ARCHITECTS

(August 19, 1930 – May 21, 2023)

Robert Stuart Marx was born on August 19th, 1930 in New York, son of Helen and Gummo Marx, of the Marx Brothers. The family moved to Los Angeles when Robert was seven. He graduated from Beverly Hills High School, attended USC, and served honorably in the US Coast Guard from 1950-1953. After a few years in television production, his father Gummo encouraged Robert to come to the desert to build him a house.  Marx had met designer Val Powelson in Los Angeles; the two men partnered to design and build numerous homes around Tamarisk Country Club. The ‘Sputnik’ house at Tamarisk Country Club was completed for Gummo Marx in 1957.

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By then, Robert was married to his first wife, Carol Maranz, daughter of Tastee-Freez inventor Leo Maranz. Maranz commissioned Marx to build him the ‘most dramatic house on the golf course.  Powelson and Marx complied, and the Maranz Residence, with its dramatic hyperbolic roofline, became one of the most iconic homes in the desert. Other homes in Rancho Mirage designed with Powelson included the Weisbard-DeLue Residence, the Goldstein residence, and the 20-unit cooperative, DaVaal Estates.

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Marx designed and built other homes at and around Tamarisk, including the ‘Green Acres’ homes and several more private residences, including a home for himself.