Palm Desert City Council
October 23, 2025

CITY OF PALM DESERT

STAFF REPORT
MEETING DATE: October 23, 2025
PREPARED BY: Bertha A. Escobedo, Business Operations Manager SUBJECT: AUTHORIZE THE PURCHASE OF TWO ADVANCED LIFE SUPPORT

PARAMEDIC REMOUNT UNITS FROM FRAZER, LTD
RECOMMENDATION:

1. Pursuant to PDMC Section 3.30.160(I), in the best interest of the City, authorize the purchase of two Advanced Life Support (ALS) Paramedic Remount Units from Frazer, LTD, of Houston, Texas, in the amount of $623,020.32.

2. Authorize the City Manager to execute all documents necessary to effectuate this action.

BACKGROUND/ANALYSIS:

The City of Palm Desert (City) and County of Riverside Fire (Fire Department) maintain a Cooperative Agreement (Agreement) for Fire Prevention, Rescue, and Emergency Medical Services. The Agreement designates operational responsibilities for each entity, and the City is responsible for fleet maintenance, including medic remounts.

To maintain the reliability, safety, and cost-effectiveness of its emergency response fleet, the Fire Department periodically evaluates its Advanced Life Support (ALS) Paramedic Units for replacement or refurbishment. Remounting aging medic units onto new chassis, coupled with refurbishment of the medic boxes, extends the service life of these critical vehicles, ensures compliance with current safety standards, reduces long-term maintenance costs, and supports the Department’s ability to provide uninterrupted, high-quality emergency medical services.

The Fire Department requests authorization to remount two medic units onto new 2024 Ford F450 Gas 4x2 Super Cab chassis and refurbish the existing medic boxes through Frazer, Ltd., the original manufacturer and sole source provider for this work.

Station Number Vehicle Number Age Miles
67 Medic 67 11 Years 130,603
67 Medic 267 10 Years 165,529
The quote provided by Frazer includes:
 $5,000 contingency – intended to cover unforeseen or miscellaneous expenses that may arise during the build process. This is especially relevant for remounts, as the full condition of the unit cannot be determined until it is on-site. Any unused contingency funds will be deducted from the final invoice.
 Trade-in value – the existing chassis may have some trade-in or resale value; however, the amount is difficult to estimate in advance as it depends heavily on the final condition 189
City of Palm Desert
Purchase of Two ALS Remount Units

of the units once they arrive for remount and refurbishment. Any credit realized from a trade-in would be applied toward reducing the overall cost.

Frazer’s specialized expertise ensures compatibility with the existing medic boxes, maintains manufacturer warranties, and provides the required refurbishment to extend the units’ service life. Thus, staff recommends that proceeding with this subsequent purchase is in best interest of the City.

If approved, staff will coordinate with the Fire Department to order the new chassis and begin procurement of required materials. Lead time for the equipment is approximately one year. Upon receipt, the medic units will be transported to Frazer’s facility in Houston, Texas, for remounting and refurbishment. During this period, designated backup medic units will be deployed to maintain uninterrupted emergency response services.

Legal Review:

This report has been reviewed by the City Attorney’s office.

Strategic Plan:

Public Safety and Emergency Services section of the Palm Desert Strategic Plan, specifically under Priority 1: Enhance the Delivery of Public Safety Services. The priority strategy is to expand the existing superlative services provided by the fire and police departments to address future growth and safety concerns. One of the action steps is to identify public safety needs including new equipment.

FINANCIAL IMPACT:

A total of $746,771 for Fire Services/Cap-Autos/Vehicles is included in the approved FY 2025- 26 Annual Budget and Capital Improvement Project (CIP) list in Account No. 5304220-4403000.

The cost of the two units totals $623,020.32; therefore, there is no impact to the General Fund with this action. The table below outlines the budget and expenses for current Fire Equipment purchases:

FY 2025/26 Budget Expenses Balance
5304220-4403000 $275,000
FY 2024/25 Carryover $471,771
Stryker Gurneys $118,245
Contingency 5,000
*Ambulance/remounts Q4607-1 $312,774
*Ambulance/remounts Q4608-1 $310,246
Total $746,771 $746,265 $506
*Current request
ATTACHMENTS:

1. Frazer Estimate No. Q4607-0001

2. Frazer Estimate No. Q4608-0001
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CITY OF PALM DESERT

STAFF REPORT
MEETING DATE: October 23, 2025
PREPARED BY: Brad Chuck, Public Works Superintendent
Kevin Swartz, Project Manager
SUBJECT: AUTHORIZE THE CITY MANAGER TO AWARD A CONSTRUCTION

AGREEMENT FOR THE PALM DESERT AQUATIC CENTER FACILITY
RENOVATION AND CONCRETE REPLACEMENT (PROJECT NO.

CFA00009)
RECOMMENDATION:

1. Authorize the City Manager to award a construction agreement for the Palm Desert Aquatic Center Facility Renovation and Concrete Replacement to the responsible bidder for an amount not to exceed $500,000 including contingency.

2. Authorize the Director of Finance to appropriate funds from General Fund Facility Reserve to the Interfund Transfer Out Account (Account Number 1104199-4501000) in the amount of $500,000, and transfer into the Palm Desert Aquatic Center Transfer In Account (Account No. 2420000-3910000).

3. Appropriate $500,000 to the Palm Desert Aquatic Center Capital Projects No. (Account No. 2424549-4400100.

4. Authorize the City Attorney to make necessary non-monetary changes to the agreement.

5. Authorize the City Manager to execute the agreement, issue change orders up to the contingency amount, and any documents necessary to effectuate the actions taken herewith.

6. Authorize the City Manager to execute the Notice of Completion (NOC) and the City Clerk to file the NOC upon satisfactory completion of the project.

BACKGROUND/ANALYSIS:

The Palm Desert Aquatic Center (PDAC) was constructed in 2011 as a premier public recreational facility for residents and visitors. Since opening, the City of Palm Desert (City) has operated and maintained the facility in collaboration with the Family YMCA of the Desert.

On November 17, 2025, PDAC will temporarily close to undergo significant improvements, including the installation of new filtration systems, pumps, gas-powered pool heaters, and a new emergency generator. While the closure will extend through January 2026, staff propose taking advantage of this downtime to complete additional facility improvements that address ongoing maintenance issues and enhance the overall user experience.

Project Description:

The proposed project includes replacing deteriorated and unsafe concrete surfaces, modernizing interior spaces, and upgrading utility systems to ensure continued functionality and compliance with safety and accessibility standards. The scope of works includes:
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City of Palm Desert
Approve City Manager Authorization for PDAC Facility Renovation and Concrete Replacement

Concrete Replacement:

The concrete areas throughout PDAC have experienced significant wear due to constant exposure to chlorinated water, sun, and heavy foot traffic. Numerous sections surrounding the pool decks, entryways, and pedestrian walkways have developed cracks, surface spalling, and rust staining from corroded rebar, creating potential safety concerns.

To address these issues, the project will demolish and replace damaged or rusted concrete sections throughout the facility, as well as remove and replace deteriorated expansion joint sealers to improve the overall durability and safety of these heavily used areas. Staff estimates the cost of this work to be $250,000.

Multi-Purpose Room:

The multi-purpose room serves as a flexible space used year-round for community programs, classes, staff training, and private rentals such as birthday parties and small gatherings. Over the years, regular use – combined with the typical moisture and humidity of an aquatic facility – has led to visible wear on the finishes and reduced the space's functionality.

The proposed improvements are designed to modernize the room, enhance safety, and ensure long-term durability while meeting accessibility and usability standards. Key components of the renovation include:
 Remove the existing laminate flooring, which has deteriorated due to moisture exposure, and install new waterproof, slip-resistant flooring suitable for wet environments. The selected flooring material will provide durability, ease of maintenance, and improved traction to minimize slip hazards.
 Renovate the adjoining restroom to ensure full compliance with Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA) requirements. Work will include proper fixture placement, clear floor space, and compliant door hardware. A baby changing station will also be added to improve convenience for families and caregivers.
 Install a new custom-built console with a sink and cabinetry to support event and program use, providing functional workspace and storage for staff and patrons.  Replace outdated light fixtures with energy-efficient (Light-Emitting Diode) LED lighting that enhances illumination while reducing long-term energy and maintenance costs.  Repaint all interior walls and ceilings using moisture-resistant paint designed for highhumidity environments. Install new window coverings that allow for light control and privacy during events while complementing the facility’s updated design.

Locker Rooms and Restrooms:

The existing blue epoxy flooring has deteriorated over time due to constant exposure to moisture, cleaning chemicals, and foot traffic from swimmers entering directly from the pool deck. The surface has become slippery when wet, leading to numerous complaints from patrons and raising concerns regarding user safety and compliance with slip-resistance standards. 220
City of Palm Desert
Approve City Manager Authorization for PDAC Facility Renovation and Concrete Replacement

The proposed flooring improvements will address these issues through a comprehensive removal and replacement of all existing epoxy flooring within both locker rooms, all unisex restrooms, and the restroom in the multi-purpose room. Key elements include:
 The existing epoxy coating and base layers will be fully removed down to the concrete substrate. Any cracks, uneven areas, or surface damage will be repaired and leveled to ensure proper adhesion and finish for the new system.
 A new industrial-grade, slip-resistant epoxy flooring system will be installed, designed specifically for high-humidity, wet-area environments such as aquatic facilities. The selected system will be 100% waterproof, chemical-resistant, and able to withstand continuous exposure to chlorine, cleaning agents, and heavy foot traffic.  The new flooring will include a textured, non-slip surface profile that meets or exceeds industry standards for coefficient of friction, greatly reducing the risk of slips and falls. This upgrade will significantly improve safety for both patrons and staff.

Staff estimates the cost for the multi-purpose room, locker rooms, and restroom improvements at $150,000.

Concession Area:

The concession area supports food and beverage service for patrons but contains outdated plumbing and equipment that no longer meet current health code requirements. The scope includes removing the existing commercial sink and installing a new three-compartment commercial sink with copper plumbing and a grease arrestor to ensure compliance with current health and safety standards. Staff estimates the cost of this work is $50,000.

Request For Proposals:

Staff is currently procuring these services through a formal Request for Proposals (RFP). Due to project timing, the upcoming facility closure, and only one council meeting in November, staff is requesting City Manager approval to ensure that the work is completed during the temporary closure. Following solicitation and evaluation, staff will present the recommended construction agreement to the City Manager for authorization. The estimated cost by scope, and per our request, is as follows:

Scope Estimated Cost
Concrete Replacement $250,000
Multi-Purpose Room, Locker Rooms & Restrooms $150,000
Concession Area $50,000
Contingency $50,000
Total: $500,000
Legal Review:

This report has been reviewed by the City Attorney’s Office. 221
City of Palm Desert
Approve City Manager Authorization for PDAC Facility Renovation and Concrete Replacement

FINANCIAL IMPACT:

Budget totaling $2,396,545 for Palm Desert Aquatic Center Improvements are included in the Fiscal Year 2025-26 Financial Plan and Capital Improvement Project (CIP) List in Account No. 2424549-4400100. However, funds are fully encumbered due to projects currently in process.

Therefore, a transfer from the General Fund Facility Reserve and appropriation in an amount not-to-exceed $500,000 is required to complete the proposed maintenance projects. This action will leave a remaining balance of $19 million in the General Fund Facility Reserve.

The table below outlines the budget and expenses to be completed during the closure:

Authorized/Requested Budgets Date
Authorized
Total
2424549-4400100 FY 2025/26 $300,000
Carryover FY 2025/26 $320,145
Appropriation 08/28/2025 $1,000,000
Appropriation 09/25/2025 $776,400
*10.23.25 Requested Appropriation Pending $500,000
Total Necessary Budget $2,896,545
Authorized Expenditures Date
Authorized
CIP
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RSM, Inc. (Pump Design #A48350) 09/12/2024 $65,000
RSM, Inc. (Pump Contingency A48350) 09/12/2024 $15,000
RSM, Inc. (PDAC Improv Design A49190) 04/22/2025 $58,000 RSM, Inc. (PDAC Improv Conting A49190) 04/22/2025 $10,000 Horizon Lighting (Generator Install) 05/13/2025 $85,968 Knorr Systems (Circulation Pump) 08/13/2025 $70,369
Knorr Systems (Equipment Purchase) 08/28/2025 $989,206
Knorr Systems (Equipment Contingency) 08/28/2025 $15,000 Condor, Inc. (Pump Room Renovation) 09/25/2025 $647,000 20% Contingency 09/25/2025 $129,400
Fence Improvements Pending $150,000
HVAC Replacements Pending $50,000
Resling Chairs Pending $25,000
Roof Access Ladder Pending $25,000
TurboChef Pending $50,000
Concrete, Multipurpose Room, Locker
Rooms and Restrooms, & Concessions
Improvements
Pending $500,000
Total Estimated Expenditures: $2,884,943
**Remaining Project Budget Available: $11,602
*This request
**Any unused budget may be reallocated to other projects and/or returned to the General Fund 222

CITY OF PALM DESERT

STAFF REPORT
MEETING DATE: October 23, 2025
PREPARED BY: Kalaina Perez, Management Analyst
SUBJECT: RECEIVE, FILE, AND IMPLEMENT THE COACHELLA VALLEY ASSOCIATION OF GOVERNMENTS’ TRANSPORTATION UNIFORM

MITIGATION FEE SCHEDULE INFLATION ADJUSTMENT EFFECTIVE
JANUARY 1, 2026, APPLICABLE TO ALL DEVELOPMENTS IN THE CITY

OF PALM DESERT
RECOMMENDATION:

Receive and file the Coachella Valley Association of Governments (“CVAG”) Transportation Uniform Mitigation Fee (“TUMF”) revised fee schedule adjusted for inflation to be effective January 1, 2026.

BACKGROUND/ANALYSIS:

On April 28, 2025, CVAG approved a 2.03% inflationary increase to the TUMF rates, effective January 1, 2026. This adjustment increases the rates the City must collect on development projects within Palm Desert.

The City has participated in the TUMF program since 1989, collecting and remitting fees to CVAG to fund regional transportation projects. CVAG reviews TUMF rates annually and may recommend that each member City adjust them for inflation in accordance with the Mitigation Fee Act (Government Code Section 66000 et seq.).

City Council Action History:

To ensure compliance with the Mitigation Fee Act, the City Council adopted Resolution No. 2024- 081 on November 14, 2024. This resolution approved an addendum to the 2018 TUMF Nexus Study, authorizing staff to apply future inflationary adjustments approved by CVAG without the need for additional public hearings. This authorization remains valid until a new nexus study is adopted or the Council revokes it.

Current Update:

CVAG’s 2.03% TUMF inflationary adjustment will take effect January 1, 2026. Since the City Council previously authorized administrative implementation of such adjustments, no further Council action is required.

Legal Review:

This report has been reviewed by the City Attorney’s Office.

FINANCIAL IMPACT:
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City of Palm Desert
CVAG 2026 TUMF Fees Inflationary Adjustment

The proposed Inflation Adjustment ensures that the City imposes and collects a developer impact fee that appropriately mitigates the cost of completing improvements to the regional roadway system in the Coachella Valley attributed to new development projects. TUMF is charged and collected by the City but is then transmitted and paid to CVAG for its administration of regional system improvements within the Coachella Valley.

ATTACHMENTS:

1. CVAG staff report, including a letter from the Desert Valley Builders Association supporting the TUMF inflationary increase; and

2. Revised TUMF Fee Schedule effective January 1, 2026.

3. Resolution No. 2024-081
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RESOLUTION NO. 2024-081

A RESOLUTION OF THE CITY COUNCIL OF THE CITY OF PALM DESERT,

CALIFORNIA, ADOPTING AN ADDENDUM TO THE COACHELLA VALLEY ASSOCIATION OF GOVERNMENTS’ TRANSPORTATION UNIFORM
MITIGATION FEE ( TUMF) 2018 FEE SCHEDULE UPDATE NEXUS

REPORT AND ADOPTING THE COACHELLA VALLEY ASSOCIATION OF GOVERNMENTS EXECUTIVE COMMITTEE’ S TUMF INFLATION

ADJUSTMENT AND REVISED FEE SCHEDULE FOR CALENDAR YEAR
2025 APPLICABLE TO ALL DEVELOPMENTS IN THE CITY OF PALM DESERT.

WHEREAS, the City of Palm Desert (“ City”) is a Member Agency of the Coachella Valley Association of Governments (“ CVAG”), a joint powers agency consisting of the County of Riverside, the Aqua Caliente Band of Cahuilla Indians, the Cabazon Band of Mission Indians, the Torres Martinez Desert Cahuilla Indians, the City of Blythe, and the nine cities ( the Cities of Desert Hot Desert, Palm Desert, Cathedral City, Rancho Mirage, Palm Springs, Indian Wells, La Quinta, Indio, and Coachella) situated in the Coachella Valley ( collectively, the “Member Agencies”); and
WHEREAS, acting in concert, the Member Agencies developed a plan whereby the shortfall in funds needed to enlarge the capacity of the Regional System of Highways and Arterials within CVAG’ s jurisdiction ( the “Regional System”) could be made up in part by a Transportation Uniform Mitigation Fee (“ TUMF”) imposed on new development within the jurisdiction; and
WHEREAS, CVAG commissioned Michael Baker International, Inc., an independent fee consultant firm, to prepare a TUMF study entitled “ Transportation Uniform Mitigation Fee (TUMF) 2018 Fee Schedule Update Nexus Report,” dated March 2018 (the “Study”) to establish updated TUMF funds and program revenue collection targets, which was approved by the CVAG Executive Committee on April 30, 2018; and WHEREAS, the Study and TUMF were adopted in compliance with the Mitigation Fee Act (Government Code, section 66000 et seq.) (the “Act”), which governs the adoption and implementation of development impact fees; and
WHEREAS, as a CVAG Member Agency, the City participated in the preparation of the Study prepared pursuant to the Act and based upon the Study, the City adopted and collects the TUMF; and
WHEREAS, subsequent to adopting the Study, the CVAG Executive Committee adopted a TUMF Handbook ( the “ Handbook”) on June 25, 2018, which is used by the Member Agencies in imposing the TUMF, and the Handbook is updated periodically to accurately reflect the increased rates established for the TUMF as periodically increased; and
WHEREAS, the CVAG Executive Committee annually reviews the TUMF and the Docusign Envelope ID: 91E7EAC4- 2500- 4661-87C0- 47E2E465910B 231
Resolution No. 2024-081 Page 2
need to apply inflationary increases ( the “ Inflation Adjustment”) based upon the annual change in the consumer price index for the Coachella Valley area known as the All Urban Consumers (“ CPI-U”), All Items for Riverside- San Bernardino- Ontario, CA ( the “ Index”) published by the Bureau of Labor Statistic and has proposed such action for the City Council of the City of Palm Desert ( the “City Council”) to consider from time to time; and WHEREAS, the CVAG Executive Committee has proposed such Inflation Adjustment to the existing TUMF rates and has requested each Member Agency adopt increased TUMF rates effective January 1, 2025, which rates are included in the TUMF fee schedule ( the 2025 TUMF Fee Schedule”), attached hereto as Exhibit “B” and incorporated herein by this reference; and
WHEREAS, prior to adopting the Inflation Adjustment the City Council must adopt an addendum to the Study ( the “Addendum”), attached hereto as Exhibit “ A” and incorporated herein by this reference, supporting such increase and taking other actions to ensure compliance with the Act, including holding a notice public hearing for adoption of such Addendum; and
WHEREAS, the proposed Addendum, the 2025 TUMF Fee Schedule, and other supporting data were posted on the City’s website and have been posted in the Office of the City Clerk of the City (the “City Clerk”) and have been available for public inspection and made available thirty (30) days prior to the date of this consolidated public hearing; and WHEREAS, notice of a consolidated public hearing to consider the adoption of the Addendum and the 2025 TUMF Fee Schedule was published in the newspaper and mailed to all interested parties that have submitted written requests for such written notice, as applicable, in compliance with the Act; and
WHEREAS, the City Council wishes to authorize the City the ability to pass-through all future Inflation Adjustments as part of the CVAG TUMF program by holding a noticed consolidated public hearing seeking such authority; and WHEREAS, the City Council wishes to accurately collect TUMF along with the other Member Agencies within the Coachella Valley area as requested by the CVAG General Assembly; and
WHEREAS, the proposed Inflation Adjustment and 2025 TUMF Fee Schedule modifies a development impact fee that is subject to the Act, and the City in considering such an increase to the TUMF, must adhere to the notice and public hearing provisions of the Act; and
WHEREAS, on November 14, 2024, the City Council held a noticed consolidated public hearing at which it heard and considered any and all verbal and/or written testimony from the public, reviewed and considered the information for the Addendum, the Inflation Adjustment, and 2025 TUMF Fee Schedule and supporting data, and information provided at the public hearing by staff, and has now determined to adopt the Addendum and the 2025 TUMF Fee Schedule.

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NOW, THEREFORE, BE IT RESOLVED, by the City Council of the City of Palm Desert as follows:

SECTION 1. The forgoing recitals are true and correct and are incorporated herein by this reference as the factual basis for this Resolution.

SECTION 2. The City Council has been presented with and has reviewed the information related to the Addendum and the Study, including all supporting data and after being so informed hereby adopts the Addendum and supporting data.

SECTION 3. The City Council makes the following findings related to the Inflation Adjustment and 2025 TUMF Fee Schedule:
a) The purpose of the TUMF is to pay for the costs of regional transportationrelated capital facilities and infrastructure that are required to serve new development;
b) The TUMF will be used to finance regional transportation improvements, including roadway, intersection, interchange, traffic signal improvements, and other Regional System projects. The specific public facilities are further described in the Study, on file in the Office of the City Clerk and such Study is incorporated herein by this reference. TUMF revenue will not be used for any other purpose than what is defined here;
c) New developments in the CVAG region will increase demands from and travel upon, the Regional System. TUMF revenue will be used to fund the additional transportation system capacity necessary to accommodate new development;
d) Each new development project will add to the incremental need for transportation capacity and improvements. The transportation facilities identified in the Study are necessary to support the future transportation needs of the Regional System; and
e) The TUMF is tied to the fair share cost allocations to new development based upon, among other things, traffic studies used to create the Study. The TUMF is generated based upon the rough proportionality to the number of trips generated by new development and assigns the TUMF based upon this basis by land use classification.

SECTION 4. The City Council further finds that the Inflation Adjustment is a necessary component of the ongoing TUMF fees to ensure the revenue collected keeps pace with the costs of constructing the projects defined in the Study. Keeping pace with inflation ensures projects can be timely completed as needed to accommodate new development. Timely completion of projects ensures those who have paid the TUMF receive the benefit of their contributions towards the program while at the same time mitigates the expected impacts to the existing community. Without the Inflationary Adjustments many projects would become delayed, underfunded, and potentially not able to be completed at all due to insufficient funds available to complete such projects.

SECTION 5. The City Council hereby adopts the Inflation Adjustment and the 2025 TUMF Fee Schedule and such fees shall be effective as of January 13, 2025 and shall apply Docusign Envelope ID: 91E7EAC4- 2500- 4661-87C0- 47E2E465910B 233
Resolution No. 2024-081 Page 4
to all development projects taking place within the City’s boundaries unless otherwise exempt.

SECTION 6. As part of this Mitigation Fee Act proceeding, the City Council further authorizes future annual Inflation Adjustments, authorized by the CVAG Executive Committee, to be imposed and added to the then current TUMF fee schedule, without future action of the City Council or need for future public hearings, until such time as a new impact fee nexus study and TUMF are adopted, or this authorization is revoked by the City Council.

SECTION 7. The Director of Finance is hereby authorized and directed to incorporate the 2025 TUMF Fee Schedule, effective January 13, 2025, into the City’s development fees collected on new development projects and to take all action necessary to effectuate the purpose of this Resolution.

SECTION 8. If any provision of this Resolution or the application thereof to any person or circumstance is held invalid, such invalidity shall not affect other provisions or applications, and to this end the provisions of this Resolution are declared to be severable.

