{{Short description|American interior designer (1924–1974)}} {{Infobox person | name = Arthur Elrod | image = | image_size = | caption = | birth_name = Arthur Dea Elrod, Jr. | birth_date = {{birth date|1924|8|8}} | birth_place = Anderson, South Carolina, U.S. | death_date = {{death date and age|1974|2|18|1924|8|8}} | death_place = Palm Springs, California, U.S. | resting_place = | known_for = | education = | alma_mater = {{ubl|Clemson University|Chouinard Art Institute}} | occupation = Interior designer }}
'''Arthur Dea Elrod, Jr.''' (August 8, 1924 – February 18, 1974) was an American interior designer, perhaps best known for the Elrod House his home in Palm Springs, California, which he designed in collaboration with architect John Lautner in 1968.<ref name=":0">{{Cite web |title=Palm Springs LGBTQ+ History |url=https://visitpalmsprings.com/palm-springs-gay-history/ |access-date=2024-11-12 |website=Visit Palm Springs |publisher=Palm Springs Bureau of Tourism}}</ref>
==Early life== Elrod was born in Anderson, South Carolina, grew up on a farm, and studied design at South Carolina's Clemson University, before attending the Chouinard Art Institute in Los Angeles.<ref name="psmodern">{{cite book |first=Adèle |last=Cygelman |title=Palm Springs Modern |url=http://www.becksondesign.com/pdf/books/1999-palm_springs_modern.pdf |publisher=Rizzoli |year=2015 |page=168 |isbn=978-0847844104 |access-date=2017-01-29 |archive-date=2017-02-02 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170202040833/http://www.becksondesign.com/pdf/books/1999-palm_springs_modern.pdf |url-status=live }}</ref>
==Career== In 1954, Elrod and Harold "Hal" Broderick started Arthur Elrod and Associates, an interior design firm on Palm Canyon Drive in Palm Springs, and went on to hire William C. Raiser, Steve Chase, and others.<ref name="psmodern"/> According to the Palm Springs Bureau of Tourism, Elrod's innovative midcentury modern style "became a hallmark of the Palm Springs aesthetic" and helped solidify the city's reputation as a center of modernist design.<ref name=":0" />
In 1968, Elrod designed his Palm Springs home, now known as Elrod House, built by architect John Lautner.<ref name=":0" />
==Personal life== Elrod was openly gay.<ref name=":0" />
The parties he held at the Elrod House were "legendary", Bill Blass held a fashion show, ''Playboy'' did a November 1971 feature, ''Pleasure on the Rocks'', and the house was used as Willard Whyte's mansion in the 1971 James Bond film, ''Diamonds Are Forever''. The house has been described as the "ultimate bachelor pad", and it has been noted that increasing numbers of the "pads" in ''Playboy'' in the 1970s belonged to out gay men like Elrod.<ref>{{cite journal |url=https://www.griffith.edu.au/__data/assets/pdf_file/0019/531523/S02_03_Sewell_Opening-the-Boundaries.pdf |title=Opening the Boundaries of Architectural History: Popular Culture, Imaginary Buildings, and the Influence of the Bachelor Pad |first=Jessica |last=Sewell |journal=Proceedings of the Society of Architectural Historians, Australia and New Zealand: 30, Open |publisher=Society of Architectural Historians, Australia and New Zealand |volume=1 |pages=67–79 |date=July 2–5, 2013 |isbn=978-0-9876055-0-4 |access-date=2016-05-03 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160507193722/https://www.griffith.edu.au/__data/assets/pdf_file/0019/531523/S02_03_Sewell_Opening-the-Boundaries.pdf |archive-date=2016-05-07 |url-status=dead }}</ref>
Elrod was a close friend of Bob Hope and his wife Dolores.<ref name="chicagotribune1974">{{cite news |url=http://archives.chicagotribune.com/1974/02/22/page/42/article/friends-shocked-by-elrods-death |title=Friends Shocked by Elrod's Death |first=Norma Lee |last=Browning |newspaper=Chicago Tribune |page=12 |date=February 22, 1974 |access-date=May 2, 2016 |archive-date=July 1, 2016 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160701225639/http://archives.chicagotribune.com/1974/02/22/page/42/article/friends-shocked-by-elrods-death/ |url-status=live }}</ref>
Elrod and his associate, William Raiser, died in a traffic accident on February 18, 1974, when their Fiat sportscar was hit by a drunk teenage driver. Elrod was 49 years old.<ref name="nytobit">{{cite news |url=https://www.nytimes.com/1974/02/20/archives/arthur-elrod-killed-in-crash-interior-designer-was-49.html?_r=0 |title=Arthur Elrod Killed in Crash; Interior Designer Was 49 |newspaper=The New York Times |page=40 |date=February 20, 1974 |access-date=February 14, 2017 |archive-date=December 7, 2019 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20191207225519/https://www.nytimes.com/1974/02/20/archives/arthur-elrod-killed-in-crash-interior-designer-was-49.html?_r=0 |url-status=live }}</ref><ref>{{cite news |url=http://cdnc.ucr.edu/cgi-bin/cdnc?a=d&d=DS19740218.2.3 |title=Famous Designer Elrod Killed in Car Collision |newspaper=The Desert Sun |page=1 |date=February 18, 1974 |access-date=May 2, 2016 |archive-date=June 3, 2016 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160603192847/http://cdnc.ucr.edu/cgi-bin/cdnc?a=d&d=DS19740218.2.3 |url-status=live }}</ref>
==References== {{Reflist}} "Arthur Elrod: Desert Modern Design" by Adele Cygelman (Gibbs Smith, 2019)
==External links== * [http://sfciviccenter.blogspot.co.uk/2011/11/arthur-elrod-1-350-via-lola.html Civic Center: Arthur Elrod 1: 350 Via Lola] * [http://ronslog.typepad.com/ronslog/2012/02/elrod-house.html Ron's Log: Elrod House]
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{{DEFAULTSORT:Elrod, Arthur}} Category:1924 births Category:1974 deaths Category:American interior designers Category:Artists from Atlanta Category:American gay artists Category:LGBTQ designers Category:Chouinard Art Institute alumni Category:Clemson University alumni Category:People from Palm Springs, California Category:Road incident deaths in California Category:20th-century American LGBTQ people Category:Palm Springs, California architects, builders and developers Category:20th-century American designers