TL;DR
Get business pricing on tools and workshop supplies
- Business-only prices and quantity discounts
- Tax-exempt purchasing
- Multiple users, one account, clear invoices
House Beautiful has revisited its 1979 Design House of the Year, a Las Vegas home planned around a central courtyard pool. The archival report describes how architect William Turnbull Jr. and designer Ristomatti Ratia used trellises, fabric, water and bold patterns to create shaded indoor and outdoor spaces. The article is an archive feature, not an announcement of a new project or a change to the house.
House Beautiful has revisited its 1979 Design House of the Year, a home in Las Vegas designed around a central courtyard pool to temper the desert sun. The archive feature returns to a collaboration involving architect William Turnbull Jr., designer Ristomatti Ratia and the magazine’s editors, showing how the project combined practical building materials with patterned interiors and sheltered outdoor rooms.
The original report described the house as a garden oasis on a sandy, treeless site. Its plan centered on a courtyard containing a pool and palm; the report said the arrangement let the water and garden be seen from every room. Trellises and latticework filtered sunlight, while masonry walls enclosed a series of outdoor spaces, including private decks, a mirador and a swimming grotto.
Turnbull, a San Francisco-based architect, used standard builder’s materials and customized them with features such as battens and lattices. Ratia, identified in the report as Marimekko’s creative vice-president, supplied custom furniture and a visual language of bright floral prints and repeating grids. Canvas canopies and tent-like treatments appeared indoors, including above the dining table, while tall ceilings and exposed beams contributed to the open, pavilion-like feeling described by the magazine.
The kitchen was presented as a central gathering place and a link between the rooms and the courtyard. The report also detailed bedrooms with distinct uses, including a children’s room with a multi-level platform bed and an adjoining exercise room. A trellis-covered hot tub extended the master suite outdoors. The project’s co-sponsor was the American Wood Council; builders named in the report were Connie Sommers, Duane Daum and Ernest Becker of Rancho Bel Air, Nevada.
A Courtyard Plan for Desert Living
The project’s continuing interest lies in its response to a specific condition: a hot, exposed desert site. Rather than relying on decoration alone, its plan used a central pool, shade and enclosed outdoor areas to shape how residents could move through and use the house. That combination makes the feature relevant to readers interested in residential design as both visual expression and practical planning.
The archive also records a magazine-led design project built to inspire builders. Turnbull and Ratia worked with House Beautiful’s editors, bringing architecture, interiors and construction details together in one showcase. Its mixture of ordinary materials and custom applications illustrates the original report’s emphasis on design choices that could be adapted beyond a single room or surface.
As an affiliate, we earn on qualifying purchases.
The 1979 Magazine Showcase
The source for the retrospective is a House Beautiful archive feature about the magazine’s May 1979 issue. That original coverage called the Las Vegas project its Design House of the Year and credited Susan Grant Lewin as the story’s writer. The current feature frames the house as one selection from the publication’s long-running archive, rather than reporting a new construction or renovation.
The original description connects the house’s materials and furnishings to named suppliers and designers. It cites Marimekko patterns, American Olean tile, Flamingo bath tile, Formica surfaces, a Swedish Elfa storage system and custom furniture by Ratia. These details are evidence of what the 1979 report documented; they do not establish the home’s present condition or whether its original fittings remain.
““Here food is prepared among family and friends.””
— House Beautiful’s 1979 report, quoting Ristomatti Ratia
wood garden trellis lattice panels
As an affiliate, we earn on qualifying purchases.
As an affiliate, we earn on qualifying purchases.
The House’s Present Condition
The archive feature describes the design as it appeared in the 1979 report. It does not say whether the home still exists in the same form, who owns or occupies it now, or whether its pool, materials, furnishings and landscaping have been altered. The source also does not provide current photographs, a present-day inspection or information about the property’s later history.
The article’s account of how the layout and shading address desert conditions is the magazine’s description of the project; the supplied material includes no measured performance data on indoor temperatures, water use or energy consumption. Those outcomes should not be inferred from the design features alone.
As an affiliate, we earn on qualifying purchases.
Further Archive Details to Watch
The feature presents the house as an archival revisit and does not announce a restoration, sale, public opening or follow-up project. Readers seeking more detail can consult the original House Beautiful report and its plans and photographs, which document the design as published in 1979. Any account of the house’s current state would require more recent reporting or records; no such update is included in the supplied source.
colorful floral print outdoor cushions
As an affiliate, we earn on qualifying purchases.
As an affiliate, we earn on qualifying purchases.
Key Questions
What is the development being reported?
House Beautiful published an archive feature revisiting its 1979 Design House of the Year, a home in Las Vegas organized around a central courtyard pool.
Who designed the house?
The original report names architect William Turnbull Jr. and interior designer Ristomatti Ratia as key collaborators, alongside House Beautiful editors. It also lists builders Connie Sommers, Duane Daum and Ernest Becker.
How did the design respond to the desert setting?
The 1979 report describes a central pool and palm, trellises, latticework, masonry walls and sheltered outdoor spaces. These features were presented as ways to filter strong sunlight and create a greener, more protected setting.
Does the archive feature say what the house looks like today?
No. The supplied article recounts the project as documented in 1979 but does not establish the home’s current condition, ownership or alterations.
Source: rss
Fall Picks
fall essentials
As an affiliate, we earn on qualifying purchases.
