his architecture degree from the University of Southern California, graduating in 1949 and formed a business partnership with Dan Palmer.

In the beginning, the two operated a small basement architecture firm in Los Angeles. Krisel had also been a licensed landscape architect since 1954..

Krisel married Corinne Jaffe in 1953 and they had two children, William E. and Michele.

The Ocotillo Lodge building on 1111 E. Palm Canyon by architect William Krisel. Jay Calderon, The Desert Sun

Krisel and Palmer worked in Los Angeles, but were often in Palm Springs to oversee the many projects they had under construction.

Krisel is survived by his wife Corinne and his two children.

"I think the value is his look that he kind of created here in Twin Palms got kind of peppered around Palm Springs by not only himself… but by other architects who were influenced,” said Menrad.

Skip Descant covers tourism at The Desert Sun. Reach him at edescantjr@palmspri.gannett.com and @TDSskip.

Rosalie Murphy covers real estate and business at The Desert Sun. Reach her at rosalie.murphy@desertsun.com and @rozmurph.