Rock Star

HUGGING THE SAN JACINTO MOUNTAINS, A CLASSIC PALM SPRINGS HOUSE BY ARCHITECTS HUGH KAPTUR AND ALBERT FREY COMES ALIVE UNDER THE STEWARDSHIP OF RONNIE SASSOON AND JAMES CRUMP

- MAYER RUS

The Burgess House has never belonged to the elite fraternity of architectural marvels synonymous with the efflorescence of midcentury modernism in Palm Springs—places like Richard Neutra’s Kaufmann House, E. Stewart Williams’s Twin Palms estate for Frank Sinatra, and Albert Frey’s own landmark residence, Frey House II.

ABOVE THE PRIMARY BEDROOM IS OUTFITTED WITH THE ORIGINAL FREY-DESIGNED BED, A SERGE MOUILLE SCONCE, A GIANFRANCO FRATTINI CHAIR, A MATHIEU MATÉGOT MAGAZINE HOLDER, AND A CHARLOTTE PERRIAND BENCH. PAINTING BY ITALIAN ARTIST DADAMAINO.

Obscured by a convoluted history of renovations and expansions spanning many decades—as well as an owner who was loathe to share credit with his architects, Hugh Kaptur and Albert Frey—the Burgess House has existed in a fog of improper attribution and appreciation, a condition exacerbated by the tumbling banks of bougainvillea that for years shrouded the structure’s archetypal modernist forms. Ronnie Sassoon and James Crump, the home’s current stewards, mean to change all that.

A JEAN PROUVÉ BED JOINS A WOOD SCREEN AND METAL SCONCES BY CHARLOTTE PERRIAND IN THE SUNROOM. JUST OUTSIDE, WATER CASCADES DOWN THE ROCK FACE INTO A KOI POND.