A Playboy Pad: Pleasure on the Rocks

Although the handsome bachelor dwelling, below, of interior designer Arthur Elrod is just a six-minute drive from his downtown Palm Springs office, its location--a craggy ridge overlooking the city--provides the seclusion and panoramic setting of an eagle's nest. In creating his five-room, 5700-square-foot, air-conditioned digs, Elrod and architect John Lautner showed their aesthetic respect for the rugged site by utilizing natural rock formations, so that house and mountainside often mingle, with boulder clusters occasionally serving as walls. Elrod also used glass extensively--an understandable indulgence, considering the surrounding view. Consequently, there's more than 100 feet of frameless floor-to-ceiling windows in the circular living room and the master bedroom-study-office wing (with nearby bath--dressing room)--plus two pie-shaped skylights set into the living room's massive concrete ceiling. (The pad's other rooms--a kitchen and a guest suite--are just off the living room next to a walled, sculpture-filled garden.) The result is a masculine home-office where Elrod can entertain, work or relax within (text concluded on page 208) Playboy Pad(continued from page 151) the same dramatically designed premises.

Elrod purposely created an unclutered façade on the road side of his home (see page 152) to further the impact of the spectacular view that awaits visitors, once they've left their cars by his carport, passed between brass electronically operated driveway gates and entered the tentlike circular living room that has a diameter of 60 feet. The aforementioned frameless floor-to-ceiling windows (the glass is mitered and joined by epoxy) provide a stunning view of Palm Springs that's broken only by the roof columns positioned on the outside terrace.

But once you've admired the view, it's the room's massive poured-concrete ceiling that commands your attention. Spreading out from a central hub are nine concrete beams that resemble the petals of a giant flower. To add textural excitement to the ceiling, Elrod lined the triangular spaces between the beams with copper and, to create an additional light source, he tilted each section slightly, forming a series of ceiling windows.

Because of the room's tremendous size, Elrod wisely chose to create a number of distinctive seating oases. Directly beneath the ceiling's hub, he positioned a circular hand-tufted area rug and partially ringed it with two custom-designed sofas. The pad's dining area was strategically placed close to the mammoth fireplace at a spot where the roof line dips low, thus creating an intimate atmosphere. The modern elliptical kitchen is located near the table, directly behind a partition on which hangs a Paul Jenkins painting. Although the kitchen is separated from the living room, it borrows light from this area via Elrod's clever use of the right-hand wall--the top of which is paneled with glass. Several ceiling windows also admit daylight.

To facilitate dining and to provide a music source near the table, Elrod hung a curved sideboard housing a pair of stereo speakers on an adjacent wall. (Other speakers are built in throughout the house and the electronic components are stored behind a panel in his study-office.)

At one side of the living room, next to a doorway leading to the bedroom-study-office wing (see floor plan below), is a short flight of slate steps that lead to the terrace and swimming pool. Descending the stairs, one passes between two natural-rock outcroppings, left there to further the integral effect of house and mountain.

Although the layout of Elrod's pad is intriguingly irregular, with no room being either square or rectangular, the over-all design simplifies the home's multiple functions, creating three distinct zones--a living room-kitchen area for entertaining, a private wing that contains the bath-dressing room and the bedroom-study-office and a miniwing containing the guest suite. Since each exists as a separate entity, Elrod can host a party in the living room and, if he chooses, completely close off his private wing from guests.

In the 30' x 85' private wing, glass, rock and courbaril (a dark South American wood) are combined to create a masculine sanctum sanctorum that includes an ultraluxe bath--dressing room that's actually a health spa. On one wall in the bath, a king-sized shower stall and tiled and mirrored sauna stand side by side just a few steps from a sunken travertine tub (with whirlpool device) that's adjacent to floor-to-ceiling sliding glass doors that open onto a rock garden. A freestanding lavatory counter with ceiling high showbiz mirror ringed with bulbs doubles as a room divider, separating the bath from the dressing room. Opposite the lavatory, on the wall that separates the dressing room from the bedroom, is a series of clear-plastic bins that house sweaters, shirts and other wardrobe items. By switching on the bins' interior lights, Elrod can easily locate any article of clothing, thus all but eliminating the frustrating hunts that plague many busy bachelors. And so that a nightcap can be as easily obtained as an item of apparel, Elrod also incorporated a well-stocked mini wet bar into the ward robe wall.

The 50-foot-long bedroom-study-office that makes up the remainder of the private wing rivals the living room in handsomeness. A floor-to-ceiling sliding glass door extends across a portion of one wall, butting against giant boulders; the opposite wall, paneled in courbaril, contains a raised fireplace flanked by two built-in cabinets. After dark, bulbs in the cabinets wash the walls and limed-redwood ceiling with soft light.

Instead of walling off the bedroom, Elrod chose to use the upholstered four-foot-high headboard of his king-sized bed as a room divider; his desk, placed perpendicular to the headboard, faces Palm Springs and provides the owner with another spectacular view. Courbaril doors, behind the desk, open to reveal closet space for suits, jackets and coats. On the wall facing the bed is a huge mirror onto which Elrod has affixed an abstract painting. Next to the bed is the courbaril night stand pictured on page 154. From here, Elrod can regulate most of the lights in his pad, thus allowing him to darken the house in one easy operation. And should he plan to do some late-night reading or to spend a leisurely Sunday morning in bed with the papers, there's a control for electrically adjusting the footrest and backrest as well as for switching the main stereo system on and off. A clock, mini TV, solitaire game and extension phone are also nearby; the phone is adapted to handle several incoming calls at once and also houses an intercom system that connects with the living room, kitchen and guest suite.

From its domed living-room ceiling to its luxurious health spa, the sprawling, spectacular home of Arthur Elrod offers an original Far West blend of pleasure and practicality served on the rocks.