SECTION 9. This Resolution shall become effective sixty ( 60) days following its adoption.

ADOPTED ON NOVEMBER 14, 2024.

KARINA QUINTANILLA
MAYOR
ATTEST:

ANTHONY J. MEJIA

CITY CLERK
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I, Anthony J. Mejia, City Clerk of the City of Palm Desert, hereby certify that Resolution No. 2024-081 is a full, true, and correct copy, and was duly adopted at a regular meeting of the City Council of the City of Palm Desert on November 14, 2024, by the following vote:

AYES: HARNIK, KELLY, NESTANDE, TRUBEE, AND QUINTANILLA
NOES: NONE
ABSENT: NONE
ABSTAIN: NONE
RECUSE: NONE
IN WITNESS WHEREOF, I have hereunto set my hand and affixed the official seal of the City of Palm Desert, California, on ___________________.

ANTHONY J. MEJIA

CITY CLERK
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EXHIBIT “ A”

ADDENDUM TO THE
TRANSPORTATION UNIFORM MITIGATION FEE (TUMF) 2018 FEE SCHEDULE

UPDATE NEXUS REPORT
ADOPTED BY CVAG IN MARCH 2018
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Docusign Envelope ID: 91E7EAC4- 2500- 4661-87C0- 47E2E465910B 274
Docusign Envelope ID: 91E7EAC4- 2500- 4661-87C0- 47E2E465910B 275
Docusign Envelope ID: 91E7EAC4- 2500- 4661-87C0- 47E2E465910B 276
Docusign Envelope ID: 91E7EAC4- 2500- 4661-87C0- 47E2E465910B 277
Docusign Envelope ID: 91E7EAC4- 2500- 4661-87C0- 47E2E465910B 278
Docusign Envelope ID: 91E7EAC4- 2500- 4661-87C0- 47E2E465910B 279
Docusign Envelope ID: 91E7EAC4- 2500- 4661-87C0- 47E2E465910B 280
Docusign Envelope ID: 91E7EAC4- 2500- 4661-87C0- 47E2E465910B 281
Docusign Envelope ID: 91E7EAC4- 2500- 4661-87C0- 47E2E465910B 282
Docusign Envelope ID: 91E7EAC4- 2500- 4661-87C0- 47E2E465910B 283
Docusign Envelope ID: 91E7EAC4- 2500- 4661-87C0- 47E2E465910B 284
Docusign Envelope ID: 91E7EAC4- 2500- 4661-87C0- 47E2E465910B 285
Docusign Envelope ID: 91E7EAC4- 2500- 4661-87C0- 47E2E465910B 286
Docusign Envelope ID: 91E7EAC4- 2500- 4661-87C0- 47E2E465910B 287
Docusign Envelope ID: 91E7EAC4- 2500- 4661-87C0- 47E2E465910B 288
EXHIBIT “ B”
2025 TUMF FEE SCHEDULE
TO BE EFFECTIVE JANUARY 13, 2025
Docusign Envelope ID: 91E7EAC4- 2500- 4661-87C0- 47E2E465910B 289
May 1, 2024

REVISED FEE SCHEDULE FOR THE TRANSPORTATION UNIFORM MITIGATION FEE EFFECTIVE JAUARY 1, 2025
The Transportation Uniform Mitigation Fee (TUMF) is a development impact fee designed to offset the effects of population growth on transportation infrastructure within the Coachella Valley. It is charged on any construction that will result in an increase in vehicular trips.

The TUMF is collected by the permitting jurisdiction in accordance with an adopted local ordinance, which further allows for an annual adjustment for inflation based on the Consumer Price Index for the Riverside- San Bernardino- Ontario metropolitan area. This inflation factor has been applied to the current fee schedule and results in the revised rates that will be assessed on new development starting January 1, 2025.

TUMF Category
Assessment
Unit
Rate as of
January 1, 2025
Single family detached Dwelling unit $ 2,840
Multi-family attached Dwelling unit $ 1,635
Nursing/congregate care Dwelling unit $ 605
Retail 1,000 sq. ft. $ 7,385
Office 1,000 sq. ft. $ 2,935
Industrial 1,000 sq. ft. $ 1,490
Fuel - gas Dispensing unit $ 10,585
Fuel - electric Dispensing unit $ 110
Hotel Room $ 4,315
Golf course Acre $ 1,130
For any question regarding the application of TUMF, please contact the Coachella Valley Association of Governments at (760) 346-1127 or by emailing cvag@cvag. org.

Docusign Envelope ID: 91E7EAC4- 2500- 4661-87C0- 47E2E465910B 290

CITY OF PALM DESERT

STAFF REPORT
MEETING DATE: October 23, 2025
PREPARED BY: Cesar Lopez, Senior Engineer
SUBJECT: RELEASE THE FAITHFUL PERFORMANCE BOND, DEMOLITION BOND, AND PM10 BOND FOR 72310 HIGHWAY 111.

RECOMMENDATION:

1. Release the Faithful Performance Bond in the amount of $32,102.25.

2. Release the PM10 Bond (cash deposit) in the amount of $920.00.

3. Release the Demolition Bond in the amount of $65,700.00.

BACKGROUND/ANALYSIS:

On December 21, 2021, the Planning Commission adopted Resolution No. 2801, approving a precise plan and a conditional use permit to demolish the former Pizza Hut building and construct a new 7,500-square-foot retail and restaurant building located at 72310 Highway 111.

On May 1, 2023, a Demolition Bond was received, and a demolition permit was issued under DEMO23-0008. On May 5, 2023, the Building and Safety Department approved the final demolition inspection.

On May 15, 2023, the Faithful Performance Bond and PM10 Bond (cash deposit) were received, and a grading permit was issued under PG22-0025. On March 22, 2024, the Public Works Department approved the final inspection.

A maintenance bond is not required as there were no public improvements.

Legal Review:

This report has been reviewed by the City Attorney’s Office FINANCIAL IMPACT:

There is no direct fiscal impact to the General Fund with this action.

ATTACHMENTS:

1. Vicinity Map

2. Faithful Performance Bond

3. Demolition Bond

4. PM10 Deposit
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292
Vicinity Map
N
293
294
295
296
297
298
299
300
301
302
303
304
305
306

DESCRIPTION ACCOUNT QTY PAID
PermitTRAK $7,479.00
PG22-0025 Address: 72310 HIGHWAY 111 APN: 640110021 $7,479.00 PM10 DEPOSIT GL-6100000-2283900 1 $920.00
PUBLIC WORKS $6,559.00
APPLICATION PROCESSING GL-1100000-3221200 0 $279.00
PRECISE GRADING INSPECTION - NONRESIDENTIAL GL-1100000-3411200 0 $1,590.00 SIGNALIZATION - COMMERCIAL GL-2340000-3122500 0 $3,753.00 PM10 INSPECTION GL-1100000-3411200 0 $477.00
DRAINAGE ZONE 3 - BETWEEN SAND RIDGE
AND I-10 GL-2320000-3122300 0 $460.00
TOTAL FEES PAID BY RECEIPT: R53624 $7,479.00
Printed: Thursday, September 25, 2025 9:40 AM
Date Paid: Monday, March 13, 2023
Paid By: SAGE 111 PH LLC
Pay Method: CHECK 2101
1 of 1
Cashier: AM
Cash Register Receipt
City of Palm Desert
Receipt Number
R53624
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308

CITY OF PALM DESERT

STAFF REPORT
MEETING DATE: October 23, 2025
PREPARED BY: Mariela Salazar, Management Analyst
Martin Alvarez, Director of Economic Development
SUBJECT: APPROVAL OF THE FIRST AMENDMENT TO THE PURCHASE AND

SALE AGREEMENT AND ESCROW INSTRUCTIONS WITH BLIEU

COMPANIES, LLC
RECOMMENDATION:

1. Approve the First Amendment to the Purchase and Sale Agreement and Escrow Instructions with Blieu Companies, LLC, for the property located at the northeast corner of Desert Willow Drive and Country Club Drive, known as Lot E.

2. Authorize the City Manager or designee to execute all documents, agreements, amendments, and related instruments necessary to implement and carry out the intent of this item.

BACKGROUND/ANALYSIS:

On June 12, 2025, the City Council approved a Purchase and Sale Agreement and Escrow Instructions (“Agreement”) with Blieu, LLC, now correctly identified as Blieu Companies, LLC (“Buyer”), for the sale of approximately 8.0 acres of City-owned property located at the northeast corner of Desert Willow Drive and Country Club Drive (APNs 620-370-002, 620-370-003, 620- 370-004, 620-370-017, 620-370-018, 620-370-020, 620-370-033, and 620-370-043) for the development of a multi-family affordable rental housing project.

During the implementation of the Agreement, it was identified that certain provisions created ambiguity regarding the timing of contingencies and related effective dates. As noted by Buyers, the lack of clarity could create uncertainty in processing entitlement, funding, and escrow-related deadlines.

Strategic Plan:

The proposed First Amendment to the Purchase and Sale Agreement (“Amendment”) addresses these issues by:

Clarifying the Effective Date The Amendment establishes July 8, 2025, as the Effective Date of the Agreement, ensuring consistency across all sections of the Agreement.

Correcting Buyer's Name The Amendment clarifies that the correct legal entity is Blieu Companies, LLC, and all references to "Blieu, LLC" in the agreement shall be deemed to mean Blieu Companies LLC.

Affirming Full Force and
Effect
Except as specifically modified, the Agreement remains in full force and effect, with no defaults by either party as of the Effective Date. 309
City of Palm Desert

FIRST AMENDMENT-BLIEU COMPANIES LLC PSA-DESERT WILLOW DR-LOT E

These changes are administrative in nature and do not alter the material terms of the transaction, including the purchase price, property description, or the City’s affordable housing requirements.

Instead, the purpose of the amendment is to provide clarity, eliminate ambiguity, and avoid potential disputes regarding the timing of contingencies.

FINANCIAL IMPACT:

There is no fiscal impact associated with this action. All other terms of the Agreement remain unchanged.

ATTACHMENTS:

1. First Amendment to the Blieu Companies, LLC, Purchase and Sale Agreement-Desert Willow Lot E
310
1 72500.00000\44260349.2

FIRST AMENDMENT TO

PURCHASE AND SALE AGREEMENT AND ESCROW INSTRUCTIONS
This First Amendment to Purchase and Sale Agreement and Escrow Instructions (“Agreement”) is made and entered into on September 25, 2025, by and between the City of Palm Desert, a charter city and municipal corporation organized under the laws of the State of California ("Seller") and Blieu Companies, LLC, a California limited liability company ("Buyer"). The Seller and Buyer are sometimes individually referred to herein as “Party” and collectively as “Parties”.

R E C I T A L S
WHEREAS, the Buyer and Seller entered into a Purchase and Sale Agreement and Escrow Instructions (“Purchase Agreement”) whereby Buyer agreed to purchase from the Seller the real property located on the northeast corner of Desert Willow Drive and Country Club Drive in the City of Palm Desert County of Riverside, State of California, consisting of approximately 8.0 acres (APNs 620-370-002, 620-370-003, 620-370-004, 620-370-017, 620-370-018, 620-370-020, 620-370-033, and 620-370- 043) (“Property”) and other items, all as set forth in the Purchase Agreement.

WHEREAS, the Buyer and Seller desire to amend the Purchase Agreement.

NOW, THEREFORE, in consideration of the mutual covenants and conditions herein and for other good and valuable consideration, the receipt and adequacy of which are hereby acknowledged, Seller and Buyer agree as follows:

1. Recitals. The Recitals are incorporated into this Agreement by reference.

2. Capitalized Terms. Except as stated herein, all capitalized terms shall have the same meaning as in the Purchase Agreement.

3. Introductory Paragraph The introductory paragraph of the Purchase Agreement is amended and restated as follows:

This PURCHASE AND SALE AGREEMENT AND ESCROW INSTRUCTIONS (the “Agreement”) is dated as of the “Effective Date”, defined below, and is entered into by and between the City of Palm Desert, a charter city and municipal corporation organized under the laws of the State of California (“Seller”) and Blieu Companies LLC, a California limited liability company (“Buyer”). For purposes of this Agreement, the Effective Date is July 8, 2025.

4. Blieu LLC. The correct name of the Buyer is Blieu Companies, LLC. Any reference to “Blieu LLC” in the Purchase Agreement shall be deemed to refer to Blieu Companies, LLC.
311
2 72500.00000\44260349.2

5. Force and Effect. Except as otherwise stated, the Purchase Agreement shall remain in full force and effect and, to the actual knowledge of Seller and Buyer, neither party is in default of the terms or conditions of the Purchase Agreement as of the Effective Date.

6. Counterparts. This Agreement may be executed in multiple counterparts, each of which shall be deemed an original but all of which together shall be deemed one and the same instrument.

SIGNATURES ON FOLLOWING PAGE
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3 72500.00000\44260349.2
IN WITNESS WHEREOF, the Parties have each executed and delivered this Agreement as of the Effective Date.
"SELLER"
Date: _____________, 2025
CITY OF PALM DESERT, a charter city
and municipal corporation
By:

CHRIS ESCOBEDO

CITY MANAGER
APPROVED AS TO FORM:

By:

ISRA SHAH

CITY ATTORNEY
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4 72500.00000\44260349.2
"BUYER"
BLIEU COMPANIES, LLC, a California limited liability company By:_________________________________

GRANT BIGLEY

VICE PRESIDENT
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CITY OF PALM DESERT

STAFF REPORT
MEETING DATE: October 23, 2025
PREPARED BY: Erica Powell, Management Analyst
SUBJECT: 2027-2028 EL PASEO SCULPTURE EXHIBITION CALL FOR ENTRIES RECOMMENDATION:

1. Authorize staff to release the 2027-2028 El Paseo Sculpture Exhibition Call for Entries.

2. Approve an increase in the artist honorarium from $5,000 to $6,000 per sculpture for the El Paseo Sculpture Exhibition.

BACKGROUND/ANALYSIS:

The City of Palm Desert organizes the El Paseo Sculpture Exhibition every two years, presenting 18 sculptures by regional and national artists along the El Paseo median, from Highway 74 to Portola Avenue. The Exhibition runs for two years, with sculptures installed in November prior to the display period and removed in October of the second year.

At its meeting of February 14, 2024, the Cultural Arts Committee (CAC) requested that staff evaluate extending the exhibition term from two years to three years. In response, staff surveyed current and past El Paseo Sculpture Exhibition artists. Key findings included:
 General satisfaction with the current two-year structure and $5,000 honorarium.  Support for a three-year term, contingent upon an increased stipend.  Interest in additional assistance, including shipping reimbursement, per diem for travel, hotel accommodations, and enhanced promotional opportunities.

At its September 10, 2025, meeting, the CAC voted against extending the exhibition term from two to three years and recommended increasing the artist honorarium from $5,000 to $6,000 per sculpture, noting both the rising cost of sculpture materials. While this increase contradicts feedback from the artist survey indicating that current honorarium levels are adequate for a twoyear term, the CAC’s recommendation reflects an interest in providing additional support for transportation costs, travel per diem (based on distance), hotel accommodations, and enhanced promotional opportunities. The committee also requested the introduction of a “Best in Show” competition to expand community engagement.

If approved, these changes will be reflected in the 2027–2028 Call for Entries, which is scheduled for release in November 2025.

Legal Review:

This report has been reviewed by the City Attorney’s office.

FINANCIAL IMPACT:
315
City of Palm Desert
(2027-2028 EL PASEO SCULPTURE EXHIBITION CALL FOR ENTRIES)

Funding for the El Paseo Sculpture Exhibition will be requested as part of the Fiscal Year 2026/27 budget for contracting, artist honorariums (increasing from $90,000 to $108,000), deinstallation, and installations costs during FY 2026/27. Funding in the amount of $1,000 is currently available in Public Art Account No. 4364650-4321701 to support the release of the Call for Entries, which includes the posting fee on CallForEntry.org and an eBlast announcement to artists nationwide.

ATTACHMENTS:

1. Call for Entries

2. Cultural Arts Committee Meeting Minutes – September 10, 2025 316
City of Palm Desert
Call for Entries
2027-2028 El Paseo Sculpture Exhibition
(DEADLINE FOR ENTRIES – January 29, 2026)

ABOUT THE EL PASEO SCULPTURE EXHIBITION
El Paseo, located in Palm Desert, California, is the premier shopping and art district of the Coachella Valley. The Exhibition showcases large-scale sculptures on eighteen concrete pads in the median of El Paseo between Highway 74 and Portola Avenue.

Selected sculptures will remain on display for approximately two years, with installation tentatively scheduled for October–November 2026 and de-installation in October 2028.

DEADLINE
Thursday, January 29, 2026, at 11:59 p.m. Mountain Standard Time (MST)

HONORARIUM
Each selected artist receives $6,000. Artists are responsible for transportation, on-site delivery, and pick-up of artwork. Payments: $5,000 upon delivery/installation and $1,000 at pick-up/removal.

ELIGIBILITY
Open to all U.S. based artists, galleries, museums, and nonprofit arts organizations. (International submissions will not be accepted due to logistical constraints.) TO APPLY: (Insert CAFÉ link)
Submit electronically via the City’s Artist Opportunities page:
https://www.palmdesert.gov/departments/public-art/artist-opportunities (Or apply directly via CaFÉ: [Insert CaFÉ link].)
If you are unable to apply online, contact Erica Powell at (760) 776-6346 or [email protected].

Required Materials
• Current résumé or CV
• Up to five (5) JPEG images of the proposed sculpture
• Description of the proposed sculpture, including materials and dimensions • Three (3) professional references
Note: Renderings are not accepted for alternates.

PAD AND SCULPTURE SPECIFICATIONS
• Pads: Seventeen (17) pads at 8' × 8' (usable footprint 7' × 7'); one (1) pad (Pad 16) at 8' × 25' (suited for larger or multi-part works) • Height (incl. base): minimum 8', maximum 13'
• Maximum weight: 3,000 lb
• Viewing: sculptures must be in-the-round
317
• Anchoring: secure via tabs or other non-invasive methods; pads may not be altered
• Materials: durable, outdoor-appropriate, able to withstand desert conditions (high winds, extreme temperatures)
• Power: artworks requiring electricity will be considered • Delivery: artist or representative must deliver in person on installation day TIMELINE (Tentative)
• January 29, 2026: Deadline for entries
• March 2026: Review and selection by the Cultural Arts Committee • April 9, 2026: City Council approval
• April–May 2026: Notification to selected artists
• October–November 2026: Installation
• January 2027: Exhibition dedication (TBD)
• October 2028: De-installation (TBD)
SALES
Works may be sold, but must remain on view through the end of the Exhibition. The City of Palm Desert takes no commission on sales.

PROVIDED BY THE CITY
• Professional installation and de-installation
• Lighting, routine maintenance, and insurance
• Exhibition signage, virtual tour, and promotional materials • Advertising for the Exhibition
QUESTIONS?
Contact Erica Powell, Management Analyst
• [email protected]
• 760-776-6346
318
Overview of El Paseo with Artwork in the Median
Eye of the Wind by Nico Meyer
319
Hygge by Hector Ortega
Big Bang by Ray Katz (Pad 16 – 8’ x 25’)
320
Dione the Water Goddness by Lynn Jaye (Only pad with electricity.) Timepiece by Mitch Levin
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322

CULTURAL ARTS COMMITTEE

CITY OF PALM DESERT

STAFF REPORT
MEETING DATE: September 10, 2025
PREPARED BY: Erica Powell, Management Analyst
SUBJECT: CALL FOR ENTRIES FOR THE EL PASEO SCULPTURE EXHIBITION RECOMMENDATION:

Authorize staff to issue a Call for Entries seeking artists for the El Paseo Sculpture Exhibition.

BACKGROUND/ANALYSIS:

The City of Palm Desert organizes the El Paseo Sculpture Exhibition every two years, featuring temporary public art installations along El Paseo. Staff will release the Call for Entries in November 2025 for the upcoming exhibition, with a submission deadline of January 29, 2026.

To ensure broad visibility and attract a strong applicant pool, the Call will be promoted through multiple platforms, including Call for Entry (CaFE), CODAworx, Americans for the Arts, the Artists Center at the Galen, Desert Open Studios, the City’s website, the Palm Desert Artist Registry, as well as press releases and social media outreach.

Based on past challenges related to customs, international shipping, and travel, eligibility will be limited to artists residing in the United States.

The Cultural Arts Committee will review submissions in February and March 2026 and forward recommendations to the City Council for final approval on April 9, 2026. The final selection will include 18 primary sculptures for placement along the El Paseo median (Highway 74 to Portola Avenue), eight (8) alternates for standard pads (8’ x 8’), and six (6) alternates for Pad 16 (8’ x 25’), to ensure coverage if selected artists are unable to participate.

Discussion:

At its February 14, 2024, meeting, the Cultural Arts Committee considered extending the exhibition term from two to three years. To gather input, staff surveyed current and past participating artists. Key findings included:
 General satisfaction with the two-year structure and $5,000 honorarium  Support for a three-year term, contingent on an increased honorarium  Interest in additional support such as shipping assistance, per diem for travel, lodging options, and enhanced promotional efforts
Based on these findings, staff recommends the following for the 2027–2029 El Paseo Sculpture Exhibition:
 Extend the exhibition term from two to three years
32311
Cultural Arts Committee
City of Palm Desert
(Call for Entries for the El Paseo Sculpture Exhibition)

 Increase the artist honorarium from $5,000 to $7,500
Host a “Best in Show” award event in coordination with an existing El Paseo activation to enhance visibility and public engagement.

FINANCIAL IMPACT:

A total of $220,000 has been earmarked for the 2027-2029 El Paseo Sculpture Exhibition and will be included in the FY 2026-2027 budget.

ATTACHMENTS:

1. El Paseo Sculpture Exhibition Artist Survey

2. Draft 2027–2029 El Paseo Sculpture Exhibition Call for Entries 32412
2025 El Paseo Sculpture Exhibition Artist Survey
• How would you rate your overall experience participating in the El Paseo Sculpture Exhibition?
• What aspects of the exhibition did you enjoy the most? o Ease of installation
o Publicity/Exposure
o Location
o Staff
o Organized
• Were there any aspect of the exhibition you found challenging or less enjoyable? o Shipping
o Small budget
• If the exhibition format changed (e.g. length - possibly 3 years), would you still be interested in participating?
0 5
10 15
20 Excellent Good Average Poor
Overall Experience
Overall Experience
Participation if Format Changed
Yes No
32513
• The current honorarium for the El Paseo Sculpture Exhibition is $5,000 for a two-year display. The City also covers installation, deinstallation, photography, advertising, an online tour, and maintenance. Based on your experience, do you feel this is a fair compensation for your time and investment?
• If the exhibition were extended to a three-year display period, would you consider the current $5,000 honorarium to still be satisfactory?
• If not, what amount would you consider appropriate for a three-year exhibition? Is the current honorarium ($5,000) fair?
Yes No
Is $5,000 satisfactory if exhibition is
extended?
Yes No
0 1
2 3
4 5
$6,000 $7,000 $7,500 $7,500 plus
shipping
costs
$9,000
Consideration for a three-year honorarium
Consideration for a three-year honorarium
32614
• What motivates you to participate in this exhibition?

