CABOT YERXA Pueblo Museum

If you have been following me for a while you know that I love Art & Craft.

While in the California desert I did stumble on a wonderful story,Cabot Yerxa story.

Before settling in the California desert, Cabot Yerxa led an adventurous life, traveling to Mexico, Cuba, Alaska and studying art in Paris. 

In 1913 Cabot homesteaded 160 acres in what is now Desert Hot Springs. Pressed for water, he dug a well with pick and shovel, discovering the now famous hot mineral waters of Desert Hot Springs.

Cabot began construction on his pueblo-style home in 1939 and worked on it until his death in 1965 at the age of 81.

The structure is hand-made, created from reclaimed and found objects. The lumber is all "recycled". Poles were retrieved from mountain floods, many railroad ties were used and some timbers came out of the Metropolitan Aqueduct tunnels. Bent and rusty nails were saved to straighten and use again.

The Pueblo is four-stories, 5,000 square feet and includes 35 rooms, 150 windows and 65 doors. Going through the house you will notice many unique features: including windows and doors collected and reassembled from abandoned homesteads (loved the strange window paneling), old telephone poles, wagon parts and many other materials used creatively. Unfortunately I was not authorised to photograph the inside. The Pueblo was abandoned after Cabot’s death. 

A Desert Hot Springs businessman and acquaintance of Cabot Yerxa, Cole Eyraud (1921 -1996), purchased the property and helped restore the Pueblo to its historic state. 

 After Eyraud's death, his family donated the property to the city of Desert Hot Springs to continue the legacy of a historic museum and art gallery.

http://www.cabotsmuseum.org/home.html

A bientôt,

Pierre Candra

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