CLIENT
Grace Lewis Miller
Julius Shulman (American, 1910–2009); Richard J. Neutra (American, born Austria, 1892–1970), Grace Lewis Miller House, Palm Springs, California, ca. 1938, black and white digital LightJet print, image: 17 × 24 in. (43.2 × 61 cm), sheet: 20 × 25 in. (50.8 × 63.5 cm), Museum purchase.
Julius Shulman (American, 1910–2009); Richard J. Neutra (American, born Austria, 1892–1970), Mensendieck / Grace Lewis Miller House: Grace seated on her sofa, 1937–1941, gelatin silver print, 8 × 10 in. (20.3 × 25.4 cm), Courtesy of Catherine Meyler.
Julius Shulman (American, 1910–2009); Richard J. Neutra (American, born Austria, 1892–1970), Edgar J. Kaufmann House, Palm Springs, California, n.d., black and white digital LightJet print, image: 19 1/8 × 24 in. (48.6 × 61 cm), sheet: 20 1/8 × 25 in. (51.1 × 63.5 cm), Museum purchase.
In 1930, Grace Lewis Miller of Saint Louis, hired Austrian-born Modernist Architect Richard Neutra to build what would become an iconic home and studio for her Mensendieck method, a new system of physical exercise popularized in European spas.
Within its stucco shell of a wooden construction painted gray to evoke steel, the Grace Miller House still stands today in North Palm Springs, presenting many unique features that illustrate the fruitful relationship between client and architect.
Following her husband’s death in 1935, Miller began serious study of American history, eventually earning an M.A. in the subject from Washington University in Saint Louis. She returned to live in the Plaza Square Apartments in Saint Louis after 1960.
Another great example of a woman-client-and-architect collaboration is Annette Lerner, who commissioned Arthur Elrod and Steve Chase to design and decorate her Palm Springs house in the 1970s.