1. Exposure

2. Contacts and Networking

3. Possible Sales
• Do you have any suggestions on how we can improve the El Paseo Sculpture Exhibition for artists or the public?
o Per diem for travel based on distance
o Better compensation and promotion
o Hotel accommodations
o Ability to accept shipped artworks and re-crate and return them o Create a music and art festival or an event to promote the artwork o Bigger budget for fewer artists to support more memorable and inspiring work • Where are you based (city, state or region)?
o Massachusetts
o Palm Springs, CA
o Louisiana
o Texas
o Washington
o Iowa
o Santa Rosa, CA
o Colorado
o Hemet, CA
o Oregon
o Michigan
o San Diego County
o Arizona
o Los Angeles
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CITY OF PALM DESERT

STAFF REPORT
MEETING DATE: October 23, 2025
PREPARED BY: Bobby Keatinge, Associate Planner
SUBJECT: RESOLUTION DESIGNATING MARRAKESH COUNTRY CLUB AS A HISTORIC DISTRICT (CRPC25-0002)
RECOMMENDATION:

Adopt a Resolution entitled “A RESOLUTION OF THE CITY COUNCIL OF THE CITY OF PALM

DESERT, CALIFORNIA, DESIGNATING MARRAKESH COUNTRY CLUB AS A HISTORIC

DISTRICT PURSUANT TO CRITERIA A, C, D, E, AND F IN PALM DESERT MUNICIPAL CODE SECTION 29.50.010, LOCATED APPROXIMATELY SOUTH OF GRAPEVINE STREET, WEST OF PORTOLA AVENUE, NORTH OF HAYSTACK ROAD, AND EAST OF AMIR DRIVE.” BACKGROUND:

On October 9, 2008, the City Council adopted Ordinance No. 1168 which established procedures for designation of Historic Districts, as outlined in Palm Desert Municipal Code (PDMC) Chapter 29.50. Requests for designation of any historic district may be initiated by any person, organization or entity and require City Council approval upon recommendation of the Historic Preservation Committee (HPC).

On April 24, 2025, the City Council accepted the Historic Context Statement and City-wide Historic Resource Survey (Attachment 4), which found the Marrakesh Country Club eligible for designation as a historic district pursuant to the same criteria recommended herein by staff.

On May 9, 2025, Luke Leuschner (Applicant) on behalf of the Marrakesh Community Association and Country Club (HOA), following unanimous approval of the HOA Board and all property owners on April 27, 2025, submitted an application to request the historic district designation of the property containing the residential condominium units, associated common areas, clubhouse, guardhouse, and administrative building that comprise “Marrakesh Country Club” on the Assessor’s Parcel Numbers listed in Attachment 2 of the staff report, as a historic district.

Historic Preservation Committee (HPC) Recommendation:

On August 27, 2025, at a regular meeting noticed by mail to all property owners within the proposed district and those within a 300-foot radius, the HPC made findings pursuant to Palm Desert Municipal Code (PDMC) Section 29.50.010 under Criteria A, C, D, E, and F and approved a recommendation to the Palm Desert City Council to adopt a resolution to designate the property as a historic district.

Project Description:

The Applicant has submitted their nomination application (Attachment 2) which provides a detailed analysis of the proposed designation, complete with justification, historic documentation, findings, and photographs. A summary of the nomination application is below:
329
City of Palm Desert
CRPC25-0002 Marrakesh Country Club

Definition
The approximately 155-acre site known as the Marrakesh Country Club (Project Site) contains 383 individual parcels, 364 of which are residential condominium units with the remaining 19 parcels consisting of common areas, a golf course, clubhouse, guardhouse and administrative building. The Project Site is approximately located south of Grapevine Street, west of Portola Avenue, north of Haystack Road, and east of Amir Drive See Figure 1 below.

Figure 1 – Project Site
Boundary
The Applicant has proposed to include all structures contained within and inclusive of the existing perimeter walls of the Project Site in the proposed historic district designation.

Physical Condition
The Project Site was developed in phases between 1967 and 1979 by developer Johnny Dawson. Mr. Dawson hired principal architect John Elgin Woolf to design four standard condominium models in the Hollywood Regency style for which he was previously well known.

The condominium models were designed with consistent general architectural features including Pullman doors, mansard or shed roofs, floor-to-ceiling windows, and front entry courtyards. They were typically arranged in a duplex configuration with one shared wall and were generally oriented around the golf course or common open space areas with nearby pool and pavilion access. The gatehouse originally featured a steeply pitched, flared, polygonal cone-shaped copper roof with a decorative finial. The clubhouse principally designed by architect Richard 330
City of Palm Desert
CRPC25-0002 Marrakesh Country Club

Harrison featured a low, rectilinear structure with a flat roof and deep overhangs, set atop a manmade hill with a cascading water feature.

The existing condition of the Project Site exteriors remains largely unaltered from its original construction. The basic building and roof forms of most structures are currently intact.

Observable alterations to the physical condition of some residential structures include minor additions to the front and rear facades, non-original window types and openings, and reconfiguration of front driveways and courtyards. A recent rear addition to the clubhouse expanded the second-story terrace with minimal massing and no visibility from the primary façade. See Attachment 5 for examples of the visible alterations observed by staff.

Exterior alterations are visible on a handful of contributing structures and generally appear to be reversible without reducing the historic integrity of the Project Site below a level of significance.

The Applicant has also noted that many of the observable, inappropriate alterations predate the existing architectural requirements of the current homeowners association (Association) and may be required to be reversed upon a change of ownership per the Association’s Covenants, Conditions, and Restrictions (Attachment 6).

Theme
The general theme of the Project Site derives from the legacy and evolution of other country clubs in the region including Thunderbird Country Club (1950) and Seven Lakes Country Club (1964) that Johnny Dawson also developed. Woolf adopted Dawson’s vision of creating a “total environment” where residents would be immersed with recreational amenities such as open space, swimming pools, tennis courts, a golf course and clubhouse, all within close proximity.

Woolf sited the initial phase of condominium developed, which were generally sited according to the golf course design, with local architect Robert Ricciardi aiding in the precise site planning of the remaining sections.

The architectural theme of the Project Site can be principally associated with the Hollywood Regency style for which Woolf was well known and was especially popular during the period of construction. This is evident in the design of the clubhouse, administrative/former sales office, pool pavilions, lampposts, mailboxes, and residential condominium units. The architectural theme of the clubhouse, however, is associated with the Mid-Century Modern style for which Palm Springs architect Richard Harrison was best known and previously applied to Dawson’s Seven Lakes Country Club and his private residence.

The Moroccan theme from which Marrakesh Country Club derives its name is less visible in the physical development of the Project Site. The name was allegedly suggested to Dawson after reviewing Woolf’s plan for a pink color scheme, similar to but not deliberately mimicking the pinkcolored walls of the romanticized city. Although other Moroccan-themed forms and motifs are otherwise absent from Woolf’s design, Dawson sought to incorporate Moroccan influence after construction, including in the interior design of clubhouse, the landscaping features such as olive trees, and assigning the private streets with names such as “Maroc,” “Tangier,” and “Kasbah.” 331
City of Palm Desert
CRPC25-0002 Marrakesh Country Club

Significance
As noted in the application, the Project Site is significant due to its reflection of the broad cultural shift in country club design and development that occurred between the late 1960s and 1970s.

Country clubs up until this point followed the cohesively Mid-Century Modern style made popular by precedents such as Thunderbird Country Club. Marrakesh Country Club was instead developed in the Hollywood Regency style, which although popular at the time in the design of celebrity homes in the Los Angeles area, was not yet common in country club design. The Project Site is a very rare example of a cohesive Hollywood Regency style country club both locally and nationally.

ANALYIS:

Pursuant to PDMC 29.20.010 Definitions, a “historic geographic district” means “any geographic area that possesses a concentration, linkage, or continuity of historic or cultural resources of which fifty percent or more of the total retain integrity and which have been designated as a historic district by the city council or is listed in a county, state or federal register.” The request for designation of any historic district may be initiated by any person, organization or entity and is subsequently referred to the HPC for their recommendation to the City Council for final determination. Per PDMC 29.50.010, a district may be designated if it is determined that the district represents a significant and distinguishable entity that at the local, state, regional, or national level:

A. Exemplifies or reflects special elements of cultural, social, economic, political, aesthetic, engineering, architectural, or natural history; or B. Is identified with persons or events significant in history; or C. Embodies distinctive characteristics of a style, type, period, or method of construction, or is a valuable example of the use of indigenous materials or craftsmanship; or
D. Represents the work of master builders, designers, or architects; or E. Reflects distinctive examples of community planning or significant development patterns, including those associated with different eras of settlement and growth, agricultural, or transportation; or
F. Conveys a sense of historic and architectural cohesiveness through its design, setting, materials, workmanship or associations; or
G. Is an archaeological, paleontological, botanical, geological, topographical, ecological, or geographical resource that has yielded or has the potential to yield important information in history or pre-history.

The Applicant has provided justification for approval based off Criteria A, C, D, E, and F listed above, which the CRPC may consider. Staff recommends approval of the proposed designation 332
City of Palm Desert
CRPC25-0002 Marrakesh Country Club

based on Criteria A, C, D, E, and F consistent with the determination of historic eligibility made in the Council-accepted Historic Context Statement and City-wide Historic Resource Survey (Attachment 4). A summary of analysis for Criteria A, C, D, E, and F is listed below:

Criterion A:

Applicant’s Response:

Marrakesh Country Club reflects a variety of dimensions of history as it relates to the Coachella Valley. Its distinct architecture, designed by the firm of John Elgin Woolf, exemplifies the Hollywood Regency style, and moreover, the period in the late 1960s and 1970s when the MidCentury Modern style shifted to a more popular, eclectic style. The history behind the development also represents the larger cultural, social, and economic history of the midtwentieth century Coachella Valley, when demographic changes, economic growth, and changing tastes resulted in the rise of the country club which reoriented development across the region. Marrakesh was one of the first and most prominent of such period of the Coachella Valley’s development history.

Additionally, the Project Site exemplifies special elements of cultural, social, economic, aesthetic, and architectural history as outlined in the Application. The Project Site demonstrates the shifts and advancements in country club design and development by implementing an architectural style that had not previously been applied within this context, nor has it been replicated to the same scale. The application of the Hollywood Regency style within the context of the country club model reflects the shift in consumer tastes from Mid-Century Modern towards a more whimsical “thematic” environment.

Criterion C:

Applicant’s Response:

Marrakesh Country Club is one of the nation’s foremost examples of the Hollywood Regency style, a style popularized in Southern California between the 1930s and 1970s. Known for its combination of historicist influences, sense of theatricality, and association with Hollywood, the style was developed by such architects and designers as John Elgin Woolf, Paul R. Williams, William Haines, and Elsie de Wolfe. In association with his partner Robert Koch, Woolf was responsible for the design of the entire Marrakesh development, which remains well-preserved and easily conveys his distinctive Hollywood Regency style. The Richard Harrison designed clubhouse, although not Hollywood Regency in style, also remains a valuable example of the Mid-Century Modern style notable to the Coachella Valley region.

Additionally, Staff research indicated no other example globally of a country club designed as cohesively in the Hollywood Regency style as Marrakesh Country Club. Although the style became popular in primarily in single-family home construction in the Los Angeles area, the Project Site is a very rare example of the Hollywood Regency applied to the context and history of country club development.
333
City of Palm Desert
CRPC25-0002 Marrakesh Country Club

Criterion D:

Applicant’s Response:

Marrakesh Country Club was the result of a collaboration by some of the foremost talents in development, architecture, and landscape. Johnny Dawson, the developer of Marrakesh, was largely responsible for establishing the country club model in the Coachella Valley and building some of the first and most well-known developments including Thunderbird, Eldorado, and Seven Lakes, and Marrakesh. John Elgin Woolf and Robert Koch, who were responsible for the design of the club, pioneered the Hollywood Regency style and are widely recognized for their unique and eccentric contributions to California architecture. Richard A. Harrison, the architect of the clubhouse, was among the most prominent generation of Modernist designers in the Coachella Valley, recognized for his contributions to the style now known as Desert Modernism.

Ted Robinson, the land planner and golf course architect, became one of the most prominent golf course architects on the West Coast, designing dozens of courses across the Coachella Valley. The contributions of each of these “masters” to Marrakesh are thoroughly preserved and convey their original intentions.

The response provided by the Applicant provides satisfactory evidence towards meeting the requirements of Criterion D.

Criterion E:

Applicant’s Response:

Marrakesh is a distinct example of mid-twentieth century country club planning, a period of development that was largely catalyzed by Johnny Dawson’s Thunderbird and Eldorado. This period, lasting from the late 1940s to the 1970s, was the most formative period of growth in the Coachella Valley’s history. Marrakesh embodies all the distinct elements of a mid-century country club, including a full-size golf course integrated with housing, a central clubhouse, and community facilities. Moreover, Marrakesh reflects a distinct and later phase of country club development, exemplified by the construction of condominiums and exotic theming, and a departure from the typical Mid-Century Modern designs of prior decades. Marrakesh still retains all these key features and is in operation as a country club.

Additionally, The Historic Context Statement and City-wide Resources Survey Document (Attachment 3) identifies a period of significance for residential development between 1967 and 1980. Marrakesh Country Club was constructed between 1968 and 1979. Furthermore, the Project Site retains the essential aspects of integrity and retains enough of its essential physical features to sufficiently convey with its association with the historic contexts of “Country Clubs and Incorporation, 1967-1980” and “Architecture & Design, 1910-1980.” Criterion F:

Applicant’s Response:

Marrakesh is the design of prominent architects John Elgin Woolf and Robert Koch, key figures in the development the style now known as Hollywood Regency. Woolf’s firm designed all 334
City of Palm Desert
CRPC25-0002 Marrakesh Country Club

aspects of the development, from the gatehouse to the condominiums to the lampposts. Key features like historicist detailing, Mansard roofs, Pullman doors, and symmetrical volumes are apparent throughout the development, all of which are tied together by a distinct pink color scheme and are preserved enough to convey their significance. As a result, Marrakesh is the largest and most cohesive Hollywood Regency environment in the entire nation.

The response provided by the Applicant provides satisfactory evidence towards meeting the requirements of Criterion F.

Legal Review:

This report has been reviewed by the City Attorney’s Office.

Public Input:

Pursuant to the requirements of PDMC Section 29.50.060, a ten-day (10) notice of this hearing was posted in The Desert Sun on October 10, 2025, and mailed to the applicant(s), owners, and residents of all the properties being considered for inclusion in a historic district and to all property owners within a three-hundred-foot radius of the subject property. At the time of preparation of this report, no comments were received.

Environmental Review:

Designation of a historic district is not subject to the California Environmental Quality Act (CEQA) pursuant to Section 15060(c)(2), the general exemption rule, of the CEQA Guidelines as the proposed project will not result in any foreseeable indirect change in the environment. The project is also exempt under CEQA Guidelines Section 15060(c)(3) as the activity is not considered a project as defined under Guidelines Section 15378 as has no potential for resulting in any indirect or direct physical changes to the environment.

FINANCIAL IMPACT:

There is no fiscal impact associated with the recommend action. As a designated historic district, the property owner may apply for a Mills Act contract to receive a reduction in property taxes in exchange for the agreement to preserve the subject property. However, this impact would occur at a future time.

ATTACHMENTS:

1. Draft City Council Resolution

2. Project Application

3. Public Hearing Notice

4. Historic Context Statement and City-wide Resources Survey Document (Excerpt)

5. Visible Alterations

6. Covenants, Conditions, and Restrictions (Excerpt)
335
336
RESOLUTION NO. 2025-

A RESOLUTION OF THE CITY COUNCIL OF THE CITY OF PALM DESERT,

CALIFORNIA, DESIGNATING MARRAKESH COUNTRY CLUB AS A

HISTORIC DISTRICT PURSUANT TO CRITERIA A, C, D, E, AND F IN PALM DESERT MUNICIPAL CODE SECTION 29.50.010, LOCATED

APPROXIMATELY SOUTH OF GRAPEVINE STREET, WEST OF PORTOLA

AVENUE, NORTH OF HAYSTACK ROAD, AND EAST OF AMIR DRIVE
CASE NO. CRPC25-0002
WHEREAS, Chapter 29.50.090 of the Palm Desert Municipal Code (PDMC) allows for the designation of historic districts by the City Council; and WHEREAS, Luke Leuschner (Applicant), on behalf of Marrakesh Community Association and County Club (Owner), filed an application, including a statement of significance, with the City pursuant to the requirements of Title 29 of the PDMC to designate “Marrakesh Country Club” located approximately south of Grapevine Street, west of Portola Avenue, north of Haystack Road, and east of Amir Drive, (Assessor’s Parcel Numbers as listed in Exhibit 1) (“Property”) as a historic district; and WHEREAS, the historic district designation request is not subject to the California Environmental Quality Act (CEQA) pursuant to Section 15060(c)(2), the general exemption rule, of the CEQA Guidelines as the proposed project will not result in any foreseeable indirect change in the environment and Section 15060(c)(3) the activity is not considered as a project as it has no potential for resulting in any indirect or direct physical changes to the environment; and
WHEREAS, on August 27, 2025, a noticed public hearing of the Palm Desert Historic Preservation Committee was held to consider the Historic District Designation under case CRPC25-0002 and recommended the City Council adopt a resolution designating Marrakesh Country Club as a historic district as stated in PDMC 29.50.010 Criteria A, C, D, E, and F; and
WHEREAS, the City Council reviewed the application materials and considered all public testimony and comments provided prior to and during the meeting, and made the findings pursuant to PDMC Section 29.50.010; and
WHEREAS, on October 23, 2025, a duly noticed public hearing of the Palm Desert City Council was held to consider the Historic District Designation under case number CRPC25-0002.

NOW, THEREFORE, BE IT RESOLVED by the City Council of the City of Palm Desert, California, as follows:

SECTION 1. Recitals. The City Council hereby finds that the foregoing recitals are true and correct and are incorporated herein as substantive findings of this Resolution. 337
RESOLUTION NO. 2025-
2 SECTION 2. That Section 29.50.090 of the PDMC requires that the City Council adopt a resolution designating a historic district based upon facts and findings on the criteria outlined in Chapter 29.50 Historic Districts:

1. Criterion A: Marrakesh Country Club reflects special elements of cultural, social, economic, political, aesthetic, engineering, architectural, and natural history as an example of mid-twentieth century residential development within the City of Palm Desert. Its distinct architectural style as designed by the firm of John Elgin Woolf, exemplifies the Hollywood Regency style, and moreover, the period in the late 1960s and 1970s when the Mid-Century Modern style shifted to this more popular, eclectic style. The Project Site also represents the shifts in demographic changes, economic growth, and changing tastes resulting in the rise of the country club residential style of development across the region. It was one of the first and most prominent of such development in Palm Desert’s history.

2. Criterion C: Marrakesh Country Club embodies distinctive characteristics as one of the nation’s foremost examples of the Hollywood Regency style, a style popularized in Southern California between the 1930s and 1970s. Known for its combination of historicist influences, sense of theatricality, and association with Hollywood, the style was developed by such architects and designers as John Elgin Woolf, Paul R.

Williams, William Haines, and Elsie de Wolfe. In association with his partner Robert Koch, Woolf was responsible for the design of the entire Marrakesh development, which remains well-preserved and conveys his distinctive Hollywood Regency style.

The Richard Harrison designed clubhouse, although not Hollywood Regency in style, also remains a valuable example of the Mid-Century Modern style notable to the region.

3. Criterion D: Marrakesh Country Club represents the work of master builders, designers, and architects as it was the result of a collaboration between builder Johnny Dawson, and designers and architects John Elgin Woolf, Robert Koch, Richard A.

Harrison, Ted Robinson, and others. Johnny Dawson, the developer of Marrakesh, is attributed with the establishment of the country club model of residential development within the Coachella Valley and built many well-known examples including Thunderbird, Eldorado, Seven Lakes, and Marrakesh. John Elgin Woolf and Robert Koch, who were responsible for the design of the club, pioneered the Hollywood Regency style and are widely recognized for their unique and eccentric contributions to California architecture. Richard A. Harrison, the architect of the clubhouse, was among the most prominent generation of Modernist designers in the Coachella Valley, recognized for his contributions to the style now known as Desert Modernism. Ted Robinson, the land planner and golf course architect, became one of the most prominent golf course architects on the West Coast, designing dozens of courses across the Coachella Valley. The product of this collaboration is thoroughly preserved within the Project Site.

4. Criterion E: Marrakesh Country Club reflects distinctive examples of significant development patterns as an example of mid-twentieth century country club planning, a period of residential development that was largely catalyzed by Johnny Dawson’s Thunderbird and Eldorado projects prior to Marrakesh. This period, lasting from the 338
RESOLUTION NO. 2025-
3 late 1940s to the 1970s, was the most formative period of growth in the Coachella Valley’s history. Marrakesh embodies all the distinct elements of a mid-century country club, including a full-size golf course integrated with housing, a central clubhouse, and community facilities. Moreover, Marrakesh reflects a distinct and later phase of country club development, exemplified by the construction of condominiums and exotic theming, and a departure from the typical Mid-Century Modern designs of prior decades. Marrakesh still retains all these key features and continues to operate as a country club.

Further, the Historic Context Statement and City-wide Resources Survey Document identifies a period of significance for residential development between 1967 and 1980.

Marrakesh Country Club was constructed between 1968 and 1979. The Project Site retains the essential aspects of integrity and retains enough of its essential physical features to sufficiently convey with its association with the historic contexts of “Country Clubs and Incorporation, 1967-1980” and “Architecture & Design, 1910-1980.”

5. Criterion F: Marrakesh Country Club conveys a sense of historic and architectural cohesiveness through its design by prominent architects John Elgin Woolf and Robert Koch, key figures in the development of the Hollywood Regency architectural style.

Woolf’s firm designed all aspects of the development, from the gatehouse to the condominiums to the lampposts. Key features like historicist detailing, mansard roofs, Pullman doors, and symmetrical volumes are apparent throughout the development, all of which are tied together by a distinct pink color scheme and are preserved enough to convey their significance. As a result, Marrakesh is the largest and most cohesive Hollywood Regency environment in the nation.

SECTION 3. Based upon the foregoing findings and facts incorporated herein, the Property, located at Marrakesh Country Club, is hereby designated as a historic district.

ADOPTED ON ______.

JAN HARNIK
MAYOR
ATTEST:

ANTHONY J. MEJIA

CITY CLERK
339
RESOLUTION NO. 2025-
4 I, Anthony J. Mejia, City Clerk of the City of Palm Desert, hereby certify that Resolution No. 2025-__ is a full, true, and correct copy, and was duly adopted at a regular meeting of the City Council of the City of Palm Desert on______, by the following vote:

AYES:

NOES:

ABSENT:

ABSTAIN:

RECUSED:

IN WITNESS WHEREOF, I have hereunto set my hand and affixed the official seal of the City of Palm Desert, California, on ______________, 2025.

