Since it opened in 1928, El Mirador Hotel and its iconic tower have been a Palm Springs landmark.

Think of Palm Springs, and you’re likely to envision a desert oasis dotted with sleek, Midcentury Modern buildings. But as you’ll read in the Fall 2014 issue of Preservation, the city has no shortage of buildings dating back to the earlier part of the last century.

These buildings from the 1920s and ‘30s tell the stories of Palm Springs' earliest days. But perhaps the structure with one of the more interesting, winding tales is the El Mirador Tower.

Its story begins on New Years Eve in 1928. It was the grand opening of El Mirador Hotel, one of the grandest, most fashionable resorts in town. Hollywood celebrities and business tycoons were on hand to celebrate the new hotel, designed by Los Angeles architects Walker & Eisen and built by Palm Springs businessman and developer Prescott Thresher Stevens (who invested nearly $1 million in the venture).

Sprawling across 20 acres, the 200-room hotel featured tennis courts, a golf course (the first 18-hole golf course in the city), stables, an Olympic-size swimming pool, and the 60-foot Spanish Revival bell tower that became -- and still is -- a Palm Springs landmark.

It remained a glamorous desert getaway for years, thriving even throughout the Great Depression (though new owners took over in 1931). But when the United States entered World War II, the federal government purchased El Mirador Hotel and turned it into a military hospital, Torney General Hospital.

In 1952, after the property was declared army surplus, it was sold to a group of investors who restored the structure under the guidance of Los Angeles architect Paul R. Williams and re-opened it as, once again, a hotel.

Twenty years later, the hotel closed permanently, and it was converted back into a hospital, Desert Hospital (today known as Desert Regional Medical Center).

After a fire destroyed the original El Mirador hotel and tower in 1989, a historically accurate reconstruction was completed two years later.

In 1982, the original El Mirador Hotel and Tower were listed on the National Register of Historic Places. But tragedy struck in July 1989: A fire broke out, destroying the original hotel and tower.

A landmark was lost -- but not forever. The building’s original plans from Walker & Eisen had survived throughout the years. The hospital board sprung to action, commissioning a historically accurate reconstruction of the tower, which was completed in May 1991.

Head down North Indian Canyon Drive today, and the tower still, well, towers over the relatively low-lying buildings of Palm Springs, ready to endure as a landmark for years to come.