Palm Springs has become famous for unique and aesthetically pleasing architecture. This particular treasure is one reason that draws people to the area and also why much of the nation's media cover our desert area with such enthusiasm. Our buildings represent works by important architects during the most creative periods of their careers. The following lists offers a self-guided tour that demonstrates Historical Sites Within Palm Springs.
- Tramway Gas Station / 2901 North Palm Canyon Drive
Constructed in 1963 by Frey and Chambers as the 'Enco' Tramway Gas Station, this structures' roof soars to a dramatic point, marking the official entry to the City. It is currently the location of the Palm Springs Visitors Center.
- Tram Way Valley Station / 1 Tramway Road
Completed in 1963 after a 14 year design period by architects John Porter Clark, Albert Frey and Robson Chambers, the Palm Springs Aerial Tramway Station was designed to embrace its surroundings and has truly set the tone for architectural practice in the desert.
- El Mirador Hotel Tower / 1150 North Indian Canyon Drive
Original built by cattle rancher Prescott T. Stevens in 1928, this tower was the centerpiece of the famed El Mirador Hotel. The original tower was destroyed by fire in 1989, but thanks to the availability of the original plans, the tower was reconstructed by 1991. - El Mirador Garage / 1090 North Palm Canyon Drive
Necessitated by the popularity of the El Mirador Hotel and its elite car-savvy clientele, the garage was built in 1929, one year after the hotel's opening.
- El Paseo Building / 800 North Palm Canyon Drive
A two story Spanish Eclectic compound featuring an interior courtyard, this 1926-1927 building exemplifies much of Palm Springs' early architecture. While the façade facing Palm Canyon Drive has been significantly altered, much of the original building remains.
- Pacific Building / 766-768 North Palm Canyon Drive
This Mission Revival Style building was built in 1936 by Charles Chamberlin. The upstairs level remains as apartments while the courtyard and street-facing space have housed numerous offices and retail oriented businesses over the years. The adjacent Casa Palmeras apartments to the east remain virtually unchanged.
- Frances Stevens School and Park / 538 North Palm Canyon Drive
Built by Frances Stevens, wife of Prescott Stevens (see El Mirador Hotel Tower), this structure began its life as their home. In 1927, the first classrooms were constructed and it remained an educational facility until the City of Palm Springs purchased the site in 1974 when it was dedicated by President Gerald Ford as a cultural arts center.
- Street Marker / Northwest Corner of Chino Drive & Palm Canyon Drive
In 1930 Main Street became Palm Canyon Boulevard, and following the cities incorporation in 1938, stone street markers were created. Built of native stone and cement, this is the last remaining marker of its kind in the city.
- Welwood Murray Cemetery / Chino Drive (west end)
As the first cemetery for non-Indian settlers in Palm Springs, this is the final resting place for many Palm Springs pioneers and visionaries. Deeded to the Palm Springs cemetery district by Welwood Murray's heirs, it is named in his honor. Erksine Murray, son of Elizabeth and George Murray, was the first buried here in 1894.
- Our Lady of Solitude Church / 151 West Alejo Road
Planning do the this church began in 1926 under Father Phillip LaVies from Saint Boniface School in nearby Banning. The Spanish Mission Revival Structure was completed in 1930 by local builder Alvah Hicks. The Rectory to the east was added in 1964 and a Parish Center to the South was built in 1974.
- Drs. Smith & Peppers Office / 483 North Palm Canyon Drive
Built in the 1920s, this small Spanish Eclectic home was the northernmost residence in the city. As Palm Springs prospered, a higher demand for community services along "Main Street" prompted original owner Dr. John F. Smith to convert the home into his medical offices in the early 1930s.
- American Legion, Owen Coffman Post #519 / 400 North Belardo Road
Built by R.S. Pinkard in 1948 with donated materials and labor, this project was originally known as the War Memorial Building. Under first commander Earl Coffman, a WWI Veteran, The American Legion Post held early meetings in the Fiesta Room at the Desert Inn. Upon learning that his son, Lieutenant Owen B. Coffman, was the first Palm Springs native killed in WWII, a resolution was drafted to rename the post in Owen's honor.
- General Telephone Building / 365 North Palm Canyon Drive
Built in 1934 by the California Water and Telephone Company as an office and switching center, this Spanish Eclectic building was later owned and operated by GTE from 1967-1984.
- The Cork 'n Bottle / 342 North Palm Canyon Drive
Somewhat shrouded in mystery, this last remaining example of commercial Art Decco architecture in downtown Palm Springs is listed as this address as early as 1937 in local phone books, but was most likely built earlier. While the architect and builder are unknown, records indicated the building was first owned by local civic leader Clarence Simpson, who ran it as Simpson's Radio and Frigidaire until his death in 1944.
