The Aluminaire House started with a small budget and a big dream. Architects A. Lawrence Kocher , a longtime editor, and Albert Frey , a former apprentice of Le Corbusier, designed the full-scale model as a case study for affordable houses that could be mass-produced quickly without sacrificing style. Today, the country’s first all-metal prefabricated house is considered a modernist masterpiece, one that brought International Style—already.) But in the decades since it was constructed, the prototype house has had a rough run, facing multiple relocations and periods of disrepair. This spring, the Palm Springs Art Museum will become the structure’s permanent site. These are the details of its long journey to its final home—and what it cost to get there.
