Monument House

Joshua Tree, California | C.1990

Icon AWA Official Place

AWA featured place

Photos by: Tyshaia Earnest

Written by: Seamus McMahon

Rising like a mirage out of the desert sands, multi-colored trapezoid shapes form together to create an abode. While some homes in the area are constructed to stand out, Monument House is built to blend in, mirroring the color palette of the surrounding Joshua Tree National Park. 

The creation of architect Josh Schweitzer, this shape-driven home was built as a vacation getaway for the architect and his family. Raised in Kansas, Schweitzer was struck at how prairie structures could embrace the expanse encompassing them, and wanted to recreate a similar feeling with Monument house. The quadrilateral sides are meant to invoke different pieces of the environs—green blending with the lichen and cacti, orange imitating the desert rock, and blue representing the hue of the sky meeting the horizon. Carrying a patchwork of windows, one is meant to feel as blended into the dry landscape as a passerby driver noticing the exterior of the home. 

Schweitzer’s first design completed from the ground up (he had only re-designed restaurants up until that point), the dream house was completed within one year. It has been the talk of desert architecture aficionados ever since. 

An escape from the busyness of LA, this remote chameleon quietly lies on the desert’s horizon. Unless there’s a house party. 

Submit Your Image
Create an account to comment! Login/Sign Up.

Partner

Add an image to Monument House

Tips for photos
  • The image must be created by you
  • Subject is symmetrically aligned, and a dash of color never hurts.
  • The place shown has some sort of historical significance
  • FAQs

Max file size is 40MB. JPEGs are preferred.

You do not have permission to view this form.

You did it! 🎉

Your submission has been sent to our team for review!

Please note, it can sometimes take us a month or more to get through all the submissions. There are only two of us reviewing, so we appreciate your patience, but we pinky-promise to email you if your submission is accepted, so keep an eye on your inbox for updates!

Got it!

Log in

Need an account? Sign up

Sign up

Already have an account? Log In

Enter your email to reset your password

Enter your new password