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House Beautiful’s archive feature revisits its 1979 Design House of the Year, a Las Vegas home designed around a central courtyard pool. Architect William Turnbull Jr. and designers Ristomatti Ratia and Michael Haskins used trellises, canvas, vivid Marimekko patterns and open spaces to respond to the desert setting.
House Beautiful has revisited its 1979 Design House of the Year, a residence in Las Vegas, Nevada, planned around a central courtyard pool to create a shaded, garden-like refuge in a desert setting. The archive feature recalls how architect William Turnbull Jr., interior designer Ristomatti Ratia, designer Michael Haskins and the magazine’s editors used trellises, canvas canopies and vivid patterns to shape the home.
The house appeared in the magazine’s May 1979 issue and was presented as a design project intended to inspire builders. The original report described a sandy, treeless site and a plan that oriented rooms toward a central court, where a pool and palm tree provided a view from across the house. House Beautiful said the water and layers that filtered sunlight were intended to counter the intensity of the Nevada climate.
Turnbull used standard builder’s materials, customizing them with devices such as battens and lattice. The house included high ceilings, exposed beams and visible HVAC returns, which the original article said contributed to a breezy, pavilion-like feeling. Masonry walls enclosed a number of outdoor spaces, including private decks, a space called the mirador and a swimming grotto.
Ratia, then creative vice-president of Marimekko, designed the custom furniture and brought the company’s floral prints and grid patterns into the interiors. The kitchen connected the rooms and courtyard; the original feature described it as the house’s central gathering place. Other details included tent-like canvas coverings, a children’s room with platform beds, and a master suite that opened toward a trellis-covered hot tub. The project’s co-sponsor was the American Wood Council; the listed builders were Connie Sommers, Duane Daum and Ernest Becker of Rancho Bel Air, Nevada.
A Courtyard Plan for Desert Living
The archive feature makes the home’s design logic legible: rather than treating the desert as a backdrop, the project organized the rooms around a protected interior landscape. The courtyard pool supplied a shared focal point, while lattice and canvas softened direct sunlight and helped distinguish indoor rooms from outdoor retreats.
That approach is the feature’s lasting design interest, rather than a claim that the house solved the challenges of desert living. Its materials and details also document a particular late-1970s design moment: Marimekko prints, practical storage, exposed building systems and playful fabric structures appear together in a house that the magazine explicitly framed as a model for builders.
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The 1979 Design House Project
House Beautiful’s current archive series revisits stories from the magazine’s 130-year-old archives. In introducing the series, editor in chief Jo Saltz described it as a monthly look at past projects and design choices that continue to resonate. The present feature returns to the May 1979 house report by Susan Grant Lewin.
The original project brought together the magazine’s editors, Turnbull, Ratia and Haskins. Its stated aim was to demonstrate how familiar, builder-oriented materials could be customized through planning and detailing. The new archive piece recounts the design and its rooms; the supplied material does not announce a renovation, sale or change in the property’s current status.
“It’s part history lesson, part design deep-dive, and 100 percent a love letter to the iconic taste that’s defined HB for over a century.”
— Jo Saltz, House Beautiful editor in chief
The Home’s Present Status
The archive material does not establish whether the house still exists in its original form, who owns it now, or whether its interiors have been altered. It also does not provide current measurements, performance data or evidence about how well the pool, shading and ventilation worked in practice. The descriptions of cooling and comfort are part of the magazine’s account of the design intent, not independently reported results.
More Stories From the Archive
House Beautiful introduced the archive feature as part of a series that would revisit a favorite story each month. The supplied material does not give a publication date for the next installment or identify another project in the series. For the 1979 home, the immediate next step for readers is the magazine’s full archive report and its accompanying photographs and plan, which show how the rooms connect to the central court.
Key Questions
What is House Beautiful revisiting?
The magazine is revisiting its 1979 Design House of the Year, a Las Vegas residence featured in its May 1979 issue.
Who designed the house?
The project involved architect William Turnbull Jr., interior designer Ristomatti Ratia, designer Michael Haskins and House Beautiful editors. The source also lists builders Connie Sommers, Duane Daum and Ernest Becker.
What was the central feature of the design?
A courtyard pool and palm sat at the center of the plan, visible from the rooms around it. Trellises and canvas elements were used to filter sunlight and shape indoor and outdoor spaces.
Is the home still in its 1979 condition?
The archive feature does not say whether the house remains intact, who owns it, or whether it has since been renovated.
Source: rss