ANTHONY J. MEJIA

CITY CLERK
340
RESOLUTION NO. 2025-
5 EXHIBIT 1
Parcel Information
Golf Course and Common Areas

APN ADDRESS DESCRIPTION SUBDIVISION
630420001 47001 PORTOLA AVE GOLF COURSE N/A
630420002 47001 PORTOLA AVE GOLF COURSE N/A
630420003 47001 PORTOLA AVE GOLF COURSE N/A
630420004 47001 PORTOLA AVE GOLF COURSE N/A
630420005 47001 PORTOLA AVE GOLF COURSE N/A
630170017 N/A AREA 1 (COMMON) N/A
630210027 N/A AREA 2 (COMMON) N/A
630260039 N/A AREA 3 (COMMON) N/A
630280033 N/A AREA 4 (COMMON) N/A
630291034 N/A AREA 5 (COMMON) N/A
630292037 N/A AREA 6 (COMMON) N/A
630320039 N/A AREA 7 (COMMON) N/A
630340023 N/A AREA 8 (COMMON) N/A
630360036 N/A AREA 9 (COMMON) N/A
630360035 N/A AREA 10 (COMMON) N/A
630390035 N/A AREA 11 (COMMON) N/A
630400045 N/A AREA 12 (COMMON) N/A
630400019 N/A AREA 13 (COMMON) N/A
630410027 N/A AREA 14 (COMMON) N/A
341
RESOLUTION NO. 2025-
6 Condominiums

APN ADDRESS PLAN TYPE ADDRESS
630210024 47495 MARRAKESH DR A TR 3733
630210023 47493 MARRAKESH DR A TR 3733
630210020 47487 MARRAKESH DR B TR 3733
630210019 47485 MARRAKESH DR B TR 3733
630210016 47479 MARRAKESH DR B TR 3733
630210015 47477 MARRAKESH DR B TR 3733
630210003 47487 TANGIER DR B TR 3733
630210004 47485 TANGIER DR B TR 3733
630210007 47479 TANGIER DR B TR 3733
630210008 47477 TANGIER DR B TR 3733
630210010 47473 TANGIER DR C TR 3733
630210013 47467 TANGIER DR C TR 3733
630210014 47465 TANGIER DR C TR 3733
630210009 47475 TANGIER DR C TR 3733
630210026 47491 MARRAKESH DR D TR 3733
630210001 47491 TANGIER DR D TR 3733
630210002 47489 TANGIER DR D TR 3733
630210021 47489 MARRAKESH DR D TR 3733
630210018 47483 MARRAKESH DR D TR 3733
630210017 47481 MARRAKESH DR D TR 3733
630210011 47471 TANGIER DR D TR 3733
630210012 47469 TANGIER DR D TR 3733
630210005 47483 TANGIER DR D TR 3733
630210006 47481 TANGIER DR D TR 3733
342
RESOLUTION NO. 2025-
7 630170010 47011 ARCADIA LN A TR 3837
630170009 47015 ARCADIA LN A TR 3837
630170013 47025 MARRAKESH DR B TR 3837
630170014 47029 MARRAKESH DR B TR 3837
630170003 47041 ARCADIA LN B TR 3837
630170004 47039 ARCADIA LN B TR 3837
630170007 47021 ARCADIA LN B TR 3837
630170008 47019 ARCADIA LN B TR 3837
630170015 47035 MARRAKESH DR C TR 3837
630170016 47037 MARRAKESH DR C TR 3837
630170005 47033 ARCADIA LN C TR 3837
630170006 47031 ARCADIA LN C TR 3837
630170001 47045 ARCADIA LN D TR 3837
630170011 47013 MARRAKESH DR D TR 3837
630170012 47017 MARRAKESH DR D TR 3837
630170002 47043 ARCADIA LN D TR 3837
630260017 47438 RABAT DR A TR 3957
630260013 47446 RABAT DR A TR 3957
630260014 47444 RABAT DR A TR 3957
630260018 47436 RABAT DR A TR 3957
630260025 47422 RABAT DR A TR 3957
630260026 47420 RABAT DR A TR 3957
630260001 47470 MAROC CIR B TR 3957
630260002 47468 MAROC CIR B TR 3957
630260011 47447 MAROC CIR B TR 3957
630260012 47445 MAROC CIR B TR 3957
630260023 47426 RABAT DR B TR 3957
343
RESOLUTION NO. 2025-
8 630260024 47424 RABAT DR B TR 3957
630260036 47410 MARRAKESH DR B TR 3957
630260035 47408 MARRAKESH DR B TR 3957
630260034 47406 MARRAKESH DR B TR 3957
630260033 47404 MARRAKESH DR B TR 3957
630260029 47403 MEDINA DR B TR 3957
630260030 47401 MEDINA DR B TR 3957
630260007 47455 MAROC CIR B TR 3957
630260008 47453 MAROC CIR B TR 3957
630260010 47449 MAROC CIR C TR 3957
630260015 47442 RABAT DR C TR 3957
630260016 47440 RABAT DR C TR 3957
630260038 47414 MARRAKESH DR C TR 3957
630260037 47412 MARRAKESH DR C TR 3957
630260027 47407 MEDINA DR C TR 3957
630260028 47405 MEDINA DR C TR 3957
630260009 47451 MAROC CIR C TR 3957
630260003 47466 MAROC CIR D TR 3957
630260019 47434 RABAT DR D TR 3957
630260020 47432 RABAT DR D TR 3957
630260021 47430 RABAT DR D TR 3957
630260022 47428 RABAT DR D TR 3957
630260032 47402 MARRAKESH DR D TR 3957
630260031 47400 MARRAKESH DR D TR 3957
630260004 47464 MAROC CIR D TR 3957
630260005 47459 MAROC CIR D TR 3957
630260006 47457 MAROC CIR D TR 3957
344
RESOLUTION NO. 2025-
9 630280003 47468 E MEDINA DR B TR 4125
630280029 47436 W MEDINA DR B TR 4125
630280030 47434 W MEDINA DR B TR 4125
630280025 47415 W MEDINA DR B TR 4125
630280026 47413 W MEDINA DR B TR 4125
630280004 47466 E MEDINA DR B TR 4125
630280007 47460 E MEDINA DR B TR 4125
630280008 47458 E MEDINA DR B TR 4125
630280001 47472 E MEDINA DR C TR 4125
630280002 47470 E MEDINA DR C TR 4125
630280017 47431 W MEDINA DR C TR 4125
630280018 47429 W MEDINA DR C TR 4125
630280021 47423 W MEDINA DR C TR 4125
630280022 47421 W MEDINA DR C TR 4125
630280010 47454 E MEDINA DR D TR 4125
630280011 47452 E MEDINA DR D TR 4125
630280012 47450 E MEDINA DR D TR 4125
630280013 47448 E MEDINA DR D TR 4125
630280014 47446 E MEDINA DR D TR 4125
630280027 47440 W MEDINA DR D TR 4125
630280028 47438 W MEDINA DR D TR 4125
630280015 47435 W MEDINA DR D TR 4125
630280016 47433 W MEDINA DR D TR 4125
630280031 47432 W MEDINA DR D TR 4125
630280032 47430 W MEDINA DR D TR 4125
630280019 47427 W MEDINA DR D TR 4125
630280020 47425 W MEDINA DR D TR 4125
345
RESOLUTION NO. 2025-
10 630280023 47419 W MEDINA DR D TR 4125
630280024 47417 W MEDINA DR D TR 4125
630280005 47464 E MEDINA DR D TR 4125
630280006 47462 E MEDINA DR D TR 4125
630280009 47456 E MEDINA DR D TR 4125
630291010 47049 KASBAH DR B TR 4273
630291015 47071 KASBAH DR B TR 4273
630291016 47073 KASBAH DR B TR 4273
630291021 47103 MARRAKESH DR B TR 4273
630291022 47105 MARRAKESH DR B TR 4273
630291025 47113 MARRAKESH DR B TR 4273
630291026 47115 MARRAKESH DR B TR 4273
630291009 47047 KASBAH DR B TR 4273
630291001 47051 MARRAKESH DR C TR 4273
630291028 47053 MARRAKESH DR C TR 4273
630291032 47107 MARRAKESH DR C TR 4273
630291024 47109 MARRAKESH DR C TR 4273
630291007 47085 MARRAKESH DR C TR 4273
630291008 47087 MARRAKESH DR C TR 4273
630291011 47055 KASBAH DR D TR 4273
630291012 47057 KASBAH DR D TR 4273
630291030 47063 KASBAH DR D TR 4273
630291014 47065 KASBAH DR D TR 4273
630291031 47081 KASBAH DR D TR 4273
630291018 47083 KASBAH DR D TR 4273
630291019 47093 KASBAH DR D TR 4273
630291033 47095 KASBAH DR D TR 4273
346
RESOLUTION NO. 2025-
11 630291003 47059 MARRAKESH DR D TR 4273
630291004 47061 MARRAKESH DR D TR 4273
630291005 47075 MARRAKESH DR D TR 4273
630291029 47077 MARRAKESH DR D TR 4273
630292015 47152 EL MENARA CIR B TR 4274
630292016 47154 EL MENARA CIR B TR 4274
630292025 47147 EL MENARA CIR B TR 4274
630292026 47145 EL MENARA CIR B TR 4274
630292033 47127 EL MENARA CIR B TR 4274
630292034 47125 EL MENARA CIR B TR 4274
630292007 47136 EL MENARA CIR B TR 4274
630292008 47138 EL MENARA CIR B TR 4274
630292038 47131 EL MENARA CIR C TR 4274
630292013 47148 EL MENARA CIR C TR 4274
630292014 47150 EL MENARA CIR C TR 4274
630292019 47159 EL MENARA CIR C TR 4274
630292020 47157 EL MENARA CIR C TR 4274
630292003 47128 EL MENARA CIR C TR 4274
630292031 47133 EL MENARA CIR C TR 4274
630292004 47130 E EL MENARA CIR C TR 4274
630292001 47124 EL MENARA CIR D TR 4274
630292010 47142 EL MENARA CIR D TR 4274
630292011 47144 EL MENARA CIR D TR 4274
630292012 47146 EL MENARA CIR D TR 4274
630292017 47156 EL MENARA CIR D TR 4274
630292018 47158 EL MENARA CIR D TR 4274
630292002 47126 EL MENARA CIR D TR 4274
347
RESOLUTION NO. 2025-
12 630292021 47155 EL MENARA CIR D TR 4274
630292022 47153 EL MENARA CIR D TR 4274
630292023 47151 EL MENARA CIR D TR 4274
630292024 47149 EL MENARA CIR D TR 4274
630292027 47143 EL MENARA CIR D TR 4274
630292028 47141 EL MENARA CIR D TR 4274
630292029 47137 EL MENARA CIR D TR 4274
630292030 47135 EL MENARA CIR D TR 4274
630292035 47123 EL MENARA CIR D TR 4274
630292036 47121 EL MENARA CIR D TR 4274
630292005 47132 EL MENARA CIR D TR 4274
630292006 47134 EL MENARA CIR D TR 4274
630292009 47140 EL MENARA CIR D TR 4274
630320001 47170 EL AGADIR CIR B TR 4749
630320011 47194 EL AGADIR CIR B TR 4749
630320012 47196 EL AGADIR CIR B TR 4749
630320017 47209 EL AGADIR CIR B TR 4749
630320018 47207 EL AGADIR CIR B TR 4749
630320002 47172 EL AGADIR CIR B TR 4749
630320025 47193 EL AGADIR CIR B TR 4749
630320026 47212 MARRAKESH DR B TR 4749
630320027 47189 EL AGADIR CIR B TR 4749
630320028 47187 EL AGADIR CIR B TR 4749
630320031 47181 EL AGADIR CIR B TR 4749
630320032 47179 EL AGADIR CIR B TR 4749
630320015 47202 EL AGADIR CIR C TR 4749
630320016 47204 EL AGADIR CIR C TR 4749
348
RESOLUTION NO. 2025-
13 630320019 47205 EL AGADIR CIR C TR 4749
630320020 47203 EL AGADIR CIR C TR 4749
630320023 47197 EL AGADIR CIR C TR 4749
630320024 47195 EL AGADIR CIR C TR 4749
630320035 47173 EL AGADIR CIR C TR 4749
630320036 47171 EL AGADIR CIR C TR 4749
630320005 47178 EL AGADIR CIR C TR 4749
630320006 47180 EL AGADIR CIR C TR 4749
630320010 47188 EL AGADIR CIR D TR 4749
630320013 47198 EL AGADIR CIR D TR 4749
630320014 47200 EL AGADIR CIR D TR 4749
630320021 47201 EL AGADIR CIR D TR 4749
630320022 47199 EL AGADIR CIR D TR 4749
630320029 47185 EL AGADIR CIR D TR 4749
630320003 47174 EL AGADIR CIR D TR 4749
630320030 47183 EL AGADIR CIR D TR 4749
630320033 47177 EL AGADIR CIR D TR 4749
630320034 47175 EL AGADIR CIR D TR 4749
630320037 47190 EL AGADIR CIR D TR 4749
630320038 47192 EL AGADIR CIR D TR 4749
630320004 47176 EL AGADIR CIR D TR 4749
630320007 47182 EL AGADIR CIR D TR 4749
630320008 47184 EL AGADIR CIR D TR 4749
630320009 47186 EL AGADIR CIR D TR 4749
630340001 47120 EL MENARA CIR B TR 5445S
630340011 47090 EL MENARA CIR B TR 5445S
630340012 47088 EL MENARA CIR B TR 5445S
349
RESOLUTION NO. 2025-
14 630340015 47099 EL MINARA CIR B TR 5445S
630340016 47101 EL MENARA CIR B TR 5445S
630340002 47118 EL MENARA CIR B TR 5445S
630340021 47115 EL MENARA CIR B TR 5445S
630340022 47117 EL MENARA CIR B TR 5445S
630340005 47108 EL MENARA CIR B TR 5445S
630340006 47106 EL MENARA CIR B TR 5445S
630340010 47094 EL MENARA CIR C TR 5445S
630340013 47093 EL MENARA CIR C TR 5445S
630340014 47095 EL MENARA CIR C TR 5445S
630340019 47109 EL MENARA CIR C TR 5445S
630340020 47111 EL MENARA CIR C TR 5445S
630340009 47096 EL MENARA CIR C TR 5445S
630340017 47103 EL MENARA CIR D TR 5445S
630340018 47105 EL MENARA CIR D TR 5445S
630340003 47114 EL MENARA CIR D TR 5445S
630340004 47112 EL MENARA CIR D TR 5445S
630340007 47102 EL MENARA CIR D TR 5445S
630340008 47100 EL MENARA CIR D TR 5445S
630360013 47327 N ABDEL CIR B TR 5904
630360014 47329 N ABDEL CIR B TR 5904
630360021 47368 AVENUE JADIDA B TR 5904
630360022 47370 AVENUE JADIDA B TR 5904
630360027 47390 AVENUE JADIDA B TR 5904
630360028 47392 AVENUE JADIDA B TR 5904
630360003 47306 N ABDEL CIR B TR 5904
630360031 47374 MARRAKESH DR B TR 5904
350
RESOLUTION NO. 2025-
15 630360032 47372 MARRAKESH DR B TR 5904
630360004 47308 N ABDEL CIR B TR 5904
630360007 47314 N ABDEL CIR B TR 5904
630360008 47316 N ABDEL CIR B TR 5904
630360001 47302 N ABDEL CIR C TR 5904
630360011 47323 N ABDEL CIR C TR 5904
630360012 47325 N ABDEL CIR C TR 5904
630360015 47331 N ABDEL CIR C TR 5904
630360016 47333 S ABDEL CIR C TR 5904
630360002 47304 N ABDEL CIR C TR 5904
630360025 47382 AVENUE JADIDA C TR 5904
630360026 47384 AVENUE JADIDA C TR 5904
630360029 47388 MARRAKESH DR C TR 5904
630360030 47386 MARRAKESH DR C TR 5904
630360033 47366 MARRAKESH DR C TR 5904
630360034 47364 MARRAKESH DR C TR 5904
630360010 47320 N ABDEL CIR D TR 5904
630360017 47330 N MARRAKESH DR D TR 5904
630360018 47328 MARRAKESH DR D TR 5904
630360019 47360 AVENUE JADIDA D TR 5904
630360020 47362 AVENUE JADIDA D TR 5904
630360023 47376 AVENUE JADIDA D TR 5904
630360024 47380 AVENUE JADIDA D TR 5904
630360005 47310 N ABDEL CIR D TR 5904
630360006 47312 ABDEL CIR D TR 5904
630360009 47318 N ABDEL CIR D TR 5904
630390017 46930 AMIR DR B TR 6229-1
351
RESOLUTION NO. 2025-
16 630390018 46920 AMIR DR B TR 6229-1
630390021 73581 MALABATA DR B TR 6229-1
630390022 73587 MALABATA DR B TR 6229-1
630390003 73561 MINZAH WAY B TR 6229-1
630390031 46860 AMIR DR B TR 6229-1
630390032 46850 AMIR DR B TR 6229-1
630390004 73567 MINZAH WAY B TR 6229-1
630390007 73591 MINZAH WAY B TR 6229-1
630390008 73597 MINZAH WAY B TR 6229-1
630390011 46950 SOMIA CT C TR 6229-1
630390012 46940 SOMIA CT C TR 6229-1
630390025 73586 MALABATA DR C TR 6229-1
630390026 73580 MALABATA DR C TR 6229-1
630390029 73556 MALABATA DR C TR 6229-1
630390030 73550 MALABATA DR C TR 6229-1
630390005 73571 MINZAH WAY C TR 6229-1
630390006 73577 MINZAH WAY C TR 6229-1
630390001 73541 MINZAH WAY D TR 6229-1
630390010 73580 MINZAH WAY D TR 6229-1
630390013 73566 MINZAH WAY D TR 6229-1
630390014 73560 MINZAH WAY D TR 6229-1
630390015 46960 AMIR DR D TR 6229-1
630390016 46950 AMIR DR D TR 6229-1
630390002 73547 MINZAH WAY D TR 6229-1
630390023 73596 MALABATA DR D TR 6229-1
630390024 73590 MALABATA DR D TR 6229-1
630390027 73576 MALABATA DR D TR 6229-1
352
RESOLUTION NO. 2025-
17 630390028 73570 MALABATA DR D TR 6229-1
630390009 73586 MINZAH WAY D TR 6229-1
630400010 73579 EL HASSON CIR B TR 6229-2
630400017 73595 EL HASSON CIR B TR 6229-2
630400018 73597 EL HASSON CIR B TR 6229-2
630400009 73577 EL HASSON CIR B TR 6229-2
630400011 73583 El HASSON CIR C TR-6229-2
630400012 73583 EL HASSON CIR C TR 6229-2
630400015 73591 EL HASSON CIR C TR 6229-2
630400016 73593 EL HASSON CIR C TR 6229-2
630400005 73570 EL HASSON CIR C TR 6229-2
630400006 73572 EL HASSON CIR C TR 6229-2
630400001 73596 EL HASSON CIR D TR 6229-2
630400013 73587 EL HASSON CIR D TR 6229-2
630400014 73589 EL HASSON CIR D TR 6229-2
630400002 73594 EL HASSON CIR D TR 6229-2
630400003 73571 EL HASSON CIR D TR 6229-2
630400004 73573 EL HASSON CIR D TR 6229-2
630400007 73574 EL HASSON CIR D TR 6229-2
630400008 73576 EL HASSON CIR D TR 6229-2
630400021 47050 AMIR DR B TR 6229-3
630400031 47310 AMIR DR B TR 6229-3
630400032 47340 AMIR DR B TR 6229-3
630400022 47060 AMIR DR B TR 6229-3
630400043 73590 AMIR DR B TR 6229-3
630400044 73596 AMIR DR B TR 6229-3
630400027 47200 AMIR DR B TR 6229-3
353
RESOLUTION NO. 2025-
18 630400028 47220 AMIR DR B TR 6229-3
630400030 47280 AMIR DR C TR 6229-3
630400041 73580 AMIR DR C TR 6229-3
630400042 73586 AMIR DR C TR 6229-3
630400025 47130 AMIR DR C TR 6229-3
630400026 47160 AMIR DR C TR 6229-3
630400029 47260 AMIR DR C TR 6229-3
630400033 47360 AMIR DR D TR 6229-3
630400034 47390 AMIR DR D TR 6229-3
630400035 47420 AMIR DR D TR 6229-3
630400036 47460 AMIR DR D TR 6229-3
630400037 73560 AMIR DR D TR 6229-3
630400038 73566 AMIR DR D TR 6229-3
630400039 73570 AMIR DR D TR 6229-3
630400040 73576 AMIR DR D TR 6229-3
630400023 47080 AMIR DR D TR 6229-3
630400024 47090 AMIR DR D TR 6229-3
630410021 73719 AMIR DR B TR 9129
630410022 73729 AMIR DR B TR 9129
630410025 73759 AMIR DR B TR 9129
630410026 73769 AMIR DR B TR 9129
630410005 46760 AMIR DR B TR 9129
630410006 46750 AMIR DR B TR 9129
630410017 73649 AMIR DR C TR 9129
630410018 73669 AMIR DR C TR 9129
630410023 73739 AMIR DR C TR 9129
630410024 73749 AMIR DR C TR 9129
354
RESOLUTION NO. 2025-
19 630410003 46800 AMIR DR C TR 9129
630410004 46790 AMIR DR C TR 9129
630410007 46730 AMIR DR C TR 9129
630410008 46720 AMIR DR C TR 9129
630410001 46840 AMIR DR D TR 9129
630410010 46680 AMIR DR D TR 9129
630410011 46650 AMIR DR D TR 9129
630410012 46640 AMIR DR D TR 9129
630410013 73569 AMIR DR D TR 9129
630410014 73589 AMIR DR D TR 9129
630410015 73609 AMIR DR D TR 9129
630410016 73629 AMIR DR D TR 9129
630410019 73689 AMIR DR D TR 9129
630410002 46830 AMIR DR D TR 9129
630410020 73709 AMIR DR D TR 9129
630410009 46690 AMIR DR D TR 9129
355
356

THE OFFICE OF THE GENERAL MANAGER/COO

MARRAKESH COMMUNITY ASSOCIATION AND COUNTRY CLUB
47‐000 Marrakesh Dr., Palm Desert, CA 92260     (760) 568‐2688 ext. 104 www. marrakeshcountryclub.com   [email protected] May 6, 2025
To whom it may concern,
Marrakesh Country Club has hired Luke Leuschner to prepare a Historic District nomination for the community. Per the unanimous vote by the Board of Directors at the 4/27 annual meeting, Luke has the full permission and support of the Marrakesh board and administration to submit this nomination packet.

Please direct further correspondence about the pending nomination to Luke, Eula Robertson ([email protected], Marrakesh Historical Committee Chair), Gary Grose ([email protected], ALC chair), and myself, General Manager/COO.

We look forward to moving forward with this process.

Thank you.

Bryan Cox CCM, CCAM
General Manager/COO
357

MARRAKESH COMMUNITY ASSOCIATION

MEETING OF THE BOARD OF DIRECTORS

OPEN SESSION MINUTES
Sunday, April 27, 2025 at 10:30 a.m.

Zoom Link: https://us02web.zoom.us/j/81148883774?pwd=NXZWT205WGlFLy9EZlBrOWJ0Mi9NUT09 Meeting ID: 811 4888 3774 | Passcode: 033309
Those present:

Kent Stone, President Bob Leach, Director
Marnie Mitze, Vice President Cullen Jowitt, Director
Don Yahn, Treasurer Lynda Curtin, Director
Crosby Renwick, Secretary Don Tippett, Director
Also present:

Bryan Cox, General Manager Emily Pope, Anthony Patton, Juan Martinez, John Birchard Chris Wedell, Executive Assistant

1. CALL TO ORDER
Kent Stone called the meeting to order at 10:30 a.m. in the Clubhouse Dining Room.

2. NEW BUSINESS
A. Ballot Count Approval
President, Kent Stone, stated per the Inspector of Elections report – there were 364 Members in good standing and entitled to vote, there were 197 Members present, in person, by secret ballot or by proxy at said meeting, there were no unsigned ballots, and a quorum of 25% (91) of the voting power was obtained. The results of all counted and tabulated votes: John McKnight with 137 votes, Tip Tippett with 121 votes and Lynda Curtin with 99 votes. The votes for approving the Minutes was In Favor with 170 votes with 1 vote opposed. The votes for approving the IRS issue was 182 In Favor with 0 Opposed.

Motion: A motion was made by Don Yahn and seconded by Marnie Mitze to approve the ballot count as presented. A vote was taken by show of hands and none opposed; motion carried.

B. Election of Officers.

1. President: Cullen Jowitt nominated Kent Stone for President and was seconded by Bob Leach. A vote was made by show of hands. None opposed, motion carried. Alice Rosenblatt and Tom Iino stepped down from the Board and the Board was joined by new members Lynda Curtin, John McKnight and Tip Tippett.

2. Vice President: Bob Leach nominated Marnie Mitze for Vice President and was seconded by Cullen Jowitt. A vote was made by show of hands. None opposed; motion carried.

3. Treasurer: Cullen Jowitt nominated Don Yahn for Treasurer and was seconded by Bob Leach. A vote was made by show of hands. None opposed, motion carried.

4. Secretary: Bob Leach nominated Crosby Renwick for Secretary and was seconded by Cullen Jowitt. A vote was made by show of hands. None opposed; motion carried.
358
C. Opening Comments by Incoming President. Incoming President Stone thanked the Board and the community for putting trust in him to lead for the next year. He thanked the members volunteering their time on the various committees as they are important to the entire process. He also stated that the Board will do a better job with communication and transparency with the community on various topics such as capital expenditures, assessments, etc. President Stone stated that there are four items he wants to focus on for the coming year: the first is long term sustainability, the second is financial stability; the third is enhanced member satisfaction and the fourth is strategic planning for the future. Kent also thanked Byron Francis for his time and work as the Nominating Committee Chair.