- Palm Springs Fire Station #1 / 277 North Palm Canyon Drive
Also a Frey and Chambers structure built in 1955, this structure is similar to Palm Springs City Hall and features many of Frey's trademark elements such as the colored concrete block and corrugated aluminum. Threatened with demolition in the 1990s, the Palm Springs Modern Committee was formed and saved the building.
- Lykken's Department Store / 180 North Palm Canyon Drive
Pioneer Carl Lykken and business partner J.H. Bartlett built the first Palm Springs department store in 1914. Lykken later added a hardware store on the north side. A place of many firsts, Lykken's also had the town's first public phone and a branch of the United States Post Office.
- Palm Springs Art Museum / 101 Museum Drive
Built in 1976 by architect E. Stewart Williams, this structure has a superb blend of natural and organic building. A 35 foot building height limit at the time did not limit Williams' creativity; he simply placed the outdoor sculpture gardens and theater below grade. Having the clever foresight that building codes and height restrictions would evolve, he came out of retirement in 1996 at age 86 to design the seamless addition.
- O'Donnell House / Private Road (above Museum)
The highest house in the valley when constructed in 1925, this "Ojo del Desierto" (Eye of the Desert) was built for Thomas O'Donnell by Palms Springs pioneer Nellie Coffman and designed by architect Charles Tanner. After sitting vacant for many years, this home was carefully restored by The Willows in 2000.
- The Willows / 412 West Tahquitz Canyon Way
The winter home of New Yorker Samuel Untermeyer, this home was built between 1924-1929 by architects Dow and Richards. Long neglected, this home was rescued by savvy entrepreneurs who undertook a thorough restoration before opening this once private estate as a luxury hotel in 1996.
- Roberson House / 385 West Tahquitz Canyon Way
Designed by Charles Tanner, architect of The Desert Inn and the O'Donnell House, this home was built in 1924 by George Roberson, son of Nellie Coffman. Originally surrounded by a native stone wall, the Spanish Revival structure was one of three homes that made up a compound of early Palm Springs Families: the Coffmans, Robersons and Valeurs.
- Welwood Murray Library / 100 South Palm Canyon Drive
Completed the last week of 1940, the Welwood Murray Memorial Library was designed by Palm Springs architect John Porter Clark and built by Charles G. Chamberlain. Made possible by a bequest to the city by Murray's son, Dr. George Murray and by generous donations from philanthropist Thomas O' Donnell, the terms of Murray's 1938 gift deed to the city state that the property must always contain a library.
- Oasis Hotel Tower / 121 South Palm Canyon Drive
Lloyd Wright, son of Frank Lloyd Wright, designed this early Art Deco/Moderne hotel for clients Pearl and Austin McManus from 1923-1925. Built around early Palm Springs settler John McCallum's original adobe house, the hotel utilized an innovative slip-form method of construction.
- Plaza Theater / 128 South Palm Canyon Drive
As the most remarkable building of the million-dollar Plaza project, the Plaza Theater embodies the finest features of modern Spanish Revival architecture and construction. Among the most notable achievements was the first ever installation of Wester Electric's Mirrorphonic Sound, then the most innovative and perfected system of its kind.
- La Plaza / 160 South Palm Canyon Drive
Designed in 1935 by Harry J. Williams as one of the first mixed-use commercial centers in California, The Plaza was indeed the first outdoor-oriented shopping center in the country.
Original tenants included the local post office, an upstairs night club and the trendy Desmond's apparel shop.
- Miss Cornelia's "Little House" / 221 South Palm Canyon Drive
Built partially out of railroad ties from the defunct Palmdale Railway, this building was originally erected in 1893 by Welwood Murray on the site of his Palm Springs Hotel before the property was sold in 1914 to the White sisters, Miss Cornelia and Dr. Florilla. The home was moved across the street to what is now the southeast corner of Tahquitz Canyon Way and Indian Canyon Drive when Cornelia deeded it and the land for the first Palm Springs Desert Museum. The house was moved again in 1979 after the Museum sold that site.
- McCallum Adobe / 221 South Palm Canyon Drive
The oldest existing structure in Palm Springs, the McCallum adobe was the original family home of Judge John Guthrie McCallum, the first permanent non-Indian settler. Built in 1884 under the guidance of Will Pablo, a Cahuilla Indian from the Morongo Reservation, the walls were made of adobe brick in the "ancient manner," from a mixture of earth and water tamped down in forms then left in the sun to dry.
