Mod Mirage

The Midcentury Architecture of Rancho Mirage

Melissa Riche, Jim Riche

• Publisher: Gibbs Smith
• Year: 2018
• ISBN:
  9781423648765
• Topic: Architecture
• Subtopic: Residential Architecture

No longer overshadowed by neighboring Palm Springs, Mod Mirage reveals in photos and stories the historic homes and communities of Rancho Mirage that make up its significant midcentury heritage. Mod Mirage documents the architecturally innovative homes and communities that were built on and adjacent to the historic Thunderbird and Tamarisk Country Clubs from 1950 to 1970, in what is now the community of Rancho Mirage, California. Some of the midcentury's most distinguished architects, including William Cody, Donald Wexler, William Krisel, E. Stewart Williams, and William Pereira, designed many of these structures, many of which are hidden behind country club gates and not easily accessible to the public. This is the first book to focus solely on Rancho Mirage's rich architecture while also discussing its influential social history. Melissa Riche is a writer, researcher, architecture enthusiast, preservationist, and media consultant. She has written about architecture and design for twenty years, including articles for Atomic Ranch magazine and the Desert Sun newspaper and historic nominations for the Palm Springs Preservation Foundation. She is the founder of Mod Mirage, a group of midcentury modern homeowners in Rancho Mirage, California. Melissa and her husband, photographer Jim Riche, live in Tamarisk Ranchos, a William Krisel–designed midcentury modern community.

Communities

Jeff Chandler Residence

Magnesia Falls Cove

With the rapid success of Thunderbird and Tamarisk Country Clubs, everyone wanted to join in the fun. But outside of private homes, the only available accommodations at Thunderbird Country Club were the 14 rental cottages designed by William Cody. In the early 1950s, there were only a handful of small hotels and guest ranches nearby. Enter the new resort communities. As each one was developed, its main selling point was “adjacent to Thunderbird and Tamarisk Country Clubs”—such was the lure of the two venues.

The early Rancho Mirage subdivision was growing gradually but still had a long way to go. The first planned resort community near either club opened in 1954 and was the brainchild of world-famous crooner Bing Crosby: Blue Skies Trailer Village was a luxury trailer park with pool, clubhouse, games, and gardens designed by desert modernist architect William F. Cody. It was followed by a more substantial development—the largest cooperative in the desert with more than 100 apartments: Desert Braemar. During the next 10 years, developers seized the opportunity to invest in barren desert or date palm groves and create miniresorts of homes with social hubs. The resort-style communities met the growing demand for no-maintenance, hassle-free private homes with a built-in social life. The homes were designed for seasonal and weekend use, but many people chose to stay in the desert year-round. Their presence spurred the growth of commercial development in the fledgling town, and the development of these resort communities eventually transitioned to massive country club developments from the early 1970s.

Hundreds of homes were developed during the 1950s in the original Rancho Mirage subdivision, now known as Magnesia Falls Cove. This house was one of the later 1959 Desser & Garfield models.

Magnesia Falls Cove

architects: various

developers: various, including art linkletter

1936–59

In the mid-1930s, a couple of enterprising real estate men purchased a section of barren desert spanning the Palm Springs-to-Indio highway to create a housing subdivision. The El Rancho Mirage land spawned the area’s first planned housing development, advertised as: “Fifteen minutes from Palm Springs.” By March 1937, six homes were completed, two more were underway, and telephone lines had been installed. A tract plan shows lots on road names that still exist today: Sahara Road, Magnesia Falls Drive, East Veldt. Lots were sold for $500, acreage for less. Frank Morgan, who played the Wizard in The Wizard of Oz (1939), built his home there the same year the movie came out and it still stands today. World War II intervened, however, and sales and development stalled.

Don Cameron was the first person to sell land in Rancho Mirage. He managed the extensive landholding of Lawrence Macomber and helped Frank Morgan build his home. When Macomber died in 1940, Cameron opened his own real estate business with David Culver, aided by Macomber’s son, who let them have the large tract of land for taxes. In a 1956 interview with the Palm Springs Villager, Cameron recalled that in 1944 an army major named A. Ronald Button came “dashing through” and bought 80 acres at $100 an acre. Button subsequently bought the entire Macomber holding, and postwar began to grow the community with the help of Cameron’s sales spiel and regular columns for the local paper, the Desert Sun .

Rancho Mirage is the most logical spot between Palm Springs and Indio for the development of business, and property will eventually be as high as in Palm Springs proper.

During the war, Button served in the US Army Signal Corps Motion Picture Division, where he spent most of his time in the company of Ronald Reagan at the Hal Roach Studios. In 1945, Button built a “palatial,” “luxurious” “modern style ranch house” on half an acre in his Rancho Mirage subdivision, where he frequently entertained his Hollywood friends. He followed up by opening a Palm Springs branch of his entertainment law practice, Button & Herzog, that combined his development office with his legal one. By 1948, Button and his development partner, Dave Culver, had nearly 100 homes under construction or completed in the burgeoning Rancho Mirage community; two apartment hotels were built and a 75-foot community swimming pool was installed.

Button encouraged his celebrity clients to own homes there and the Desert Sun declared that Rancho Mirage was becoming a “Filmland Annex,” with Hollywood actors John Warburton, Hedy Lamarr, Jeanette MacDonald, and George Brent joining the group down valley, along with studio executives, writers, camera operators, and producers.

Among the architects designing in Rancho Mirage at that time were L. G. Scherer, occasional colleague of Paul R. Williams and designer of Hollywood homes for major stars like Marlene Dietrich; and Barry Frost, who collaborated with Clark & Frey before setting up on his own nearby.

Development slowed until 1956, when the Palm Springs Villager announced, “Button is currently developing a $1.5 million home project in Rancho Mirage.” A full-page ad in the Villager proclaimed:

Live in Rancho Mirage—the Country Club Area—A Planned community for casual desert living. 137 new luxury homes—completed and building in this multi-million dollar paradise, A. Ronald Button as Owner and Developer. Prices started at $17,500 made possible only by volume building.

Button joined forces with his old friend, radio and TV star Art Linkletter, who was also known for his business acumen, controlling 70 businesses through Linkletter Enterprises. Linkletter had owned a ranch nearby and had partnered with Button on real estate investments elsewhere. Rancho Mirage looked like a good bet. The number of properties was set to nearly triple, priced from $15,500 up to $33,000 for deluxe models with private pools. The two businessmen proposed an additional $5 million investment.

The two- or three-bedroom homes varied in design: simple, modern ranch homes or long-gabled cottages; others featured a living room almost entirely of glass, meeting at right angles and then rising up to a corner roof apex (see image at right). Inside they featured top GE appliances “in soft confection colors.” Most had pools, fenced yards, play areas, barbecues, and smoke ovens.

Art Linkletter’s involvement with the Rancho Mirage subdivision lasted just over a year, long enough to put the community on the map. His involvement gave...