D. Committee Chair Nominations.

1. Finance Committee. A motion was made by Crosby Renwick and seconded by Marnie Mitze to appoint Don Yahn as Committee Chair of the Finance Committee and none opposed; motion carried.

2. Strategic Planning Committee. A motion was made by Marnie Mitze and seconded by Crosby Renwick to appoint Todd Warnock as Committee Chair of the Strategic Planning Committee and none opposed; motion carried.

3. Marketing & Branding Committee. A motion was made by Marnie Mitze and seconded by Bob Leach to appoint Crosby Renwick as Committee Chair of the Marketing & Branding Committee and none opposed; motion carried.

4. Golf & Greens Committee. A motion was made by Cullen Jowitt and seconded by Marnie Mitze to appoint Bob Leach as Committee Chair of the Golf & Greens Committee and none opposed; motion carried.

5. Clubhouse Committee. A motion was made by Marnie Mitze and seconded by Bob Leach to appoint Cullen Jowitt as Committee Chair of the Clubhouse Committee and none opposed; motion carried.

6. Architectural & Landscaping Committee. A motion was made by Crosby Renwick and seconded by Marnie Mitze to appoint Gary Grose as Committee Chair for the Architectural & Landscaping Committee and none opposed; motion carried.

E. MCA Approval of Minutes
Motion: A motion was made by Don Yahn and seconded by Bob Leach to approve the minutes of the 03.27.25 MCA Open Session Minutes and none opposed; motion carried.

Motion: A motion was made by Bob Leach and seconded by Crosby Renwick to approve the minutes of the 03.31.25 MCA Open Session Minutes and none opposed; motion carried.

F. Open Forum. Lee Tatum gave a report on the Marrakesh Scholarship Program that was established in 2009. Since then 144 scholarships have been awarded totaling more than $581,000. Scholarships are offered to employees, their spouses, their children and grandchildren and all donations are tax deductible. Applications in English and Spanish will be given to every employee.

G. President’s Report. There was no report.

H. General Manager’s Report. Bryan Cox gave a summary of progress, changes and challenges in areas for both the MCA and MCC for the last year. The roles of the management and staff have been restructured to address more efficiently the needs of the community. Juan Martinez has been assigned the responsibility of overseeing the golf course, maintenance, HOA landscape, general community maintenance and large-scale HOA projects such as lighting, pools, electrical, painting and general repairs that previously fell under the Community Manager. The work order system was restructured to be more effective and accountable. Former landscape employee, Lucia Hernandez, was promoted to Administrative Field Assistant to support the work order system. Specialized key staff have been assigned to address specific categories of work orders such as painting, irrigation, electrical, agronomy and general items. Each of these staff members has a tablet that delivers the work orders, 359
allows for follow-up comments and records status on assigned projects. A relationship has developed with The Living Desert on feeding the animals. Human Resources Manager, Anthony Patton, is developing hiring and onboarding standards and addressing employee morale. Anthony has established an employee recognition award system and has scheduled CPR training for staff. Membership Director, Emily Pope, has made significant improvements in onboarding and welcoming our new members. Emily has implemented our standard branding materials, such as our new letterhead fonts, email signatures, and upgraded signage throughout the community. Our photo and video policy has been created to provide control of what is out in the social media landscape. Marrakesh had some great exposure this year with the outstanding Palm Springs Life article and a fantastic Trina Turk fashion show. The Guardhouse was completely renovated to its historical condition. There was a rebirth of our Emergency Preparedness Committee. ALC Manager, Chris Wedell, HOA Assistant, Maria Ferrer and new ALC Chair, Gary Grose did a first-time comprehensive audit of every property to identify deficiencies and violations. This audit will assist in developing the next steps to bring homes into compliance in the community. An architectural consultant and a landscape consultant were hired to assist the ALC in the review and approval process. The golf operations was a success with generally flattened growth in member participation. The quality of the golf inventory is exceptional. A golf survey will be sent to the membership over the next few months to delve into possible areas of growth and activities that would bring value to the membership and current golfers who are not participating in our programs. The focus with Food & Beverage was to stabilize the staff and work to eliminate turnover the second season in a row. Although there was a severe loss of our Clubhouse Manager, Robert Seymour, the remaining team stepped up to take on the extra duties for the remaining part of the season. The long-awaited historical designation should be completed and approved before December of this year. The Amir Drive culvert or drainage engineering design will be completed shortly, and we now have the complete city file and the easement contracts from 1972 with the responsibility agreements behind those agreements. The difficult decision to remove the dog park was made.

Repair of cracked roads throughout the community will begin May 12. The tennis court will be resurfaced and an additional gate will be installed for the pickleball court. The finials for the lights throughout the community have been ordered and a mold of our historical lamp posts is being created. Architectural engineers are reviewing options to hide the havoc system on the Clubhouse roof. A proposal on an enhanced security camera system has been received. The acquisition of the Haystack Property is progressing.

I. Treasurer Report.

Kent Stone discussed the aging report – as of March31, there is one delinquency with an outstanding balance of $3,200.

MCA Community Reserves balance on March 31 is $1,700,000. On the Consolidated Income Statement, the Operational Income/Loss Line YTD is a negative variance of $157,000 as of March 31. Some of this was caused by the heat last October but we expect to break even by year end.

Motion: A motion was made by Marnie Mitze and seconded by Don Yahn to accept the aging report and financials as presented and none opposed; motion carried.

J. Executive Committee. The Executive Committee did not meet.

K. Finance Committee. Kent Stone has already given his report.

L. ALC Committee. Previous ALC Chair, Eula Robertson, gave a presentation on the MCA/MCC Historical Designation Project.

This presentation will be posted on the Marrakesh website. Eula also reported that the ALC is reviewing options for the construction period in the community and will eventually bring it to the Board for approval. She also reported that an Exclusive Use Audit was performed to identify which homes do not have their Exclusive Use Expansion Areas recorded with Riverside 360
County and do not have insurance for this area. The ALC will create a checklist that makes it easier for members to understand what it means to require or request Exclusive Use. There is a Master Plan Subcommittee that will determine the impact on the community of any future Exclusive Use Expansion Areas.

Motion: A motion was made by Marnie Mitze and seconded by Crosby Renwick to accept the Architectural and Landscape Committee’s application for Marrakesh Country Club’s Historic District Designation and submit it to the City of Palm Desert Cultural Resources Preservation Committee for review as presented and none opposed; motion carried.

M. Strategic Planning Committee. In reviewing the progress of the last year, Crosby Renwick reported that with the help from Peter Ruben, the acquisition of the Haystack Property has progressed. He also reported the formation of the Technology Task Force to assess and update our software and hardware systems and the ISPs who are the vendors that we use for all of the technology in the Clubhouse and Member Services. Several surveys went out to the membership that included the member satisfaction, the dog park and the Haystack Property acquisition. A future planning survey will be sent to the membership in the next couple of weeks.

N. Branding & Marketing Committee. In reviewing the progress of the last year, Crosby Renwick reported that several articles were written for The Jewel that included John Elgin Woolf, Johnny Dawson and the land purchase. Trina Turk held her 30th anniversary fashion show in the Clubhouse with the help of Patrick Dragonette. Patrick was also instrumental in getting Palm Springs Life to do the article on Marrakesh. The Committee has been working on the website to add an architectural feature to support the beauty and history of Marrakesh. Emily Pope has hired a few new photographers for the Clubhouse. Crosby also reported that the Committee has created a new brochure for non-resident membership that will be sent to the membership to encourage their friends and family to join even if they don’t live at Marrakesh.

3. ADJOURNMENT OF MCA OPEN SESSION
With no other business to discuss, a motion was made by Marnie Mitze and seconded by Lynda Curtin to adjourn the meeting.

President Kent Stone adjourned the Marrakesh Community Association (MCA) Open Session at 11:33 a.m. PST.

The next Marrakesh Community Association Open Session of the Board of Directors is scheduled for 1:00 p.m. on May 22, 2025.

Respectfully Submitted,
Crosby Renwick, Secretary
MCC/MCA Board of Directors
361

Architects:

John Elgin Woolf and Robert Koch
Richard A. Harrison
Theodore Robinson
Developed by Johnny Dawson, 1967-1979

Historic District Nomination Prepared for the City of Palm Desert / Cultural Resources Committee Prepared by Luke Leuschner
Version 3: April 2025
362
2 Table of Contents
ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS ...................................................................................... 4 DISTRICT LOCATION AND DESCRIPTION ............................................................ 5 HISTORY OF MARRAKESH COUNTRY CLUB ......................................................... 6 BIOGRAPHIES .................................................................................................. 22 John Elgin Woolf (1908 – 1980) ..................................................................... 22 Richard A. Harrison (1924 – 1995) ................................................................. 30 Theodore Robinson (1923 – 2008) ................................................................. 37 STATEMENT OF SIGNIFICANCE ........................................................................ 41 STREETSCAPES AND GENERAL VIEWS ................................................................ 44 ARCHITECTURAL PRESERVATION ....................................................................... 49 Administration Building .................................................................................. 49 ARCHITECTURAL DESCRIPTION ..................................................................................................49 ALTERATIONS.............................................................................................................................52 FEATURES TO BE PRESERVED ......................................................................................................54 Clubhouse .................................................................................................... 55 ARCHITECTURAL DESCRIPTION ..................................................................................................55 ALTERATIONS.............................................................................................................................60 FEATURES TO BE PRESERVED ......................................................................................................64 Condominium: Plan A ................................................................................... 65 ARCHITECTURAL DESCRIPTION ..................................................................................................65 FEATURES TO BE PRESERVED ......................................................................................................68 Condominium: Plan B .................................................................................... 69 ARCHITECTURAL DESCRIPTION ..................................................................................................69 FEATURES TO BE PRESERVED ......................................................................................................71 Condominium: Plan C ................................................................................... 73 ARCHITECTURAL DESCRIPTION ..................................................................................................73 FEATURES TO BE PRESERVED ......................................................................................................76 Condominium: Plan D ................................................................................... 77 ARCHITECTURAL DESCRIPTION ..................................................................................................77 FEATURES TO BE PRESERVED ......................................................................................................79 Gatehouse, Entryway, and Exterior Walls ......................................................... 81 ARCHITECTURAL DESCRIPTION ..................................................................................................81 ALTERATIONS.............................................................................................................................87 FEATURES TO BE PRESERVED ......................................................................................................90 Golf Course .................................................................................................. 91 ARCHITECTURAL DESCRIPTION ..................................................................................................91 FEATURES TO BE PRESERVED ......................................................................................................96 Lampposts .................................................................................................... 97 363
3 ARCHITECTURAL DESCRIPTION ..................................................................................................97 ALTERATIONS.............................................................................................................................98 FEATURES TO BE PRESERVED ......................................................................................................99 Pools and Pool Pavilions .............................................................................. 100 ARCHITECTURAL DESCRIPTION ................................................................................................100 ALTERATIONS...........................................................................................................................106 FEATURES TO BE PRESERVED ....................................................................................................107 Appendix A: Historic Photographs .................................................................... 108 Aerials ........................................................................................................ 108 Golf Course ................................................................................................ 110 Clubhouse .................................................................................................. 117 Administration Building ................................................................................ 120 Entryway and Gatehouse ............................................................................. 122 Condominiums and Streetscapes .................................................................. 125 Pool Pavilions .............................................................................................. 130 Appendix B: Historic Brochures ........................................................................ 132 Appendix C: Parcel Information ....................................................................... 150 GOLF COURSE AND COMMON AREAS ....................................................................................150 CONDOMINIUMS....................................................................................................................151

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4 ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS
Born and raised in Palm Desert just a mile or so down the road from Marrakesh, I spent a good portion of my childhood peering out of the car window onto the development’s pink walls. The sight of Marrakesh became part of my everyday routine – one imperceptible part of an urban wallpaper – and so it wasn’t until many years later and the emergence of my engrossing interest in architectural history that I realized how special it was. Therefore, it has been a distinct privilege to work on this nomination, which is as much the result of a collaborative effort as my personal interest. First and foremost, I would like to thank the Architecture and Landscape Committee with the Marrakesh HOA who commissioned and supported this report, which included Eula Robertson (chair), Darrell Done, Gary Grose, Peggy Gordon, Michael Robinson, William Zwecker, Ann Yahn, Kathleen Leach, and Zurich Esposito. With the Marrakesh administration (in addition to their capacities on the ALC), Bryan Cox (General Manager) and Chris Wedell (ALC Manager) both provided me with the administrative support necessary to complete this work. With the City of Palm Desert’s planning staff, Carlos Flores and Nick Melloni provided support with the application process. Rochelle McCune, the archivist at the Historical Society of Palm Desert, provided crucial support and access to materials. I find myself continually indebted to Rochelle for her tenacity and dedication to Palm Desert’s archives and history.

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5 DISTRICT LOCATION AND DESCRIPTION
Marrakesh Country Club is a ~155-acre residential development and club with a golf course and clubhouse located at 47000 Marrakesh Drive, Palm Desert, CA. The property consists of 383 individual parcels, but the primary non-residential parcels are 630420001 (9.5 acres), 630420002 (1 acre), 630420003 (31 acres), 630420004 (10 acres), and 630420005 (5 acres), which make up the golf course and clubhouse. The remaining 378 parcels consist of individual homes and common areas (see Appendix C for a full listing of parcels). The scope of this historic district nomination covers the entire development, including the clubhouse, golf course, gate house, exterior walls, and all the community’s condominiums.

Marrakesh is bordered by Grapevine Lane to the north, by Haystack Road to the south, Portola Avenue (primary entrance) to the east, and a residential subdivision to the west.

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6 HISTORY OF MARRAKESH COUNTRY CLUB
The genesis of Marrakesh Country Club was not immediate but the unique combination of land, personality, and context. To mention a few, it was the business acumen of Johnny Dawson, who began an entire trend of country club development that was to culminate in Marrakesh; it was the design talent of John Elgin Woolf, who supplied a more fantastical voice to mid-century California design; it was the architectural trends and image of the late 1960s, which had abandoned academic manifestations of Modernism for the popular; and it was the sheer availability of land, a 155-acre parcel amidst a rapidly growing region of the Coachella Valley.

Figure 1.1. A 1930s view of Palm Desert showing the barren alluvial fan that would eventually host Marrakesh. This is what “Palm Desert” looked like when Haskin first owned Haystack Mountain Ranch.

Photo courtesy of the Historical Society of Palm Desert.

Before these threads would coalesce into the singular development that was to become Marrakesh, there was first a parcel of land known as Haystack Mountain Ranch. The earliest property records indicate that the land was part of a section deeded to the Southern Pacific Railroad in 1905 (no doubt as part of the government’s extensive land grants to the railroad), at which point the land was sold, whether entirely or parcels, to a different owner(s).1 Up until the mid-1940s, the land south of Highway 111 was almost completely 1 Land patent to Southern Pacific Railroad, June 30, 1905, accessed via Bureau of Land Management, General Land Office Records, https://glorecords.blm.gov/search/default.aspx. 367
7 barren, except for the recently-built Highway 74 and a handful of small homestead-like operations, and “Palm Desert” did not exist. Aerials show that as late as 1939 there was no development whatsoever on the land that would become Marrakesh, and it blended into a vast expanse of natural desert land (fig. 1.1). However, sometime in the 1930s, a man named Loren H. Haskin came into possession of the land from its then (unknown) owner, who deeded Haskin the land as a repayment of a debt.2 The elder Haskin did not appear to do anything with his land immediately after its acquisition, which was exactly the 160-acre parcel later to become Marrakesh.

Figure 1.2. Tommy Tomson’s 1946 plan for Palm Desert and map of PDC landholdings (with the Haystack Mountain Ranch conspicuously absent at lower right). Photo courtesy of the Historical Society of Palm Desert.
2 Maggie Rivas-Rodriguez, “AEJMC Trailblazers of Diversity Interview with Loren Ghiglione,” Association for Education in Journalism and Mass Communications, Trailblazers of Diversity Collection, August 6, 2015, https://digitalcollections.briscoecenter.org/item/3548. 368
8 During the 1930s and early 1940s, development across the Coachella Valley was relatively stagnant with the realities of both the Great Depression and World War Two. This quickly changed, however, with the end of the war and the postwar prosperity of Southern California. Across the Coachella Valley, postwar developers emulated the model of leisure, modern architecture, and seasonal affluence established by Palm Springs in the 1940s. It was within this postwar context that “Palm Desert” itself was born when the writer and editor Randall Henderson discovered the gently sloping alluvial fan in 1944, and informed his brother, the developer Clifford “Cliff” Henderson. Cliff quickly put together a group of investors to form the “Palm Desert Corporation” (PDC), a fully capitalized corporation that sought to build an entire resort community in the mold of an affluent seasonal community like Palm Springs (fig. 1.2). Randall, who had only worked with Cliff thinking that the development was to be a cultural, year-round community, worked to assemble the necessary parcels of land from a patchwork of landowners. One of those was Loren H.

Haskin, who rejected the Hendersons’ offer in February of 1945.3 The PDC did, however, proceed with their plans for the community, including building the Shadow Mountain Club and the Shadow Mountain Stables immediately to the north. It appears that amidst the increased development in the area, the Haskin family also sought to do something with their land. In 1947, the elder Loren’s two children, Loren F. Haskin and Rita Haskin Ghiglione, built two small houses on the property and moved in, which then became known as the Haystack Mountain Ranch.4 Later advertisements for Marrakesh would emphasize that it was built on the “famous” Haystack Mountain Ranch, though this label was an inventive exaggeration. Despite the name, it was not a “ranch” in the typical sense, containing only two small houses, a horse stable and small pasture, and a water tower. Rita Haskin’s son, Loren Ghiglione, grew up on the ranch as a young boy in the late 1940s, and later went on to become a prominent journalist and professor. In an oral history, Ghiglione recalled that "there was a dirt road out to our place, and you would go down to the highway to get the school bus.”5
The story of the Haskins ended tragically, however, beginning with the death of Ruth in 1953 from a longstanding illness.6 Then, in 1954, Loren F. died from a shotgun wound that was initially believed to have been an accidental misfiring after two of his dogs “playfully jumped” while he was handling the weapon. A much grimmer and sensational story emerged, however, when his estranged wife was charged with the murder and soon institutionalized on the basis of insanity.7 After Haskin’s death, the property was put up for auction by his estate, and Cliff Henderson quickly realized the potential of such a parcel of land (and likely remembered his foiled attempt to purchase it a decade prior). Henderson 3 Letter from L. H. Haskin to George Schisler, February 20, 1945, Randall Henderson Papers, Bancroft Library, University of California, Berkeley. [Facsimiles available at Historical Society of Palm Desert] 4 Don Cameron, “What Goes on in Palm Valley," Desert Sun, September 16, 1947. 5 Rivas-Rodriguez, “Interview with Loren Ghiglione,” 2015. 6 Obituary for Rita Ghiglione, Pomona Progress Bulletin, April 28, 1953. 7 “Mrs. Haskin Held for Slaying Mate,” Pomona Progress Bulletin, July 30, 1954; “Banning Murder Suspect Committed to Hospital,” San Bernardino County Sun, September 2, 1954. 369
9 aided his friend and fellow investor Leonard Firestone (of the namesake tire company) in an attempt to purchase the parcel.

Firestone’s bid fell through, however, due to logistics of the sale and a more substantial bid by a competitor, Edgar W. Stewart, another prominent resident of Palm Desert.8 Stewart was the founder of the iconic Californian swimsuit and fashion label Catalina Sportswear, which he had sold only a few months prior for a substantial fortune. He was also noted for his Palm Desert house, an impressive modern estate designed by esteemed local architect Walter S. White in 1951 (fig. 1.3), which was in the Shadow Mountain Estates neighborhood nearby to Haystack Mountain Ranch. Stewart succeeded in purchasing the ranch in 1955, and although his intentions for it were unclear and remain undocumented, it is feasible that he had plans to build a large personal estate or to otherwise develop the property with real estate. In 1951, the Haskins themselves had made plans to develop a small subdivision of estate-sized homesites named “Haskin’s Haystack Mountain Ranch,” but the plan never came to fruition.9
Figure 1.3. The Edgar W. Stewart house designed by Walter S. White in 1951, embodying the new direction of postwar “Desert Modernism.” Photo courtesy of the Walter S. White Papers, Architecture and Design Collection, UCSB.

Stewart died in April of 1955, only a few months after purchasing the ranch, at which point his daughter Elisabeth inherited his Palm Desert properties. Elisabeth was a swimsuit designer for her family’s Catalina label before opening her own swimsuit line, Elisabeth 8 Letter from Cliff Henderson to Leonard Firestone, January 6, 1955, Clifford W. Henderson Collection, Historical Society of Palm Desert.
9 Subdivision plan for “Haskin’s Haystack Mountain Ranch,” December 1951, Clifford W. Henderson Collection, Historical Society of Palm Desert.
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10 Stewart Swimsuits, in the late 1950s.10 She was commonly known by her shorter nickname Bette Beck, and frequently appeared in local society columns and at Shadow Mountain Club functions. She sold her father’s White-designed estate but retained ownership of the Haystack Mountain Ranch and appears to have used it for weekend retreats. It was later said that she intended to develop the property (which had apparently been dubbed "Mother's Rock Ranch” by her children) into a dude ranch or club, but any plan of the sort would not materialize for over a decade and until the involvement of Dawson.11 It was during Bette Beck’s first acquaintance with Palm Desert in the 1950s that the Coachella Valley became a true capital of leisure and recreation, as development across the region opened the Palm Springs dream available to a larger swath of the California middle class. Thousands of homes, ranging from affordable weekend retreats to sizable homes like the E.W. Stewart residence (fig. 1.3), were developed not only in Palm Springs, but further east in communities like Palm Desert, Rancho Mirage, and Indian Wells. The region also signaled its singular identity through modern architecture, which had come to define the regional style through the works of local architects like Albert Frey, John Porter Clark, William Cody, E. Stewart Williams, Donald Wexler, and Richard Harrison, whose work is now commonly labeled under the umbrella of “Desert Modernism.” Figure 1.4. The Shadow Mountain Club in Palm Desert designed by Gordon Kaufmann, Henry Eggers, and A. Quincy Jones from 1946-1948. Photo courtesy of Shadow Mountain Collection, Historical Society of Palm Desert.
10“Elisabeth Stewart,” Vintage Fashion Guild, accessed 2 February 2025, https://vintagefashionguild.org/resources/item/label/stewart-elisabeth/. 11 “Introducing Marrakesh Country Club,” Palm Springs Life, September 1968, 81-88. 371
11 Central to this renaissance was the development of the country club model, which had existed at least in part since the establishment of Palm Springs’s O’Donnell Golf Club in 1926. In the 1930s and 1940s, numerous private social and recreational clubs were established, including the Palm Springs Tennis Club, Palm Springs Racquet Club, and even Palm Desert’s own Shadow Mountain Club. The figures behind these clubs almost always commissioned distinguished architects for their clubhouses, which were intended to provide a distinct architectural identity to their respective club. Most often than not, they were designed in a modern style, best exemplified by the Palm Springs Tennis Club (Paul Williams and A. Quincy Jones, 1947) and the Shadow Mountain Club (Gordon Kaufmann, Henry Eggers, and A. Quincy Jones, 1946-8) (fig. 1.4). Clubs of the 1930s and 1940s were built as freestanding operations and lacked any residential component apart from the occasional lodging operation. Moreover, tennis, not golf, was typically the predominant amenity.

Figure 1.5. Velma and Johnny Dawson on Thunderbird golf course, posing with namesake Ford.

Figure 1.6. Entry sign to Dawson’s Thunderbird Country Club. Photos reproduced from the Desert Sun.

This all radically changed in the 1950s, mostly as the result of the efforts of a single developer, Johnny Dawson (fig. 1.5). Dawson was a prominent amateur golfer who saw opportunity in the economic landscape of postwar Coachella Valley, and understood both the appeal and marketability of architecture, golf, and leisure.12 His wife, Velma Dawson (fig. 1.5), was a famed ceramicist and puppeteer — most noted for creating the Howdy Doody marionette in the late 1940s — who also understood the importance of image making. In 1949, Dawson purchased the former Thunderbird Dude Ranch in Rancho Mirage, which had been a relatively unsuccessful dude ranch founded by Frank Bogert.

