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House Beautiful has revisited its 1979 Design House of the Year, a Las Vegas home planned around a central courtyard pool. The archive feature highlights how architect William Turnbull Jr. and designer Ristomatti Ratia used filtered light, indoor-outdoor spaces and colorful textiles to shape a desert retreat.
House Beautiful has revisited its 1979 Design House of the Year, a home in Las Vegas, Nevada, whose plan placed a pool and palm-filled courtyard at the center of daily life. The magazine’s archive feature recounts how architect William Turnbull Jr. and designer Ristomatti Ratia used trellises, fabric, tall ceilings and colorful patterns to make a desert house feel sheltered and connected to the outdoors.
The home was created on a sandy, treeless site and oriented so that rooms looked toward the central court. House Beautiful’s account says the pool and a large palm could be seen from every room, including through the master bedroom’s spiraling windows and the open lattice of a viewing space called the mirador. The design used water, shade and filtered sunlight to address the heat and exposure of the Nevada setting.
Turnbull, a San Francisco-based architect, worked with House Beautiful editors, Ratia and designer Michael Haskins. The project was intended to inspire builders and relied on standard builder’s materials, customized with details such as battens and lattices. The American Wood Council was a co-sponsor; the article also credits builders Connie Sommers, Duane Daum and Ernest Becker of Rancho Bel Air, Nevada.
The interior combined practical features with expressive decoration. The kitchen connected the rooms to the courtyard and featured hanging utensils and a bright red air-return duct. Marimekko flowers and grid patterns appeared across textiles and surfaces, while custom furniture was designed by Ratia. The feature also describes tented dining and seating areas, private outdoor decks, a swimming grotto, a trellis-covered hot tub and a garage designed as a buffer from the street.
A Courtyard Plan for Desert Living
The house’s central idea was not simply its colorful interior: it was a plan that made a sheltered outdoor court the visual and social center of the home. By directing rooms toward the pool and using lattice and fabric to temper sunlight, the design addressed the conditions of its location while creating a sense of retreat. That makes the project useful as a record of how residential design responded to climate through layout and materials.
The archive feature also offers readers a look at 1970s design choices that are easy to miss in present-day coverage, including tent-like interiors, grid-patterned finishes and furniture designed for this specific house. The magazine presents the home as a reminder that standard materials can be adapted through planning and detail; that is the publication’s framing, rather than evidence that the design was widely adopted by builders.
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The House in the May 1979 Issue
The home appeared in House Beautiful’s May 1979 issue under the title “The Design House of the Year.” The current article is part of the magazine’s “Archive Dive” series, which revisits material from its archives and describes why past stories remain relevant to readers today. The feature is written by Susan Grant Lewin, with introductory framing from editor in chief Jo Saltz.
The original project brought together architecture, interiors and editorial collaboration. The archive describes Turnbull as the architect and Ratia as a designer who also served as Marimekko’s creative vice-president. It identifies Haskins as another designer involved, while House Beautiful editors helped shape the project. The available source recounts the house’s design and credits its participants, but does not provide a current assessment of the property or its occupants.
“Saltz describes the archive series as “part history lesson” and “part design deep-dive.””
— Jo Saltz, House Beautiful editor in chief
What the Archive Does Not Establish
The feature focuses on the house as it appeared in 1979 and does not establish its current condition, ownership or use. It also does not say whether the original interiors, pool, courtyard or custom furnishings remain in place. The article offers no recent photographs or independent evaluation of how the building has performed over time.
House Beautiful frames the house as a design that continues to resonate, but the source does not provide evidence of its influence on later projects or of its reception among builders. The project’s stated aim was to inspire builders; whether it did so, and how broadly, remains unclear from the material available.
Further Details From the Archive
The current development is the publication of the archive feature; the source does not announce a restoration, sale, public opening or new construction tied to the property. Readers seeking more detail can consult the original May 1979 issue and the current House Beautiful article, which reproduces descriptions and images from the magazine archive.
House Beautiful says its “Archive Dive” series will revisit favorite stories from its 130-year-old archive on a monthly basis. The next installment is not identified in the provided material, and no future reporting or update about the Las Vegas house is specified.
Key Questions
What is the 1979 Design House of the Year?
It is a Las Vegas home featured in House Beautiful’s May 1979 issue, designed around a central courtyard with a pool and palm.
Who worked on the house?
The archive credits architect William Turnbull Jr., designer Ristomatti Ratia, designer Michael Haskins and House Beautiful editors. It also names builders Connie Sommers, Duane Daum and Ernest Becker.
What design features does the archive highlight?
The article describes a courtyard visible from every room, lattice and fabric used to filter sunlight, tall ceilings, Marimekko patterns, tented indoor spaces and several outdoor areas, including decks and a swimming grotto.
Is the house still in its 1979 condition?
The feature does not say. It provides no current information about the home’s condition, ownership or surviving interiors.
Source: rss
