THE HISTORIC HAMRICK HOUSE

The house is tucked into a hillside of exclusive Little Tuscany Estates, where celebrity neighbors have included Elvis Presley (next door), Broadway composer Frederick Loewe, actress Zsa Zsa Gabor, actor Dennis Day, publisher's son George Randolph Hearst and his niece Patty (a longtime visitor), as well as alleged neighbors Kid Rock and Pamela Anderson. The area features a cluster of other Clark and Frey houses, including a Frey house once owned by industrial designer Raymond Loewy, and renowned architectural gems by Richard Neutra (his legendary Kaufmann House), Arthur Elrod, E. Stewart Williams (the Edris House) and Craig Ellwood (collector Max Palevsky's house).

In Palm Springs Weekend, Alan Hess and Andrew Danish describe John Porter Clark, as "the town's first resident architect," while the partnership of Clark and Frey is likely the best-known in the city's history. Collectively, the pair was responsible for designing many notable city treasures, including the 1952 City Hall and the 1949 Palm Springs Aerial Tramway Valley Station. While they were prominent locally, they gained national significance for their contribution to the development of the "desert modernist" style.

The house was commissioned by motion picture magnate John Hamrick and his wife Fannie, and it remained in the Hamrick family for 62 years. Hamrick owned a series of motion picture theaters in Seattle, Tacoma, and Portland (the Hamrick Evergreen theaters). After he associated with Harry M. Warner of Warner Brothers Studios, John Hamrick is particularly known for introducing the Vitaphone, or sound, to his motion pictures, beginning March 18, 1927 at the Blue Mouse Theater in Seattle.

The Hamricks had been coming to Palm Springs since the 1930s to vacation and play golf. Around 1940, they purchased three lots in Little Tuscany, including one for their vacation home. By 1942, their residence was built and furnished so that California Pictorial Magazine's Spring edition showed photographs of it by Maynard L. Parker, with interiors by decorator R.D. Harrell and featuring furnishings by Barker Brothers of Los Angeles. The text read: "the entire effect of the house is light, high-spirited, gay and cheerful, a faithful reflection of the mood of the desert resort." Later, in 1956-57, according to family members, Fannie Hamrick hired famed Palm Springs' interior designer Arthur Elrod to redesign several rooms. The Hamricks were close friends of Elrod, and he added rich hues to these rooms to set off the lighter tones of the furniture.

In 1947, to further enjoy the expansive desert view at the rear of the house, the Hamricks commissioned Frey and Clark to add a sun room – or lanai, to use the term of the era. The addition, located off the living room, reflected the transitional nature of the architects' work as they moved from traditional Spanish ranch house to a more modern minimalist style.

  Today, Mullen and Puopolo's five-bedroom, five-bath home still retains the steel casement windows, the original tile roof, and the adobe-like brick exterior, which is painted in neutral tones to blend with the desert sand. "Our choice of exterior colors range from a taupe to a grey to blend in with the stone," explains Mullen, an Emmy-award winning associate director of The Young and the Restless. "And we trimmed the house in a subdued yellow to accentuate the windows and doors."

Their entrance foyer includes a great find - a Barker Brothers console - above which, the  1942 California Pictorial article about the house is framed. "I wanted the entire feel of the home to be light and relaxing with a little bit of fantasy and a hint of Hollywood Regency," adds Mullen. "And I wanted a monochromatic color scheme. Turquoise was one of the colors used in the 1940s interiors. I liked it as a refuge from the desert heat."

 Mullen and Puopolo have a background of restoring historic properties - among them are a 1923 Pueblo Revival, a 1915 Craftsman, and an 1886 Queen-Anne Victorian, reputed to be the second oldest home in Pasadena's history. The pair appeared on The Learning Channel's "Property Ladder" last year, as they restored a 1911 Craftsman home in the Pasadena's landmark district of Garfield Heights.