While Bogert had built the development to evoke a rural, cowboy aesthetic, Dawson sought to cultivate an entirely new image.13 He hired the Modernist architect William Cody to overhaul the Ranch style clubhouse (originally designed by Gordon Kaufmann), built an eighteen-hole golf course (the first in the Coachella Valley), and wrapped the entire development in a series of winding streets lined with estate-sized lots. In January of 1951, 12 Gwilyn S. Brown, “Hogan Said ‘No,’ But Dawson Said ‘Yes’,” Sports Illustrated, January 13, 1964. 13 Melissa Riche, “Thoroughly Modern Cody,” Palm Springs Life, February 10, 2020, https://www.palmspringslife.com/thunderbird-country-club-rancho-mirage/. 372
12 the development was opened and rechristened as the Thunderbird Country Club, and almost instantly achieved its stated goals of leisure, affluence, and celebrity (fig. 1.5, 1.6).

Through the 1950s and beyond, Thunderbird was frequented by a revolving cast of businessmen, celebrities, and prominent politicians, many of whom built impressive seasonal homes on its ground. Architects like Cody, E. Stewart Williams, Donald Wexler, Howard Lapham, and even Richard Neutra designed Modernist estates facing the golf course, and the subdivision component was gradually expanded. In its novel combination of a full-sized eighteen-hole golf course, residences, and a full-amenity clubhouse, Dawson’s Thunderbird began a new epoch of development across the Coachella Valley, particularly in the inner-valley cities like Rancho Mirage, Palm Desert, and Indian Wells where large parcels of land were widely available. Only a few years later, Dawson began work on Eldorado Country Club in Indian Wells, which opened in 1957, and then on La Quinta Country Club, which opened in 1959. Many other developers also seized on the highly successful model, and other projects such as Tamarisk Country Club (1952) and Shadow Mountain Golf Club (1958) also opened during the period.

While country clubs achieved full prominence by the end of the 1950s, the 1960s and 1970s saw to an adjustment of their original model. In the late 1950s, the condominium had emerged as a new and highly popular housing typology, first introduced in such developments as Sandpiper (William Krisel, 1958). The condominium was lucrative and marketable in many aspects and was particularly attuned to the market conditions of the Coachella Valley. First, developers could achieve an economy of scale by building many units at once (which were also easily expanded in successive phases), and they could hire talented and famous architects to design them, thereby delivering high-quality architecture to a broader portion of the market. On the other hand, the condominium also appealed to buyers seeking seasonal vacation homes for easy maintenance, affordability, and ample provision of amenities. These traits were the perfect storm, and the condominium became a dominant housing type by the 1960s, both in country clubs and as standalone developments. In Palm Desert, this was modeled by the Shadow Mountain Fairway Cottages designed by architect Richard A. Harrison in 1961, which faced onto the Shadow Mountain Golf Club. Dawson himself was quick to realize the marketability of the condominium. In 1964, he began work on the Seven Lakes Country Club in Palm Springs (fig. 1.7), which consisted entirely of modern condominiums designed by Harrison (with a design highly reminiscent of the Sandpiper) arranged around a full-size golf course and clubhouse designed by William Cody.

In architecture, another shift occurred both generally and within country club development in the late 1960s. Whereas the country clubs of the 1950s and 1960s were designed in sleek, Modernist styles, more academic approaches to the Mid-Century Modern style fell out of favor for an increasing blend of exotic, historicist, and themed styles. New country clubs in the late 1960s commonly featured both an emphasis on condominiums and themed environments, or at the very least a departure from the canonical Mid-Century Modern style and the custom-built estate model. One of the first of these was the Del Safari Country Club (1969), which was developed around an ambiguously African motif. At the 373
13 same time, plans fell through for La Lago Country Club (1969), intended to have an “early Californian” atmosphere.14 Other country clubs, such as Ironwood Country Club (1974) and Mission Hills (1969), were designed in a vague Southwestern style and built almost exclusively with condominiums. Such was the context in which Marrakesh Country Club was born.

Figure 1.7. Original rendering of Dawson’s Seven Lakes Country Club laced with Harrison-designed condominiums and a central Cody-designed clubhouse. Courtesy of the William F. Cody Papers 2, Cal Poly SLO Special Collections.

In 1967, fresh off the success of Seven Lakes Country Club, Dawson entered into an agreement with Elisabeth Stewart, the then-owner of the Haystack Mountain Ranch, to lease the entire 155-acre parcel for a country club development. Few large parcels, such as the one Dawson had leased, remained in central Palm Desert during the period. Most had already been turned into condominium developments or country clubs or were being planned for such developments. Just north of the Haystack Mountain Ranch was the Shadow Mountain Golf Club and Shadow Mountain Country Club (renamed in the mid1960s), and throughout the city were new, amenity-laden condominium developments. (Marrakesh Country Club and Del Safari Country Club were, however, the first proper country clubs to be built in the city featuring an integrated golf course and residential component completed by a single developer.)
Dawson announced his project in December of 1967 as the tentatively named “Mountain Lakes Country Club,” which was to contain an eighteen-hole golf course, lakes, a clubhouse, and upwards of 500 condominium units (and, notably, no single-family 14 John Beath, “$200 million Tempo in Upper Valley Growth,” Desert Sun, December 29, 1969. 374
14 homes).15 He had also assembled a team comprised of his frequent collaborators on prior country club projects. As labeled by one newspaper article, Dawson’s “brain trust” included Theodore Robinson (golf course architect), John Botsford (civil engineer), Phil Shipley (landscape architect), and finally, John Elgin Woolf and Robert Koch (architects). Dawson had become acquainted with Woolf, a famed architect specializing in the Hollywood Regency style, after commissioning him to design an earlier rendition of the Eldorado Country Club clubhouse which was ultimately replaced with William Cody’s design.16 Woolf had been hired by Dawson in the summer of 1967 and had developed his scheme — the largest of his career — by the end of the year.17 Although Woolf is awarded primary design credit, he worked with both Koch and another member of the office, Karl Hammerschmidt.

Figure 1.8. The main rendering for Marrakesh Country Club by John Elgin Woolf and Robert Koch.

Courtesy of the John Elgin Woolf Papers, Architecture and Design Collection, UCSB.

By the spring of 1968, the demolition of Haystack Mountain Ranch was underway while Dawson debated the name of the club. Woolf’s main rendering for the development was completed by June of 1968 (fig. 1.8), at which point Dawson had still not settled on a 15 “Dawson Tells of Condominium Plan,” Palm Desert Post, December 28, 1967. The initial name was referenced as either “Mountain Lakes Country Club” or “Mountain Lake Country Club” in various articles. 16 Steven Price, Pink Jewel of the Desert: The Architecture of Marrakesh Country Club (Palm Desert:

Marrakesh Country Club, 2018), 23-44; 66.
17 Letter from Johnny Dawson to John Elgin Woolf, July 5, 1967, quoted in Price, Pink Jewel of the Desert,

21. 375
15 name and was even toying with the name “Haystack.” 18 Finally, Dawson formally announced the project as “Marrakech Country Club” in July of 1968, which was further refined to Marrakesh Country Club as the plans progressed. Woolf’s concept for the club’s design appeared to have developed independent of an association with Marrakesh, the Moroccan city famed and Romanticized for its pink walls, and the name was applied later.

Indeed, Woolf’s primary rendering for the club (presented before the official name change) shows evidence of a prior name being erased and replaced with “Marrakech Country Club” after Dawson's decision. It was Cliff Henderson, the developer behind Palm Desert who had served in North Africa during World War Two, who had suggested the name “Marrakesh” to Dawson after seeing Woolf’s rendering with its pink color scheme.19 In a letter to Dawson from June of 1968, a few weeks prior to name’s formal announcement, Henderson noted that he was “very happy to learn you are toying with the Moroccan-Arab theme for the name of your ‘posh’ new development.”20
Figure 1.9. One of the Woolf-designed condominiums models for Marrakesh, featuring his signature pink color scheme. Photo courtesy of the John Elgin Woolf Papers, Architecture and Design Collection, UCSB.

For the project which would become Marrakesh, Woolf had designed a set of four standard condominium models in his signature Hollywood Regency style, each varying in plan and details, but all sharing basic features such as Pullman doors, Mansard or shed roofs, floorto-ceiling windows, and courtyards. The condominiums (arranged in duplexes) were to wind around the golf course designed by Ted Robinson and were to all have access to identical pool and pool pavilions depending on their section. Woolf's design for the main 18 “Equipment Coming for Dawson Project,” Palm Desert Post, June 27, 1968. 19 Palm Springs Life, September 1968, 81-88.
20 Letter from Cliff Henderson to Johnny Dawson, June 13, 1968, Clifford W. Henderson Collection, Historical Society of Palm Desert.
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16 entry featured a gate house with a whimsical metal roof, from which undulating walls extended down the length of Portola Avenue. Aligned with the axis of the main entry was the clubhouse, a curved design that sat atop an artificial hill lined with a cascade of fountains, and directly adjacent to the entry was to be an administration and sales office.

Later advertisements and editorials on the development would emphasize that Woolf’s design for Marrakesh featured a “Morocco-inspired” design. As one such article read, “A Moorish influence as an overlay to modern American architecture is basic to designs for the Morocco-inspired development.”21 Like the “famous” Haystack Mountain Ranch, this distinction appears to have been grounded more in a sales strategy than reality. Again, Woolf’s design for Dawson was developed independently of the name “Marrakesh” or an exotic Moroccan theme, and the label was applied later by Dawson. It is possible that Woolf was inspired by the desert setting during his design process, but by and large the design of the club followed a Hollywood Regency vocabulary.

Moroccan-inspired forms and motifs are all but absent from Woolf’s design. Features like the condominiums’ ubiquitous courtyards, occasionally cited as proof of a Moroccan influence, have almost nothing to share with the formal qualities of riads, the interior fountain courtyards of Morocco typically arranged on a highly symmetrical plan. Other cited details, from the ornamentation on the gatehouse to the clubhouse’s cascading waterfall, are far more evocative of a blend of historicist European influences than of anything hailing from Northern Africa.

The only commonality between Woolf’s design and Marrakesh remained the pink color scheme, which appeared long before the name “Marrakesh” and appears largely coincidental. Indeed, if the development were designed with a color palette of robin’s egg blue or olive green (both feasibly Hollywood Regency colors), it is very unlikely that Dawson would have settled on the name “Marrakesh.” Woolf's design was conceived first and foremost in the Hollywood Regency style for which he was known. Dawson sought to add Moroccan influences after the fact, during Marrakesh’s construction, including naming the community’s streets such names as “Maroc,” “Tangier,” and “Kasbah,” the interior design of the clubhouse (by Velma Dawson), and the planting of olive trees.

The significance of Woolf’s design was two-fold. On one hand, it was a complete and cohesive Hollywood Regency environment designed by Woolf. In addition to designing all the main structures (e.g., condominiums, pool pavilions, clubhouse, gatehouse, administration building), Woolf also designed details such as lampposts, walls, and gates, in the spirit of Hollywood Regency. Everything designed within Marrakesh’s walls — even the walls themselves — was designed by Woolf and contributed to a “total environment." On the other hand, Woolf’s design embodied the larger shift occurring in country club development and architecture at large in the late 1960s and 1970s. While country clubs still followed the Thunderbird precedent set by Dawson and contained the same amenities, they began to depart from the Mid-Century Modern style. All of Dawson’s prior 21 “Introducing Marrakesh,” Palm Springs Life, September 1968, 81-88. 377
17 developments had followed a sleeker, typical Mid-Century Modern style, but Woolf’s design for Marrakesh broke the mold with its eclectic blend of historicist influence and exotic theming.

Figure 1.10. Johnny Dawson (pointing) with the scale model of Marrakesh, put on display in the sales office and administration building before the completion of any condominiums. Photo courtesy the Historical Society of Palm Desert.

Dawson, who understood the role of architecture in cultivating a distinct brand, proceeded with building Marrakesh as Woolf had designed it. Construction began in earnest on September 5th, 1968, when ground was broken on the golf course, auxiliary structures, and clubhouse grading.
22 By the beginning of 1969, significant progress had been made with the completion of the administration building and golf course, both of which were opened to prospective buyers (of the condominiums which had yet to be built) visiting during the 1969 Bob Hope Desert Classic golf tournament.23 Apart from local newspapers which closely followed progress on the development, Dawson began his own publicity campaign, starting with an eight-page spread of Woolf renderings in the September 1968 edition of Palm Springs Life which emphasized the club's manifold amenities “in a setting reflecting a sun-drenched city of exotic influence.”24 A large-scale model of the entire 22 “Marrakesh Work Under Way,” Desert Sun, September 6, 1968; “Marrakesh Project to Seek Bids,” Palm Desert Post, October 17, 1968.
23 The Mystique of Marrakesh, n.d., 3.
24 Advertisement for Marrakesh, Palm Springs Life, September 1968, 81-88. 378
18 development was put on display in the sales office (fig. 1.10), which formally opened to prospective buyers in February of 1969.25 Ground was broken on the first set of forty condominiums in June of 1969, at which point over half of them had already been sold.26 The golf course opened and the first set of condominiums were completed in November of 1969.

While Dawson had been utterly faithful to the plans developed by Woolf from the beginning of development, a key change to the scheme arrived in 1970 when Woolf was replaced by Palm Springs architect Richard Harrison for the design of the clubhouse. In 1970, Woolf had been diagnosed with Parkinson’s disease, which limited his ability to work, and he was ultimately unable to complete drawings for the clubhouse on Dawson’s advanced timeline. 27 Harrison, who had designed the condominiums at Dawson’s Seven Lakes Country Club and previously renovated Dawson’s personal residence, brought a starker, quintessentially modern vocabulary to the clubhouse design. Woolf’s original concept for the clubhouse was a Hollywood Regency structure with curved facades set atop an artificial hill with a dramatic porte-cochere entrance and fountain that cascaded down the sloped drive (fig. 1.11).

Figure 1.11. John Elgin Woolf’s initial design for the Marrakesh clubhouse, replaced with Harrison’s design in 1970. Photo courtesy the Historical Society of Palm Desert. 25 “Progress Report on Marrakesh Project,” Palm Desert Post, February 27, 1969. 26 The exact groundbreaking date was June 14, 1969. “Marrakesh Breaks Ground for 40 Condominium Units,” Palm Desert Post, June 19, 1969.
27 Price, Pink Jewel of the Desert, 62-63.
379
19 Although Harrison inherited the same site conditions (the artificial hill had been built prior to his arrival), his design largely strayed from Woolf’s and embraced the Mid-Century Modern style he was best known for. Harrison’s clubhouse (fig. 1.12) also featured a grand entryway atop the hill, but the drama of the primary facade was because of its stark, minimalist appeal. The front of the building was a solid plane interrupted only by the portecochere, which itself was a modern, squared-off volume. The rear of the two-story clubhouse was sheathed almost entirely in glass and had a dramatic view onto the Ted Robinson-designed golf course. Harrison preserved a strong sense of symmetry inherent to the site but replaced the fluidity of Woolf’s design with a minimal and rational Modernist aesthetic that was dramatic in its own right. In January of 1971, ground was broken on the clubhouse, which was substantially complete by November of that year. Velma Dawson oversaw the interior decoration of the clubhouse, visiting Morocco with Elisabeth Stewart to purchase a number of objects and find inspiration.28 The clubhouse was substantially complete by November of 1971, and the inaugural event was the 1971 New Year’s Eve party.

Figure 1.12. The modern Harrison-designed clubhouse featured on an early brochure for Marrakesh.

Courtesy the Historical Society of Palm Desert.
28 The Mystique of Marrakesh, n.d., 5.
380
20 The golf course and first phase of condominiums (those sections closest to Portola) were completed in November of 1969, and construction on the remaining phases of condominiums lasted for nearly a decade. Phases typically consisted of somewhere between twenty to forty units at time, ultimately culminating in a total of 364 units, which represented a reduction from the initial plan for 500 units. The fourteen pool pavilions, provided for each section of condominiums, were built as part of these phases. Woolf’s plans were used throughout all phases of development, even if he was no longer actively involved in the project after being turned away for the clubhouse project. Ted Robinson’s golf course had been built to completion at once, and for the first few years most of it faced empty home sites as construction progressed. Woolf had laid out the initial phase of condominiums, and the general areas were roughed in according to Robinson's plan, but local architect Robert Ricciardi aided in the precise site planning with the remaining sections.29 Condominium sales were highly successful. In many instances, units sold before construction was completed, and Dawson’s model proved to be a lucrative bet.

Figure 1.12. Aerial view of Marrakesh under construction showing complete Ted Robinson golf course and progressing condominium units. Photo courtesy the Historical Society of Palm Desert.

By 1979, Marrakesh was complete and substantially alike to what exists today. It had been built in the mold of its country club predecessors, but even if embodied general shifts 29 Robert Ricciardi site plans, 1970s, Marrakesh Country Club Archives. 381
21 occurring in architecture, it featured an environment that was unparalleled in its exuberant style. Its condominiums had fully replaced custom-built estate homes, offering a more affordable buy-in to a slightly larger section of affluent retirees and seasonal residents.

From the 1970s onwards, Marrakesh would be host to its own significant selection of golf tournaments, social events, and distinguished visitors. John Elgin Woolf, Johnny Dawson, and Velma Dawson (the Dawsons divorced in 1970) owned and occupied units in Marrakesh throughout their lives. Dawson would go on to develop additional country clubs, including Desert Horizons and La Quinta Country Club, and died in 1986.

Throughout its life, Marrakesh remained largely committed to the original vision of Dawson and Woolf. Except for the clubhouse, Woolf’s plan was carried through to completion, becoming the largest development of his career, and perhaps the most significant.

Architectural changes to condominiums were reviewed by a committee established with the HOA, and alterations to units, although somewhat frequent, consistently preserved all key elements of Woolf’s design. Although the clubhouse underwent various renovations as the membership of the club grew, Harrison’s design remained largely intact. In the 2010s, the membership succeeded in purchasing the land from the trust of Elisabeth Stewart, thereby cementing a vision that had begun nearly fifty years prior. 382
22 BIOGRAPHIES
John Elgin Woolf (1908 – 1980)
Figure 2.1. Candid portrait of John Elgin Woolf, circa 1960s. Courtesy of the John Elgin Woolf Papers, Architecture and Design Collection, UCSB.

John “Jack” Elgin Woolf (fig. 2.1, 2.7) was born in 1908 in Georgia and came to attend the Georgia Institute of Technology, where he graduated in 1929 with a bachelor’s degree in architecture amidst the Great Depression. The earliest years of his life, his influences, circumstances, and the larger question of why he chose to study architecture are not immediately clear. Although he would become known as a key figure in the development of the style known as “Hollywood Regency,” it appears that Woolf was not necessarily attached to the profession of architecture following his graduation. He had worked for a period as a draftsman in the for the National Park Service but was soon onto other things.

In 1937, Woolf moved to Los Angeles from Atlanta in pursuit of a career in film, auditioning for a role in the seminal film Gone with the Wind on the basis on his Southern upbringing 383
23 and accent.30 Although he was unsuccessful in his film aspirations, Woolf befriended the director George Cukor and was quickly initiated into a dynamic world of movie executives, stars, and the Hollywood elite at large. It would be reasonable to speculate that one similarity between Woolf and Cukor sparked such an immediate and convenient friendship: both were gay. Indeed, Woolf’s gayness — of course not labeled as such during the period nor outwardly known — was not only central to his personal if secretive identity, but also informed the networks, taste, and lifestyle that he developed for himself.

Figure 2.2. Woolf’s seminal Pendleton estate (1942) in Beverly Hills with a landscape design by Tommy Tomson, later photographed by Slim Aarons. Photo courtesy the John Elgin Woolf Papers, Architecture and Design Collection, UCSB.

In those few years following his introduction to Cukor, Woolf designed a selection of small projects in historicist modes, incorporating elements from French, English, and Greek architecture. His first major work, and perhaps the most formative of his career, arrived in 1941, when he was commissioned by the New York-based couple James and Mary Frances Pendleton to design an estate in the Beverly Hills.31 The plans for the house, drawn up in 30 Matt Tyrnauer, “Glamour Begins at Home,” Vanity Fair, June 12, 2010, https://www.vanityfair.com/culture/2009/03/johnwoolf200903?srsltid=AfmBOoqUzs4_ntbc7CILu7nq6wySUUn8ww9h8x7DXipel2wlq3eBa7Pa. 31 Tyrnauer, “Glamour Begins at Home,” 2010. 384
24 only a week, featured Woolf’s eclectic yet cohesive blend of historicist elements, and was a prominent contrast to the Spanish Revival estates typical of the region and period.

Completed in 1942, the house (fig. 2.2) featured a lush landscape and oval pool designed by Tommy Tomson (who, four years later, would design the community of Palm Desert for his brother-in-law Cliff Henderson) and quickly became known and published.

The Pendleton residence set Woolf on a completely new and advanced trajectory, but it also aligned with a subset of design trends emerging during the period. Southern California had always embraced historicist styles, namely those associated with the Southwest, including Spanish, Mission, Pueblo Revival styles. At the same time, the region was also noted for its embrace of forward-thinking Modernism, pioneered by the likes of Richard Neutra, A. Quincy Jones, and Gregory Ain. While these two pathways remained the most viable for Southern California architects, a group of architects and designers also began practicing a style now known as “Hollywood Regency,” blending elements of European revival styles (namely the English Regency and French Normandy styles), occasionally with a Deco influence. These figures included such designers as Elsie de Wolfe, Dorothy Draper, and William Haines, and architects such as Wallace Neff, Paul R.

Williams, and Woolf.32 Like most styles, the labels for which are applied in hindsight, Hollywood Regency was not a unified “movement” in the common sense. Works were not labeled as such during their period of construction (they were usually vaguely noted as “French”) nor was there a leading figure, let alone a set of guiding principles.

Figure 2.3. Woolf’s Menefee house in Beverly Hills featuring tall volumes and historicist detailing. Photo courtesy the John Elgin Woolf Papers, Architecture and Design Collection, UCSB. 32 Virginia Savage McAlester, A Field Guide to American Houses (New York: Knopf, 2013), 687-689. 385
25 What Hollywood Regency represented, however, was a blending of the theatricality inherent to Hollywood with architecture. Literal, academic interpretations of historicist styles were eschewed for designs that borrowed indiscriminately and yet came together as a cohesive, glamorous whole. Typically, Hollywood Regency designs maintained a strong sense of symmetry, were adorned with a blend of historicist ornamentation, had bright color schemes, lush interiors, and grand landscapes to accompany them. The style was almost ubiquitously applied to custom-design estates for a Hollywood class of celebrities and businessmen and was most commonly found in affluent neighborhoods like Beverly Hills, Bel Air, and Montecito.

Figure 2.4. Wool’s Reynolds residence (1953-57) in Beverly Hills featuring his signature Pullman door and Mansard roof. Photo reproduced from johnelginwoolf.com.