- Community Church / 283 South Cahuilla Road
The first Community Church of Palm Springs, originally located at the southeast corner of Andreas Road and North Palm Canyon Drive was a quaint white frame structure built by Thomas Critchlow. However, by the 1930s a growing congregation created the need for a larger building. Designed by Charles Tanner and completed in 1936, this Gothic Revival Style is the only surviving example found in Palm Springs.
- Ingleside Inn / 200 West Ramon Road
Local developer and builder Alvah Hicks built this as a private residence for the Humphrey and Ethel Birge family in 1922. It was sold in 1934 to Ruth Hardy, who turned it into an inn for popular and affluent guests. It was purchased again in 1974 by Brooklyn entrepreneur Mel Haber and currently houses Melvyn's, an upscale restaurant.
- Tie Down on Easmor Circle / (North off Livmore, East of Farrell)
Installed by the US Army during WWII as a safety measure for securing aircraft, as many of forty of these slabs of concrete with embedded brass rope anchors were installed in the Eastern Half of Section 17 in Palm Springs. This is the only tie down that remains a Class One Historic site.
- Palm Springs City Hall / 3200 East Tahquitz Canyon Way
Designed "cooperatively and serially" from 1952-1957 by the architectural firms of Clark, Frey and Chambers and Williams, Williams and Williams, Palm Springs City Hall was largely the vision of Albert Frey. Inspired by a pivotal 1955 trip around the world in which his understanding of form and function was renewed, Frey returned to complete the final scheme for his most important public design.
- (A-G) Steel Development Houses / 300 & 330 East Molino Road / 3100, 3125, 3133, 3165 Sunny View Drive / 290 Simms Road
Planned as a 38-home subdivision by U.S. Steel, only seven "Wexler" Steel Houses were built before the rising cost of steel halted the project. Designed by Donald Wexler in partnership with Ric Harrison, the homes were built between 1961-62 by the Alexander Construction Company. - Steel Development Houses
- Steel Development Houses
- Steel Development Houses
- Steel Development Houses
- Steel Development Houses
- Steel Development Houses
- Miller House / 2311 North Indian Canyon Drive
Architect Richard Neutra designed his first Palm Springs commission in 1936-37 for Grace Lewis Miller as a winter home and studio for the purpose of teaching the "Mensendienick" System of Functional Exercise. The home was recently restored after years of neglect.
- Carey-Pirozzi House / 651 West Via Escuela
In 1956 Albert Frey was commission by Laura Carey to design a small house on a rocky site, and to minimize costs, he designed the structure on slanted steel tubes above the terrain. In 1983, the second owners hired Frey to modify and enlarge the house.
- Hamrick House / 875 Chino Canyon Road
Fannie and John Hamrick commissioned John Porter Clark and Albert Frey in 1942 to build this Spanish Revival home overlooking the valley. After many years in the Hamrick family, the home was sold and restored in 2006 with the addition of a pool.
- Edris House / 1030 West Cielo Drive
E. Stewart Williams commissioned by friends Marjorie and William Edris in 1954 to design a winter retirement house that became a permanent residence. One of Williams' favorite projects, the house appears to grow out of its site, integrating nature into the architecture.
- Loewy House / 600 West Panorama Road
A equal collaboration between architect and owner, Frey called industrial designer Loewy a "wonderfully inventive" client. Featuring a trapezoidal wooden trellis and a free-form pool which begins inside, the recently restored house is a Palm Springs architectural icon.
- Kaufmann House / 470 West Vista Chino
Considered among the greatest modern houses in the world, this residence was commissioned by department store magnate Edgar J. Kaufmann and immortalized in a photo by Julius Shulman. In the 1990s, new owners commissioned an extensive three-year restoration by Marmol-Radziner and Associates.
- Frey House II / 686 Palisades Drive
Built around a massive granite rock and perched on a natural mountain side outcropping 220 feet above the city, this aluminum, steel and glass house blends into its environment. Upon his death in 1998, Frey willed his second house to the Palm Springs Art Museum.
- Neel House / 272 Camino Buean Vista
This Spanish Colonial Revival house built in 1924 was the home of Earl Neel, former Palm Springs city councilman and owner of Neel's Nursery who planted a mile of palm trees along Palm Canyon Drive in the late 1940s.
- Ship of the Desert / 1995 Camino Monte
Named for the curvilinear forms inspired by its Streamline Moderne design, this house is a rare, classic example of the style. In the late 1990s, after suffering from neglect and fire, new owners carefully restored the house, the only one of its kind in Palm Springs.
