Pearlman Cabin, 52820 Middleridge Drive, Idyllwild, Riverside County, CA

STORED ON SITE. mchr

2012 Charles E. Peterson Prize, Entry

Significance: Almost a primitive hut, the modest Pearlman Mountain Cabin in Idyllwild art colony-high on western slope of Mt. San Jacinto-was built for accomplished amateur musicians who summered there. A wooden building in a wooded setting, it is essentially a circular room of music, sitting, cooking and sleeping. Two thirds of its perimeter is a solid wall with a clerestory of small rectangular windows. Lined up along this wall are a hearth, a desk for writing, a large window precisely framing an immense oak, two beds, and a tiny kitchen. The other third of the enclosure opens to the surroundings. Two wings extend out from the body of the house to frame this opening, one a terrace, the other a bedroom suite. The roof is a fattened disk with a flat circular center and tapered edges, folded down to the wall at the back, and crimped up at the large opening in the front. The construction of the roof is less complicated than its form may suggest: wooden trusses, braced at the center of the house, radiate out to support it. Across the opening, the roof rest on a row of actual tree trunks. Enormous sheets of glass set directly into these logs form a delicate screen through which one gazes with wonder at the panorama unfolding beyond.

Unprocessed Field note material exists for this structure: N1914

Survey number: HABS CA-50

Building/structure dates: 1957 Initial Construction

log cabins wooden buildings huts california pearlman cabin pearlman cabin middleridge drive middleridge drive idyllwild riverside riverside county brother of agnes pearlman jean louis cohen frank escher historic american buildings survey luis hoyos john lautner agnes pearlman carl pearlman nancy pearlman marta perlas roberto rizo photo ultra high resolution high resolution library of congress

1933 - 1970

Library of Congress

http://www.loc.gov/

No known restrictions on images made by the U.S. Government; images copied from other sources may be restricted. http://www.loc.gov/rr/print/res/114_habs.html