Woolf forged his own distinctive style within the Hollywood Regency label, the attributes of which were set by the precedent of the Pendleton estate (1941-42). The home, approached from a grand front driveway, was arranged on a highly symmetrical floor plan, had a Mansard roof, historicist detailing (including signature oval-shaped windows), and a vista onto a lush pool area and pavilion. Another one of Woolf’s signatures was what he called a “Pullman door” (fig. 2.4), a door based on those of the namesake train which extended the full height of the train car with a slight arch at the top. Woolf’s front entryways frequently featured Pullman doors (oftentimes ten or twelve feet tall, or even higher) which extended the full height of the facade and punctured the volume of the Mansard roof. These elements — Mansard roofs, Pullman doors, symmetry, historicist borrowing, oval windows, and a general aura of “glamour” — became key to Woolf’s distinct strain of the Hollywood Regency style.
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26 Even if he wasn’t always thriving in a business sense, Woolf cemented his practice in the 1940s, designing homes and renovations for such clientele as Errol Flynn (1947), Hedda Hopper (1945), and Loretta Young (1944). Woolf also designed and built his own office, a Hollywood Regency building adjacent to bustling Melrose Avenue.33 Two events had sent his career on a new trajectory in the 1940s. The first was the Pendleton house (1941-42), which further exposed his talent to a Hollywood clientele, and the second was his acquaintance with Robert “Bob” Koch (1923-2004), a recent transplant to the West Coast who was fifteen years his junior but possessed a lucrative business acumen. The two met in 1948 and quickly formed a relationship that blurred the boundaries between business and romance. Koch learned how to design from Woolf and contributed to the output of the office, but more than anything, provided the firm with a much-needed business structure. As one of their acquaintances noted, “[Koch] got [Woolf] out of his ramshackle Ford and into a Jaguar sedan.”34
Figure 2.5. Woolf’s office on Melrose Place in Los Angeles. Photo courtesy the John Elgin Woolf Papers, Architecture and Design Collection, UCSB.

As before, the firm specialized in the design of custom-built Hollywood Regency estate homes, and commercial and civic projects were rarer. The most notable of these was Woolf’s office (1945-49) (fig. 2.5), featuring his quintessential Pullman door and an upstairs apartment that he occupied with Koch. Woolf’s most frequent commercial projects 33 Price, Pink Jewel of the Desert, 70.
34 Kurt White (apprentice) quoted in Tyrnauer, “Glamour Begins at Home,” 2010. 387
27 were office renovations for affluent clients for whom he had previously designed a residence. The Woolf firm would go on to design residential projects for notable figures such as Cary Grant (1948), Barbara Stanwyck (1951), Joan Crawford (1953), and Bob and Dolores Hope (1960).35 While these projects represented the celebrity clientele of the firm’s portfolio, most of their commissions were from those who were wealthy but not famous. Dozens of projects for this type of client — studio executives, businessmen, and the like — were commissioned and/or built during this period. One such project, the J.B.

Anderson house (1949), was even located in Palm Desert and commissioned early in the community's growth, although it was never realized.

As before, these homes were large and designed in Woolf’s distinct Hollywood Regency style, frequently at odds with the growing influence of Modernism in the Southern California of the 1950s and 60s. When Woolf began his career in the late 1930s, Modernism was still at the fringe of California’s architectural practice, but the style became nearly ubiquitous in the years following World War Two. Regardless, Woolf’s practice also matured during this era, and his style flew in the face of the growing relevance of varying strains of Modernism, all of which sought to eschew architectural excess in the name of “honest” form. In 1962, Woolf and Koch purchased the Case Study House No. 17 designed by Craig Ellwood as part of the iconic Case Study House Program and layered the austerity of Ellwood’s glass and brick box with historicist exuberance. As Koch noted, “we re-did it as a Roman pavilion and made it beautiful,” referring to the pool area which they encircled in Doric columns (fig. 2.6).
36 Figure 2.6. Among the more notorious projects of Woolf’s career was his 1960s renovation of Craig Ellwood’s Case Study House #17. Before & after photos reproduced from johnelginwoolf.com. 35 “John Elgin Woolf,” John Elgin Woolf: Master of Hollywood Regency, accessed 10 February 2025, https://johnelginwoolf.com/. 36 Tyrnauer, “Glamour Begins at Home,” 2010; See John Chase, Exterior Decoration: Hollywood’s InsideOut Houses (Los Angeles: Hennessey & Ingalls, 1982). 388
28 While members of the intelligentsia, artists, and eccentric families found much to like about their Modernist homes, Woolf’s Hollywood Regency architecture came to represent the good life of glamour, affluence, and excess synonymous with Hollywood. As one 1953 newspaper article noted of a project designed by Woolf’s firm, Well-heeled clients, friends, Texas oilmen and the usual complement of shapely film beauties have been invited to look over the elegant dream house, which Woolf describes as a steal at a cool $175,000.

While they sip their martinis they’ll take [a tour] through the recessed living room with its imported black teakwood flooring and its walls of bleached Honduras mahogany. They’ll gather around the black Italian marble fireplace which is flanked by tall columns of fossilized pink Texas limestone.

Upstairs they’ll find the latest in built-in wardrobes, with space for at least 50 pairs of milady’s shows and a minimum of five fur coats. They’ll note the floor to ceiling windows, the private sundecks off each of the bedrooms and then they’ll gasp at the piece de resistance — Woolf’s fancy bathrooms.37
In 1967, just a few years after Woolf and Koch’s “regal re-do” of Case Study #17, the biggest project of the firm’s career arrived on the drafting board: Marrakesh Country Club.

Although the bulk of the firm’s work was located in the Los Angeles area, Woolf had worked on a selection of projects in the Coachella Valley as the region became an affluent leisure exurb of Los Angeles in the 1950s and 60s. Country clubs, introduced by way of Johnny Dawson, became a seasonal extension of year-round communities like Beverly Hills and Bel Air, and were populated by the demographic of Woolf’s portfolio. Indeed, Woolf’s first major commission in the desert was the clubhouse for Dawson’s Eldorado Country Club, although the project fell through when investors sought out a more typical Modernist design.38
Marrakesh, although firmly situated within the Hollywood Regency canon, was also unique for Woolf’s firm in a few ways. While its embodied design embodied all the key components of his Hollywood Regency style (Pullman doors, Mansard roofs, etc.), its pink environment and setting within an expansive desert landscape added a sense of exoticism, later picked up by Dawson when he settled on the name “Marrakesh.” It was also not Woolf’s typical custom-built project with an expansive budget. While Dawson’s condominiums were still intended for an upper-class clientele, they had to meet a tighter set of budgetary and logistical demands by virtue of the development’s size and marketability. The condominiums still contained his signature features, but they were certainly not clad in lush varieties of imported wood and marble. Finally, while the firm’s custom work was usually situated in organically developed neighborhoods, Marrakesh was an entire environment of their creation, from the lampposts to the clubhouse. For Woolf, Marrakesh (see previous 37 “The Boom Is on in Dream Homes,” Los Angeles Mirror, July 23, 1953. 38 Price, Pink Jewel of the Desert, 66.
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29 chapter for a detailed history) was both a win and partial loss. On one hand, he had succeeded in designing an entire community — a total John Elgin Woolf environment — but the loss of the clubhouse commission dampened his relationship with the project, an omission compounded by his Parkinson’s diagnosis.

Regardless, Woolf and his firm continued their work through the 1960s and well into the 1970s, designing a procession of Hollywood Regency estates for their typical selection of celebrities and businessmen. As a relatively “out” gay man in the mid-century, Woolf seems to have largely succeeded in living his life on his own terms, and the end of his life and career was no exception. In 1971, Woolf legally adopted Koch (who became Robert Koch Woolf) as well as another man named Gene Oney, who had moved in with the couple.

The trio formed a pseudo-family (Woolf was known as “Papa”), which was then joined by another man named William Capp. Woolf died in 1980 from an accidental Valium overdose related to his Parkinson’s treatment, and Koch continued to run the firm for a few years afterwards.39 The legacy and story of Woolf was never as simple as his basic contributions to Southern California’s architectural history: the Pullman doors, pool pavilions, and pink walls. Instead, it appears more as a story about a man who encountered a world with a standard set of conventions — Modernism, country clubs, and family — and forged his own set of conventions within it.

Figure 2.7. Portrait of John Elgin Woolf, circa 1960s. Photo courtesy the John Elgin Woolf Papers, Architecture and Design Collection, USCB.
39 Tyrnauer, “Glamour Begins at Home,” 2010.
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30 Richard A. Harrison (1924 – 1995)

Figure 3.1. Richard Harrison (right) with his colleague Donald Wexler, circa 1950s. Photo reproduced from USModernist.org.

Unlike Woolf, who trekked to the West Coast to unsuccessfully realize a dream that was supplanted by a successful career in architecture, Richard Arnett Harrison’s pathway to architecture was much more straightforward.40 Harrison was born in Los Angeles in 1924 to Archibald and Marcia Harrison, where he remained for his childhood and graduated from high school in 1942. Shortly thereafter, Harrison attended the University of Southern California and received a bachelor’s degree in Architecture in 1951. 41 At the time, USC’s Architecture program was among the most revered – if not the best – on the West Coast and was responsible for educating hundreds of accomplished Modernist architects including Paul R. Williams (class of 1919), Raphael Soriano (class of 1934), Edward Killingsworth (class of 1940), William Cody (class of 1942), William Krisel (class of 1948), Pierre Koenig (class of 1952), and even Frank Gehry (class of 1954). USC Architecture, which was the first professional program in the region, became integral to Southern California’s burgeoning Modernism in the post-war period. 40 Portions of this biography first appeared in a historic district nomination written by this author and Architectural Resources Group for the Shadow Mountain Fairway Cottages, another Harrison design. The author would like to express his gratitude to ARG for allowing him to reproduce sections of it here. 41 Richard Arnett Harrison, “American Institute of Architects: Application for Membership,” May 13, 1957, https://aiahistoricaldirectory.atlassian.net/wiki/spaces/AHDAA/pages/35699606/ahd1018554. 391
31 Soon after his graduation, Harrison moved to Palm Springs to work for fellow USC graduate William F. Cody (1916-1978), who was quickly becoming a foremost architect in Palm Springs, where he had been working since the 1940s. Cody’s work, which combined academic Modernism with a desert palette and program, has been recognized as integral to the style now considered “Desert Modernism.” Harrison, who was the head draftsman in Cody office’s, was joined in 1952 by Donald Wexler (1926-2015), a young Minnesota-born architect who had previously worked in the Los Angeles offices of Richard Neutra. Shortly after meeting each other in the employ of Cody (who garnered a reputation for his eccentric schedule), the two left in February of 1953 to form their own firm, Wexler and Harrison.42
Figure 3.2. The Pawling residence (1954) designed by Wexler and Harrison, one of the firm’s earliest projects. Photo by Dan Chavkin, reproduced from USModernist.org.

In the beginning of the firm’s tenure, Wexler and Harrison designed a number of tract developments and private homes. One of the very first designs to emerge from the new firm was Wexler’s own post-and-beam home, completed in 1954, and now hailed as a key structure in the articulation of Desert Modernism. Through the mid-1950s, Wexler and Harrison mostly designed custom-built residences for a selection of Palm Springs’s seasonal residents, including the Pawling residence (1954) (fig. 3.2), Boggess residence (1955), and Charney residence (1957, Rancho Mirage). 43 These homes were always modern in style, often of post-and-beam construction, and epitomized the leisurely and poolside lifestyle which had become synonymous with Palm Springs. Like Cody, they frequently combined a sleek Modernist aesthetic with the setting of the desert.

While Wexler and Harrison had designed some smaller-scale commercial projects, such as an office for Press Construction in 1954, the firm’s largest and most iconic commercial 42 Historic Resources Group, Citywide Historic Context Statement and Survey Findings (City of Palm Springs:

Department of Planning Services, 2016), APP-A-23.
43 Lauren Weiss Bricker, Sidney Williams, Erin Williams Hyman, Donald Wexler, eds. Steel and Shade: The Architecture of Donald Wexler (Berlin: Kehrer, 2011), 68-69. 392
32 project was the 1957 Palm Springs Spa. In the wake of a Supreme Court decision allowing long-term leases on Native American land, a group of Chicago developers commissioned Wexler and Harrison to design a commercial facility atop a natural spa. (This project was also a key part of the City of Palm Springs’s controversial and dispossessive decision to develop Section 14, which was owned by the Agua Caliente tribe.44) The resulting design (fig. 3.3) opened in 1960 to much success and fanfare. It was a large Modernist structure with a striking arcade and accompanied by the Spa Hotel designed by William Cody (their former boss).45 It was at the beginning of the Spa Hotel project that Harrison became a member the American Institute of Architects, being admitted to its Southern California Chapter in the fall of 1957.46
Figure 3.3. The Palm Springs Spa, one of the seminal works of Desert Modernism to emerge from the Wexler and Harrison firm. Photograph by Julius Shulman, courtesy of Getty Research Institute.

In the late 1950s, Wexler and Harrison began receiving more commissions for tract home and condominium developments. Their first tract home development had been a handful of homes in the Sunmor Estates tract (1955) for developer Robert Higgins.47 Among their residential works of the 1950s was the Royal Air Country Club apartments (1957), a series of two-story buildings with seventy-one apartments units that wrapped around a community pool and clubhouse.48 The Royal Hawaiian estates – of which Harrison is awarded the most design credit – was completed in Palm Springs in 1959 and consisted of 40 Polynesian44 See Manuel Shvartzberg Carrio, Inland Empire: Settler Colonialism, Modern Architecture, and the Rise of American Hegemony (Duke University Press, 2025) (forthcoming). 45 Weiss Bricker et al., Steel and Shade, 75-76.
46 Harrison, “Application,” 1957.
47 The Desert Sun, [Advertisement for Sunmor Estates], 22 October 1955. 48 The Desert Sun, “$3 million Apartment Project Planned,” 8 February 1957. 393
33 inspired condominium units. El Rancho Vista Estates (1959-60), a subdivision of 75 singlefamily homes for developer Roy Fey, also emerged during this period, featuring a variety of modern designs with varying roof shapes.

Figure 3.4. The iconic folded plate roof Steel Home designed by Wexler and Harrison in 1961-62.

Photo reproduced from Palm Springs Life.

At the arrival of the 1960s, Wexler and Harrison was a preeminent firm in the Coachella Valley, receiving commissions for a wide variety of small and large projects. Between 1961 and 1962, this success culminated in their prototype steel homes as sponsored by two steel companies and built by venerable Alexander Construction Company. The Steel Homes (fig.

3.4) combined the stylistic qualities of Wexler and Harrison’s design with the inventive nature of post-war California. While only seven were built of the planned thirty-five, they were widely published and have become emblematic of Palm Springs’s Desert Modernism.

Harrison worked on first three homes that were built, and the Steel Homes were Wexler and Harrison’s last great success as a firm.49
In 1962, Wexler and Harrison amicably dissolved their partnership as Harrison sought to work on residential projects while Wexler endeavored to work on civic projects for a rapidly growing Palm Springs.50 Harrison founded Richard A. Harrison and Associates, which would remain his firm for the remainder of his career. He began working on the Shadow Mountain Fairway Cottages in 1961 in Palm Desert for the developer Adrian Schwilck. 49 Eleanor Gibson, “Donald Wexler Pioneered Prefab Living in Palm Springs With Steel Houses,” Dezeen, February 22, 2018, https://www.dezeen.com/2018/02/22/steel-development-houses-donald-wexlerrichard-harrison-prefabrication-palm-springs-modernism-week/. 50 Weiss Bricker et al., Steel and Shade, 69. 394
34 Although the project began while Wexler and Harrison was still existent, Harrison was solely responsible for the design from the very beginning. The Cottages, a sizeable condominium development, was one of Harrison’s first projects as an independent architect, while Wexler immediately went to work on the new Palm Springs Municipal Airport – projects that accurately represented their separate career paths. Wexler also oversaw the completion of Canyon Country Club in 1961, a sizeable and well-recognized project that Harrison had also worked on while the firm was still existent.51
Harrison’s work with the Palm Desert developer Adrian Schwilck continued for a few years.

He designed two units of Cottages between 1961 and 1963, and then continued working for Schwilck in his expansion of Silver Spur Ranch between 1962 and 1963, designing dozens of single-family homes and duplex units. Cumulatively, Harrison’s work for Schwilck makes Palm Desert the city with the greatest quantity of Harrison-designed structures.52 The majority of designs were simple Mid-century modern homes and condominiums with flat or pitched roofs – none of the eccentricity of his earlier butterfly and folded plate roofs with Wexler.

Figure 3.5. Rendering of Harrison’s design for a condominium complex in Dawson’s Seven Lakes.

Photo courtesy the William F. Cody Papers 2, Cal Poly SLO Special Collections.

Harrison continued to work on larger-scale residential complexes and found much success in designing developments – always in the Palm Springs mode of Modernism and leisure – in other areas of Coachella Valley. Similar to the design and idea of the Shadow Mountain Fairway Cottages, Harrison also designed the Bermuda Colonies development within the Bermuda Dunes Country Club between 1961 and 1962.53 This was followed by 51 The Desert Sun, “Wexler a Busy Architect: Much Travel, Research Led to Terminal Design,” 17 November 1966.
52 Tracy Conrad, “A Twisty, Unlikely Tale of Three Palm Desert Characters Who Changed the City Forever,” The Desert Sun, January 24, 2021, https://www.desertsun.com/story/life/2021/01/24/history-twisty-talethree-palm-desert-men-who-changed-city-forever/6689483002/. 53 The Desert Sun, [Advertisement for Bermuda Colonies], 3 November 1961. 395
35 his design of the Johnny Dawson-developed Seven Lakes Country Club (fig. 3.5) in Palm Springs which first opened in 1965 but was continually expanded until the early 1970s. In 1965, Harrison also designed a large modern clubhouse for the Palm Desert Country Club that was never realized.54 Although his projects were typically of larger scale, he also designed a handful of private estates, such as the 1964 residence for music producer Albert Marx in Rancho Mirage.55
Figure 3.6. Harrison’s design for the Sun Center in Palm Springs. Photo courtesy the Desert Beautiful Collection, Historical Society of Palm Desert.

While residential projects were his primary commissions, Harrison still designed numerous commercial and civic projects as an independent architect. He worked with architect Howard Lapham on the Smoke Tree Commons shopping center in Palm Springs (1963) and the Palm Springs National Bank (1964). Acting solo, Harrison also designed numerous large commercial buildings in Palm Springs, including the Welmas Building (1961), Patencio Building (1966) and the Sun Center (1962) (fig. 3.6). Although it was never realized, one of his more fantastical commercial designs was the Plaza 5 (ca. 1959) in Palm Desert, completed under the tenure of Wexler and Harrison. Harrison also became a reputable architect for the design of Baptist churches, designing numerous across the state of California and beyond. The University Baptist Church (1965) in Palm Desert (fig.

3.7), the First Baptist Church in Fullerton (unknown year), the Bethany Baptist Church (1969) in Montclair, and an expandable prototype for a generic Baptist church (unknown 54 The Desert Sun, [Rendering for PDCC clubhouse], 8 November 1965. 55 The Desert Sun, “Home Designed for Music,” 4 March 1967. 396
36 year) are examples of his religious work.56 Owing to the lack of a robust architect, the full extent of his religious work is unclear, but it is possible that he designed dozens of modern Baptist churches.

Figure 3.7. Rendering for the University Baptist Church in Palm Desert (still existent). Photo via Palm Springs Modern Committee.

Harrison continued working on residential projects through the 1970s, including the Lago La Quinta condominium complex (1970) in La Quinta and the De Anza Villas in Borrego Springs (1973).57 In 1971, Harrison was brought in by developer Jonny Dawson to design the clubhouse for Marrakesh Country Club after John Elgin Woolf, the development’s architect, fell ill and was unable to produce the working drawings in time.58 The next year, he was also commissioned for the (unrealized) Eldorado Racquet Club which would have had upwards of ninety homes.

While architects like Albert Frey and Richard Neutra pioneered Modernism – and Desert Modernism – in the Coachella Valley, the style was thoroughly developed and became widespread under the likes of E. Stewart Williams, William Cody, Donald Wexler, and, as his vast portfolio exhibits, Richard Harrison. Harrison continued working in the desert through the late 1970s, designing a scattering of projects for a variety of uses. He died in Palm Springs in 1995.59
56 Richard Harrison Collection materials, courtesy of Palm Springs Modern Committee; Montclair Tribune, “New Sanctuary to Be Dedicated This Sunday,” 1 May 1969. 57 Richard Harrison Collection materials, courtesy of Palm Springs Modern Committee; Borrego Sun, “Borrego Springs Park Development Weighed,” 18 January 1969. 58 The Desert Sun, [Article about Marrakesh Country Club clubhouse], 13 May 1971. 59 Historic Resources Group, Citywide Historic Context, APP-A-23. 397
37 Theodore Robinson (1923 – 2008)
Figure 4.1. Theodore Robinson at his drafting board, circa 1990s. Photo via the National Golf Club.

The golfer attacks, the designer defends. Such is the adversarial relationship that defines the creation of a golf course. At one extreme, it is easy to create a course where few would ever break a hundred. At the other, a course too easily defended quickly results in a loss of interest. The overriding objective of good course design is the balance between these extremes, creating an effective and rewarding experience for golfers at all levels of play. In order to accomplish this objective, our design philosophy centers upon three major design elements: Flexibility, Memorability, and Natural Beauty.60
-Ted Robinson, “Philosophy of Design,” 2006
Golf, now a long-established sport and commodity in the Coachella Valley, saw its emergence in the years following World War Two, largely as a result from the developments undertaken by Johnny Dawson. Nearly as important to the widespread and successful implementation of the sport in the region, however, were the designs of the golf course architect and land planner Theodore “Ted” Robinson, whose courses are now a staple of the Coachella Valley and Southern California at large.

Robinson was born in Long Beach in 1923, and although the details of his childhood are undocumented, he went on to receive a bachelor’s degree from the University of California, Berkeley, followed by a master’s degree in Planning from the University of Southern California in 1948.61 Like Marrakesh architect Richard Harrison, who received his degree 60 Theodore Robinson, “Philosophy of Design,” American Society of Golf Course Architects, 2006, https://golfarchitects.lib.msu.edu/robinsont/robinsontphy.htm. 61 Thomas Bonk, “Prolific Golf Course Designer,” Los Angeles, Times, March 8, 2002, https://www.latimes.com/archives/la-xpm-2008-mar-08-me-robinson8-story.html. 398
38 only three years before Robinson, USC was a crucible for postwar Modernist architecture, landscape architecture, and planning. California was undergoing massive economic and demographic expansion in the years following World War Two, and Robinson, like many others, came into his career at a lucrative time for anyone involved in the built environment.

In 1954, Robinson launched his own Palos Verdes-based practice specializing broadly in land planning and landscape architecture, but quickly became a specialist in planning and designing both freestanding golf courses and country clubs.62 Some of his first documented projects were in the Coachella Valley, which was undergoing rapid country club development in the 1950s. In 1963, Robinson planned the golf course at Seven Lakes Country Club in Palm Springs (fig. 4.2), which was Dawson’s foray into large-scale condominium development. 63 Robinson’s introduction to Dawson and his successful design of Seven Lakes afforded him many opportunities in the Coachella Valley. Dawson understood the importance of hiring talented and accomplished designers and planners in his projects, and Robinson soon became part of his “brain trust” (as one article noted).

Although Lawrence Hughes had designed the golf courses for Thunderbird, Eldorado, and La Quinta Country Club, Dawson worked with Robinson on his projects from Seven Lakes and beyond.

Figure 4.2. A view of the Robinson-designed golf course at Seven Lakes, one of his first courses, featuring his signature waterscapes. Photo via Seven Lakes Country Club. 62 Larry Bohannan, “Exterior Design: In a desert domination by golf courses, no one has dominated desert golf more than Ted Robinson,” Desert Sun, March 7, 1996. 63 “New Golf Home Development Revealed,” Desert Sun, January 24, 1964. 399
39 The foremost of the Robinson-Dawson collaboration was Marrakesh Country Club (fig.

4.3), for which Robinson served as both the land planner and golf course architect.64 His plan envisioned streets and loops of John Elgin Woolf-designed condominiums winding the eighteen-hole golf course. The Marrakesh design also embodied a feature which became synonymous with Robinson’s golf course designs: water features and hazards. (His affinity for water hazards earned him the nickname “King of Waterscapes.”65) Marrakesh’s golf course, which opened to players in late 1969, prominently featured three large lakes that could be viewed from the vista of the clubhouse. Robinson would continue his work in the Coachella Valley for multiple decades, working on Dawson’s Desert Horizons Country Club in the late 1970s, but increasingly for other developers. He designed the courses for such developments as the Ironwood Country Club (Palm Desert, 1974), Sunrise Country Club (Rancho Mirage, 1974), Indian Wells Golf Resort (Indian Wells, 1989), Chaparral Country Club (Palm Desert, 1980), Marriott’s Desert Springs (Indian Wells, 1986), Monterrey Country Club (1979), and even a renovation of Thunderbird’s course in 1980.

