Guide
6 Buildings Designed by Black Architects in Palm Springs
By, Marianne Dhenin
Palm Springs, California is famed for its stunning desert views, midcentury modernist architecture, and year-round arts and culture programming. This includes programming honoring Palm Springs' communities of color, who have shaped the city despite decades of racist policies that sought to impoverish or displace them. The most infamous example is Section 14, a largely Black neighborhood that was leveled in the 1960s for commercial development. As part of their commitment to reckoning with the city’s racist past, city administrators approved a historic reparations settlement with former Section 14 residents in 2024.
While Black architects have begun to garner greater recognition among historians and preservationists, the work of many talented individuals remains at risk of being unrecognized or lost. To support the preservation of buildings created by Black architects and designers and diversify America’s architectural history, the African American Cultural Heritage Action Fund at the National Trust for Historic Preservation partnered with the Getty Foundation to launch the $4.65-million grant program, Conserving Black Modernism, in 2023.
Meanwhile, local organizations, including the Palm Springs Black History Committee, Urban Palm Springs, and Modernism Week, have launched tours and symposiums showcasing the city’s Black history. Here are six sites to get you started on your own tour:
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Photo By: Google Street View
First Baptist Church
This historic Black church on Rosa Parks Road opened in 1963. Before its congregation had a dedicated building, it gathered for almost two decades in borrowed halls or sometimes a tent outdoors. Many of the families who attended the church during this period lived in Section 14. Their new building was “a dream realized,” according to a program printed for the church’s dedication ceremony. The church was designed by architect Howard Lapham in the mid-century modernist style for which Palm Springs has become known.
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Photo By: WikiMedia Commons
El Mirador Hotel
Renowned Black architect Paul R. Williams created several of his best-known works in Palm Springs, including a 1950s remodel of the El Mirador Hotel. The hotel first opened in the 1920s but struggled and was forced to close during the Great Depression. Under new ownership, Williams’s lavish remodel included a porte-cochere entry, a new pool area, and an outdoor lounge with modernist trellis details. The design helped turn the hotel into a premier resort. Today, it is part of the Desert Regional Medical Center. Many of its distinctive architectural features have been preserved.
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Photo By: Google Street View
Milton F. Kreis Drug Store
The Oasis Commercial Building at 101–121 South Palm Canyon Drive opened in 1952. Another of Paul R. Williams’s contributions to Palm Springs was tucked into the northern corner of the development: Milton F. Kreis Drug Store. Williams designed the drug store’s interiors featuring futuristic aluminum-framed glass doors, one-of-a-kind door hardware, and a sculpted staircase. Both the drug store and the mixed-use commercial building, which architect E. Stewart Williams designed, gained attention for their modernist design. The Palm Springs Preservation Foundation has marked the latter for preservation.
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Photo By: © J. Paul Getty Trust. Getty Research Institute, Los Angeles (2004.R.10)
Palm Springs Tennis Club
Another joint project of architects Paul R. Williams and A. Quincy Jones, a series of additions to the Palm Springs Tennis Club made in 1947 transformed the club from its Italian monastery style into a California modern complex. The pair focused on combining modern design elements with natural materials, including natural wood and stone, unpainted brick, and wrap-around glass, which made the Tennis Club feel like an extension of the desert landscape visible from its position on the edge of Palm Springs abutting Mount San Jacinto.
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Photo By: © J. Paul Getty Trust. Getty Research Institute, Los Angeles
Town & Country Center Restaurant
Paul R. Williams often partnered with architect A. Quincy Jones, who is known for modernist design and his early application of green design principles. The Town & Country Center Restaurant is one example of their handiwork. Their redesign of the original restaurant featured natural wood finishes, wooden trellis details, and planters to divide the large restaurant into intimate garden-like spaces offering respite from the larger shopping center in which it was housed. Today, the Town & Country Shopping Center is often labeled one of the most historically significant buildings in Palm Springs and is the subject of preservation programs.
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Photo By: WikiMedia Commons
Crossley Tract
Lawrence Crossley moved from New Orleans to Palm Springs in the mid-1920s, becoming one of its first Black residents. He was a keen businessman who rose from chauffeur for local cattle baron Prescott Thresher Stevens to become a magnate in his own right. For many of the city’s Black residents, Crossley is best remembered for a subdivision he developed called Crossley Tract. It was built east of the city limits in the 1950s and ‘60s to house families of color, including many displaced from Section 14. Today, the subdivision has been absorbed into Palm Springs and Crossley Road honors its developer.
Marianne Dhenin is an award-winning journalist and historian. View their portfolio and contact them at mariannedhenin.com.