This
book as an object alone gave me an even richer experience of Frey’s work than
the museum exhibition it was based on. The deliberateness of its design—the
large size, thick matte paper for images, smaller trim size for text pages
(with writings by Frey himself differentiated by stock the same goldenrod color
as the curtains in Frey House II), exquisite black-and-white reproductions,
brilliance in color photographs, and (be still, my heart) a gatefold—match the
precision of the architect’s work. Projects are placed chronologically, yet
displayed as a narrative, rather than a project catalogue seen in too many
architecture books. Drawings, books, ephemera, and personal photo albums—many
published here for the first time—are photographed as precious specimens on a
background.
What makes this collection even more
intimate and tender are the personal relationships some of the contributors had
with Frey. He was friend and teacher to editor Dunning and architect Michael
Rotondi; Barbara Lamprecht made a pilgrimage to Frey House II as a student; as
directors of Palm Springs Art Museum, both Janice Lyle and Adam Lerner lived
there; Christina Kim had tea with the architect. The listing of works is
annotated by Frey’s own distinction between projects where “Albert Frey was in
charge of design” and those where “Albert Frey was in charge of design and
permitted to execute his philosophy of architecture”—a distinction most
architects would appreciate.
Radius
Books/Palm Springs Art Museum, 2024, 282 pages, hardcover, $65.
