{"id":14869,"date":"2024-08-19T13:44:46","date_gmt":"2024-08-19T13:44:46","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.projectsmallhouse.com\/blog\/?p=14869"},"modified":"2024-08-19T13:45:04","modified_gmt":"2024-08-19T13:45:04","slug":"1116-square-foot-pearlman-mountain-cabin","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.projectsmallhouse.com\/blog\/2024\/08\/1116-square-foot-pearlman-mountain-cabin\/","title":{"rendered":"1,116 square foot Pearlman Mountain Cabin"},"content":{"rendered":"

The 1,116 square foot Pearlman Mountain Cabin is in the Idyllwild art community of Mount San Jacinto, California. It was designed by a renowned architect, then built by family.<\/p>\n

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Pearlman Mountain Cabin Plan
Library of Congress Historic American Buildings Survey (HABS)
The storage room was expanded and turned into another bedroom
Click to See Plan Bigger<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

The cabin was designed and built to be a weekend cottage for the family of a doctor in Santa Ana, a couple of hours away.<\/p>\n

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Pearlman Mountain Cabin
Photo by Jerrye & Roy Klotz, MD, Wikipedia Commons
These doors and the skylight frame the oak tree<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

In 1956, Agnes Pearlman chose the site. It has an enormous boulder and was considered unbuildable. She commissioned architect John Lautner to design a small getaway house with an open plan that would incorporate the beautiful mountain setting.<\/p>\n

\u201cJohn Lautner visited the Pearlman cabin site, he sat and meditated over a rock in the site. This rock rendered the site unbuildable. There he ambitioned an open cylinder structure with a platform deck around it with a circular roof covering it, and tree trunks supporting the roof with a serrated glass screen expanding the space toward the forest and the mountains beyond.\u201d<\/p>\n

Nicholas Olsberg
\nQuoted in Pearlman Cabin Historic Report
\nLibrary of Congress<\/a><\/p><\/blockquote>\n

John Lautner apprenticed with the Taliesin Fellowship led by Frank Lloyd Wright. He established his own architecture practice in Los Angeles in 1938, while continuing to work with Frank Lloyd Wright on residential projects. House & Garden featured photos and plans of a home Lautner designed. Over the years, his designs were highlighted in at least 275 articles.<\/p>\n

By 1956 Lautner was a well-established architect. He designed a small circular mountain cabin with a wood deck on one edge and a bathroom and small storage room on the other edge. Altogether, the cabin would be around 1000 square feet.<\/p>\n

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Pearlman Mountain Cabin West Elevation
Library of Congress Historic American Buildings Survey (HABS)
Serrated glass windows open the interior space of the cabin to the forest and the mountains beyond
A wood deck extends beyond
On the other side, large oak tree was framed by the glass doors and skylight.
Click to See Plan Bigger<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

The cabin was designed by John Lautner around the time he designed Silvertop, one of his most famous works. Both works use skylights and glass panels to open the interior to views all around.<\/p>\n

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Pearlman Mountain Cabin
Photo by Jerrye & Roy Klotz, MD, Wikipedia Commons
Small rectangular windows<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n
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Pearlman Mountain Cabin Section
Library of Congress Historic American Buildings Survey (HABS)
The kitchen, sleeping area and fireplace are located on a wall with small rectangular windows
Click to See Plan Bigger<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

The Pearlman Mountain Cabin was finished the next year, 1957. It was built by Agnes Pearlman’s brother, Bill Branch and other family members.<\/p>\n

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Pearlman Mountain Cabin Section
Library of Congress Historic American Buildings Survey (HABS)
Click to See Plan Bigger<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

The entire house is small, just a little over a thousand feet.<\/p>\n

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Pearlman Mountain Cabin
Photo by Jerrye & Roy Klotz, MD, Wikipedia Commons
Wood deck<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n
\"\"<\/a>
Pearlman Mountain Cabin Section
Library of Congress Historic American Buildings Survey (HABS)
Click to See Plan Bigger<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

The designs were complete enough that, even without much knowledge of construction he was able to follow the plans.<\/p>\n

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Pearlman Mountain Cabin North Elevation
Library of Congress Historic American Buildings Survey (HABS)
Architect John Lautner used tree trunks to support the roof at the serrated glass window area.
Click to See Plan Bigger<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

(Silvertop wasn\u2019t finished until 1976, no fault of the design.)<\/p>\n

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Pearlman Mountain Cabin
Photo by Jerrye & Roy Klotz, MD, Wikipedia Commons<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Very little has been altered. The storage room was later turned into a bedroom, that’s about it.<\/p>\n

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Pearlman Mountain Cabin Site Plan
Library of Congress Historic American Buildings Survey (HABS)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

The house was designed to fit into the setting.<\/p>\n

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Pearlman Mountain Cabin Site Plan
Library of Congress Historic American Buildings Survey (HABS)
a small circular mountain cabin with a wood deck on one edge
The large oak tree was focal to the plan<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

The deck and windows overlook the downslope. The ceiling is angled so that it becomes nearly invisible looking out.<\/p>\n

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Pearlman Mountain Cabin Site Plan
Library of Congress Historic American Buildings Survey (HABS)
A small circular mountain cabin with a small storage room and bathroom on one side and a wood deck extending out on the other side<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

The roof is supported by cedar tree trunks. Expanses of glass look out to the\u00a0 mountain view.<\/p>\n

Almost a primitive hut, the modest Pearlman Mountain Cabin in Idyllwild art colony\u2014high on western slope of Mt. San Jacinto\u2014was 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.<\/p>\n

Pearlman Cabin, Idyllwild, Riverside County, CA
\nLibrary of Congress<\/a><\/p><\/blockquote>\n

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Pearlman Mountain Cabin
Photo by Jerrye & Roy Klotz, MD, Wikipedia Commons<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n