Figure 4.3. Robinson’s golf course and site plan for Marrakesh. Courtesy of the Historical Society of Palm Desert.
64 “Giant Condominium Proposed for P.D.,” Desert Sun, December 29, 1967. 65 “Who’s Who: Ted Robinson,” Where2Golf, n.d., https://www.where2golf.com/whos-who/ted-robinson/, accessed 2 February 2025.
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40 Although the Coachella Valley features prominently in Robinson’s portfolio, he designed dozens of courses across California, the United States, and even the world. In California, his portfolio included such works as Sunset Hills Country Club (Thousand Oaks, 1974), Fairbanks Ranch Country Club (Rancho Santa Fe, 1984), Tijeras Creek Golf Club (Rancho Santa Margarita, 1990), Tustin Ranch Golf Club (Orange County, 1982), and Robinson Ranch Golf Club (Santa Clarita, 1999, developed by Robinson and his son). Robinson, however, was also responsible for dozens of golf courses in the states of Colorado Nevada, New Mexico, Oregon, Texas, Utah, and Washington, and Hawaii, as well as some in the countries of Mexico, Japan, Korea, and Indonesia.66 In 1998, the PGA Tour Championship was hosted at his Sahalee Country Club (Seattle, Washington), designed by Robinson in 1967, the same year he began work on Marrakesh.

To say that Robinson was among the foremost golf course architects in the nation would not be an understatement. He was elected a Fellow of the American Society of Golf Course Architects in 1995 (an organization of which he was formerly president).67 At the time of his death in 2008, Robinson had designed upwards of 160 golf courses across the world.

Along with Lawrence Hughes and Jimmy Hines, Robinson was the most prominent golf course architect in the Coachella Valley. The area is home to the largest concentration of his work, with twenty-six courses designed by Robinson, representing nearly a quarter of all golf courses in the region.
66 For a full list of Robinson’s golf course designs, see “Ted Robinson: Architect’s Gallery,” American Society of Golf Course Architects, https://golfarchitects.lib.msu.edu/robinsont/robinsonocdloca. 67 Bonk, “Prolific Golf Course Architect,” 2008.
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41 STATEMENT OF SIGNIFICANCE

A. Exemplifies or reflects special elements of cultural, social, economic, political, aesthetic, engineering, architectural, or natural history; or Marrakesh Country Club reflects a variety of dimensions of history as it relates to the Coachella Valley. Its distinct architecture, designed by the firm of John Elgin Woolf, exemplifies the Hollywood Regency style, and moreover, the period in the late 1960s and 1970s when the Mid-Century Modern style shifted to a more popular, eclectic style. The history behind the development also represents the larger cultural, social, and economic history of the mid-twentieth century Coachella Valley, when demographic changes, economic growth, and changing tastes resulted in the rise of the country club which reoriented development across the region. Marrakesh was one of the first and most prominent of such period of the Coachella Valley’s development history.

Therefore, Marrakesh appears eligible under this category.

B. Is identified with persons or events significant in history; or

Although Marrakesh has hosted numerous prominent residents and visitors over its existence, a thorough review of individually relevant persons was not undertaken as part of this report. However broad and diverse the selection of these figures, it appears unlikely that there is any one relevant individual for which Marrakesh could qualify as an entire Historic District under this category. Johnny and Velma Dawson are likely the strongest contenders for this category, however, their relevance likely does not support designation of an entire historic district (versus their individual homes). Similarly, a review of individual events was not undertaken as part of this report, but such a review is unlikely to yield an affirmative declaration on a Historic District basis.

Therefore, Marrakesh does not appear eligible under this category, although further research could be completed to clarify eligibility.

C. Embodies distinctive characteristics of a style, type, period, or method of construction, or is a valuable example of the use of indigenous materials or craftsmanship; or

Marrakesh Country Club is one of the nation’s foremost examples of the Hollywood Regency style, a style popularized in Southern California between the 1930s and 1970s.

Known for its combination of historicist influences, sense of theatricality, and association with Hollywood, the style was developed by such architects and designers as John Elgin Woolf, Paul R. Williams, William Haines, and Elsie de Wolfe. In association with his 402
42 partner Robert Koch, Woolf was responsible for the design of the entire Marrakesh development, which remains well-preserved and easily conveys his distinctive Hollywood Regency style. The Richard Harrison designed clubhouse, although not Hollywood Regency in style, also remains a valuable example of the Mid-Century Modern style notable to the Coachella Valley region.

Therefore, Marrakesh appears eligible under this category.

D. Represents the work of master builders, designers, or architects; or

Marrakesh Country Club was the result of a collaboration by some of the foremost talents in development, architecture, and landscape. Johnny Dawson, the developer of Marrakesh, was largely responsible for establishing the country club model in the Coachella Valley and building some of the first and most well-known developments including Thunderbird, Eldorado, and Seven Lakes, and Marrakesh. John Elgin Woolf and Robert Koch, who were responsible for the design of the club, pioneered the Hollywood Regency style and are widely recognized for their unique and eccentric contributions to California architecture. Richard A. Harrison, the architect of the clubhouse, was among the most prominent generation of Modernist designers in the Coachella Valley, recognized for his contributions to the style now known as Desert Modernism. Ted Robinson, the land planner and golf course architect, became one of the most prominent golf course architects on the West Coast, designing dozens of courses across the Coachella Valley. The contributions of each of these “masters” to Marrakesh are thoroughly preserved and convey their original intentions.

Therefore, Marrakesh appears eligible under this category.

E. Reflects distinctive examples of community planning or significant development patterns, including those associated with different eras of settlement and growth, agricultural, or transportation; or
Marrakesh is a distinct example of mid-twentieth century country club planning, a period of development that was largely catalyzed by Johnny Dawson’s Thunderbird and Eldorado. This period, lasting from the late 1940s to the 1970s, was the most formative period of growth in the Coachella Valley’s history. Marrakesh embodies all the distinct elements of a mid-century country club, including a full-size golf course integrated with housing, a central clubhouse, and community facilities. Moreover, Marrakesh reflects a distinct and later phase of country club development, exemplified by the construction of condominiums and exotic theming, and a departure from the typical Mid-Century Modern designs of prior decades. Marrakesh still retains all these key features and is in operation as a country club.

Therefore, Marrakesh appears eligible under this category. 403
43 F. Conveys a sense of historic and architectural cohesiveness through its design, setting, materials, workmanship or associations; or
Marrakesh is the design of prominent architects John Elgin Woolf and Robert Koch, key figures in the development the style now known as Hollywood Regency. Woolf’s firm designed all aspects of the development, from the gatehouse to the condominiums to the lampposts. Key features like historicist detailing, Mansard roofs, Pullman doors, and symmetrical volumes are apparent throughout the development, all of which are tied together by a distinct pink color scheme and are preserved enough to convey their significance. As a result, Marrakesh is the largest and most cohesive Hollywood Regency environment in the entire nation.

Therefore, Marrakesh appears eligible under this category.

G. Is an archaeological, paleontological, botanical, geological, topographical, ecological, or geographical resource that has yielded or has the potential to yield important information in history or pre-history.

A review of prehistory and history prior to the twentieth century was not undertaken as part of this report.

Therefore, Marrakesh does not appear eligible under this category, although further research could be completed to clarify eligibility.

In conclusion, Marrakesh appears eligible for a Historic District under categories A, C, D, E, F, and does not appear eligible under categories B and G. 404
44 STREETSCAPES AND GENERAL VIEWS
405
45 406
46 407
47 408
48 409
49 ARCHITECTURAL PRESERVATION
Administration Building
Designed by John Elgin Woolf and Robert Koch, the Administration Building is a perfect and well-preserved example of their signature Hollywood Regency style. In fact, the Administration Building bears a striking similarity to Woolf’s personal office building in West Hollywood.68 The core components of the structure are a primary facade with a Mansard roof and an attached building with a hip roof. The building was and still is used for both administration and sales, and for that reason it was among the first structures to be built. Construction began in the fall of 1968 and was completed in the beginning of 1969.

ARCHITECTURAL DESCRIPTION
The primary façade of the Administration Building is one of the most distinctive of the entire community, featuring a shed roof with buttressed shoulder walls, a Pullman door, two large symmetrical double-hung windows, historicist detailing, symmetrical drainpipes, and unpainted brick work. Primary elevation, view north. 68 Price, Pink Jewel of the Desert, 70.
410
50 The side (west) elevation of the Administration Building shows the transition between the shed roof and the hip roof. Running down the side of the building is a set of windows set within archways expressed in the stucco. Side (west) elevation, view east.

The side (east) elevation of the Administration Building largely matches that of the opposing side, showing the intersection of the roof types. However, the archways are not expressed on this side. This elevation is mostly obscured. Side (east) elevation, view west. 411
51 The rear (north) elevation is a symmetrical design with a single door and two symmetrical windows. The original archways are also expressed in the stucco of the walls. Rear (north) elevation, view south.
412
52 ALTERATIONS
Enclosure of Covered Walkways
In 1974, the original covered walkways wrapping the rear of the building were enclosed to expand interior office space. On the west and rear elevations, the expression of these archways was preserved in the stucco, while the expression of the archways was not preserved on the east elevation (which is almost entirely obscured by the community wall regardless).
413
53 Details on Pullman Door

Over the lifespan of the building, various small alterations on the Pullman door of the Administration Building. While these have detracted from the simplicity of the original design, they have not substantially altered the door’s design and profile and could easily be reversed or restored.

1. Addition of a light on the ceiling of door frame

2. Alteration of original design of molding on face of door frame. Upper portion remains preserved, but side portions have been changed/simplified.

3. Alteration of original door height which necessitated the addition of horizontal trim

4. Original door handle replaced with a simpler design

5. Addition of railing on either side of door

#1 #2 #1 #2
#3 #3
#4
#4
#5 #5
414
54 ANALYSIS
The Administration Building remains well-preserved and easily conveys the original design of John Elgin Woolf and Robert Koch. Due to the increased need for administrative space, expansions to the building were completed by architect Robert Ricciardi in 1974, only a few years after the initial construction. While these interior expansions saw to the enclosure of arcaded walkways that originally flanked either side of the building, they did not expand the historic footprint of the building and preserved the expression of the archway volumes on the visible sides. Therefore, this alteration did not substantially affect the building.

Preservation should be largely focused on preserving the building as it is and restoring minute details on the front door, including the molding around the Pullman doorframe, the removal of an added light, or the removal/replacement of added railings. Any renovations or alterations to these features should first consult the Woolf archive and align with his design intentions.

FEATURES TO BE PRESERVED
Primary Facade
Pink and white color scheme
Mansard roof
Original Pullman door and door frame
The placement, volume, and design of two original windows and window frames Placement and design of decorative molding on lower portion of door Placement of door handle
Unpainted brick curbing and front steps
Decorative turned wood finials (on top of door and two windows) Placement and design of existing louvres above front door Symmetrical placement and design of existing gutters/drainpipes Side and Rear Facades
Hip roof
Expression of original archways (where still existent)
Sizing and equidistant spacing of windows
Placement of existing rear door

415
55 Clubhouse
Designed by architect Richard A. Harrison in a refined Mid-Century Modern style, the Marrakesh clubhouse continues to function both as an architectural landmark and social hub. Woolf was originally responsible for the design of the clubhouse, which he imagined in a Hollywood Regency style. However, owing to Woolf’s health difficulties and a fastpaced construction timeline, Harrison was hired by Johnny Dawson in 1970. While Harrison’s clubhouse was similar to Woolf’s design in a few key ways, including an emphasis on symmetry, a dramatic porte-cochere, and a cascading fountain, the design is a reflection of his distinct Mid-Century Modern style. Construction began on the clubhouse in January of 1971 and was substantially complete by November of that year. The final details on the clubhouse were completed in 1972.

ARCHITECTURAL DESCRIPTION

The Harrison-designed clubhouse is sited on an artificial hill and on a central axis with the main entry gate. This is the primary view when entering Marrakesh from Portola Avenue.

Primary elevation, view west.
416
56 The driveway is lined with a cascade of fountains original to the design, featuring inverted corners. Originally, however, these were planters and were unpainted brick.

Primary elevation, view west.

At the top of the driveway and in front of the porte-cochere is a larger original fountain with two layers of brickwork. Like the others, this was originally a planter and was unpainted brick. Primary elevation, view west.
417
57 The minimalist porte-cochere (originally painted white) is the most distinctive feature of Harrison’s design, with only three unadorned columns. The main entryway features floorto-ceiling black windows inset within a plain stucco wall. Primary elevation, view west.

The effect of the porte-cochere contrasted with the plain walls is clearest when viewed afar.

Surrounding the artificial fill are a set of curving retaining walls of slump block construction.

Primary elevation, view west.
418
58 The two-story north elevation features a simple slump block base with floor-to-ceiling windows on the upper story. This elevation has been altered with various additions over the building’s lifespan. Side (north) elevation, view south.

The two-story (south) elevation has also been altered with expansions on the upper and lower floors. The southernmost addition also saw to the expansion of the primary façade, but in kind with the Harrison design. Side (south) elevation, view north. 419
59 The rear elevation is a boxy symmetrical modern design original to Harrison’s plans.

Expansions are present on the sides of the building but have not affected the symmetry of the existing columns. Rear elevation, view east.

On the upper portion of the building are floor-to-ceiling windows which match the volume of the cutouts, and on the lower portion is an overhang with a patio. Rear elevation, view east.
420
60 ALTERATIONS
Additions to Rear, Side, and Primary Elevations
As early as 1979, portions of the original upper terrace were filled in to expand the dining room. However, these additions did not affect the expression of the original symmetrical Harrison-designed volumes.

While the lack of historic photos and plans makes it difficult to understand the exact original design of the side elevation, there have been various additions to either side of the clubhouse which have compromised the original symmetry of Harrison’s design on these elevations. The addition to the south elevation (above, left) also necessitated the expansion of the primary façade. However, this addition was done in kind with the original and is not visually distracting from the primary elevation.
421
61 Because of additions that occurred to the side (south) elevation of the building, the wall of the primary elevation was expanded to obscure the additions. While this altered the symmetrical width of the primary elevation from either side of the porte-cochere, it was done to match the original wall and is therefore largely imperceptible. Future alterations/restorations of the building might seek to remove this addition or to expand the northern portion of the building to restore the equidistant width of the primary façade.

Regardless, it has not substantially altered the expression of Harrison’s original design.

Alterations to Original Planters

The original planters lining the main driveway and the larger planter at the top of the driveway have since been converted to use as fountains. Moreover, their original finish was unpainted brick, and the raw concrete curbing has also been painted red. This alteration is easily reversible and did not affect the footprint of the original design (with inset corners) and is therefore not substantial but could easily be addressed in future renovations. 422
62 Porte-Cochere Color Scheme

The original color scheme of the building featured a white paint color for the porte-cochere.

This served to differentiate the volume of the porte-cochere from the austere plain wall of the building, thereby elevating the modern design of the primary façade. Additionally, the originally all-black entryway now features a white door. These alterations are easily reversible, and the building retains its general color scheme, so they are unsubstantial but should be targeted for future restoration in combination with the restoration of the original planters.

ANALYSIS
Owing to the demands of a growing club and changes in taste, the Marrakesh clubhouse has been the subject of a series of renovations and expansions over its existence. In 1979, less than a decade after its construction, the south terrace of the clubhouse was enclosed to increase the dining room area. This initial renovation was followed by successive alterations/expansions including the enclosure of the north terrace (1988-90, architect Alfred Cook), interior staircase renovation and new Fitness Center (1995-96, architect Alfred Cook), minor interior renovations (1998-2000), miscellaneous renovations (2005), locker room and pro shop renovations (2006), interior redecorating and renovations (2008), and finally, extensive interior and exterior renovations from 2017-2022 by interior designer Tom Scherer and architect John Vuksic.69
While these renovations have changed parts of the design, Harrison’s core design features remain intact and continue to convey his intent and Mid-Century Modern vocabulary. The front (east) facade, the most important element of the structure, has retained its elegant minimalist design with an unadorned three-column porte-cochere set against a plain wall.

The northern portion of the front facade was expanded to enclose rear expansions, but this expansion matched the height and form of the existing front fall, and therefore does not 69 Fran Kellogg Anderson, Within These Walls: History of the Marrakesh Country Club, 111-113. 423
63 visually detract from the primary facade. While the rear (west) facade has had much of its original terrace enclosed, the rear volume of the building itself has not been expanded, and the strict symmetry of Harrison’s design has been preserved. The facades to the side of the building (north and south) have seen to the most extensive alterations and expansions, and the symmetry and form of Harrison’s design is no longer intact. However, these expansions have been designed in the modern, minimalist language of the rest of the building, and do not significantly detract from the most important visual elements of Harrison’s design, namely the front and rear facades.

While the building is still a clear expression of Harrison’s design, a number of small improvements could be made to highlight his original intent. The porte-cochere on the primary facade could be restored to its original white paint color and the front doors could be restored to their original black paint color. Both improvements would serve to differentiate the volume of the porte-cochere from the remained of the rest of the building, which Harrison had intentionally done to highlight the minimalism of the structure’s design.

Additionally, the central fountain and cascading set of smaller fountains (originally planters) could be restored to their original unpainted appearance.

Preservation efforts should be focused on maintaining the minimalism, symmetry, and general form of the primary and rear facades. For the primary facade, this includes the porte-cochere (in its current format with three columns) and the smooth, unadorned wall the spans the entire length of the building. There should be no alterations (including windows, ornamentation, hedges, trellises, etc.) which seek to adorn, alter, or substantially obscure the smooth wall of the primary facade and simple volumes of the porte-cochere.

Additionally, additions to the rear of the building should not protrude from or affect the volume of the primary facade. Since the northern portion of the primary facade was previously expanded, if any further expansion of the primary facade is to occur, it should occur on the southern portion and match the width of the northern portion, which would in effect restore the primary façade’s symmetry. Moreover, this expansion should match the material and form of the current facade (including vertical cuts in the stucco) to maintain cohesion. If this expansion were to occur, and the width of both the northern and southern portions of the primary façade became identical once again, no further expansions should be allowed to occur.

For the rear facade, the symmetry and general form of Harrison’s original design should be retained, and expansion of interior spaces should occur only by enclosing the remainder of the terrace or expanding the sides of the clubhouse. (As noted above, however, further expansion at the sides of the clubhouse should not protrude from the width of the primary facade.) Expansions or alterations at the side of clubhouse should be cohesive with the Mid-Century Modern design of the original clubhouse and seek to be symmetrical when possible.

Finally, any possible renovations, alterations, or restorations of the clubhouse should recognize that it is a design by Richard A. Harrison and not by John Elgin Woolf, and its style is Mid-Century Modern and not Hollywood Regency. While Harrison’s clubhouse 424
64 retains some of the form and siting of Woolf’s initial clubhouse design, Harrison’s design is still a significant departure and is a distinct and important Mid-Century Modern design.

Therefore, any future exterior alterations should be based on Harrison’s original design with its Mid-Century Modern vocabulary and should not reference a Hollywood Regency style nor seek to mimic Woolf’s initial clubhouse design.

FEATURES TO BE PRESERVED
General
Present and historic use as clubhouse with dining, recreational, and managerial facilities Pink and white color scheme
Landscape
Current (and historic) symmetrical layout of the driveway Unobstructed view from the bottom to top of driveway
Primary fountain (originally planter) at top of driveway Cascading set of fountains (originally planters) along driveway Historic olive trees adjacent to driveway
Historic palm trees flanking facade
Placement of twin, V-shaped palms at rear of clubhouse viewable from interior/terrace Primary (East) Facade
Strong sense of minimalist symmetry
Form, layout, and volume of porte-cochere
Floor-to-ceiling entryway doors and windows, painted in black Unadorned stucco wall running the entire length of the facade devoid of windows, ornamentation, or other visual distractions
Vertical cuts in stucco at regular intervals along wall Rear (West) Facade
Strong sense of minimalist symmetry
Form and volume of historic and existing Harrison design Clear expression of (nine) existing columns on upper story Clear expression of (four) existing column supporting the entryway on lower story 425
65 Condominium: Plan A
Designed by John Elgin Woolf and Robert Koch, the Plan A condominium is the scarcest in the entire development, with only twelve units constructed in total. It was also the smallest design of the four condominium plans, containing one bedroom and two bathrooms over approximately 1,380 square feet of living space. The Plan A floor plans are found only in the first three phases of Marrakesh’s condominium construction.70 They, as everything else, designed in Woolf’s Hollywood Regency style, and feature a Mansard roof, historicist details, full height windows, and a grand entryway, but they do not feature a Pullman door like the designs of Plan C and D.

See Appendix C for the list of Plan A condominiums

ARCHITECTURAL DESCRIPTION
From the street, the garage is a simple unadorned volume. Depending on the site, the garage/driveway is either directly off the street or to the side. A slump block wall and ornamental metal gate creates a private courtyard area. Exterior details may include the signature lamppost and ornamental mailbox post. Primary elevation. 70 Price, Pink Jewel of the Desert, 28-29.
426
66 The primary elevation features a Mansard roof, entry pathway with a view to the front door, and courtyard wrapped in a slump block wall. (Note: on this example the wall right of the front door is missing an original door. This is typical alteration.) Primary elevation.

The side elevation also shows the Mansard roof (including inset vent) and is generally an unadorned stucco wall with a single door and window (shown in their original placement in this example). Side elevation.
427
67 The Mansard roof continues to the rear elevation (the duplex layout is also clearer with connected walls) and contains two inset vents. Ornamental pipe columns support an overhang that creates a patio with signature floor-to-ceiling sliding glass doors. Rear elevation.

ANALYSIS
Like all condominium units in Marrakesh, many Plan A condominiums have been subject to various renovations and alterations. Most commonly, the location of minor windows and doors has been changed, and a few units have had additions that have protruded into the private courtyard. However, the signature Woolf details, including the Mansard roof, entryway, color scheme, full height windows, columns, and color scheme have remained intact on all the Plan A units. Preservation in the future should focus on preserving these signature details while permitting minor alterations such as the relocation of windows, the expansion of the building footprint unobtrusively into the courtyard area or back patio, or the addition of a pool/water feature in the front courtyard. Additions and alterations should be compatible with the Woolf design but should not visually distract from or obscure signature details in any way. Additions should be kept as simple as possible, devoid of decorative molding, irregularly shaped windows, awnings, or other visually distracting elements. Any renovations or alterations to Plan A condominiums should first consult the Woolf archive and align with his design intentions.
428
68 FEATURES TO BE PRESERVED
General
Pink and white color scheme
Design and form of original Mansard roof
Placement and design of vents inset within Mansard roof Garage/driveway layout symmetrical to opposing unit (where possible) Ornamental wrought iron mailbox post
Primary Elevation
Placement and design of original front door, including decorative molding Unobstructed entry pathway to front door
Front wall with a 6’ height and of slump block (4 ’’ x 16 ’’ x 6 ’’ ) construction At least 6’ setback of any portion of the structure from the slump block wall Ornamental gate in either wrought iron or solid wood construction painted in white or black
Side Elevation
Flat windows/doors with no obtrusive molding or detailing Rear Elevation/Back Patio
Placement and design of original columns on back patio
Placement of floor-to-ceiling (10’) sliding glass doors/windows At least 12’’ of setback of residence walls from columns Atrium
Existing placement and size of atrium
Placement and design of existing atrium 8’ slump block (4 ’’ x 16 ’’ x 6 ’’ ) wall At least 3’ of setback from the atrium wall
429
69 Condominium: Plan B
Designed by John Elgin Woolf and Robert Koch, the Plan B condominium is a two-bedroom and two-bathroom model, consisting of approximately 1800 square feet. The Plan B model can be found in every phase of Marrakesh’s condominium construction. Like everything else designed in Woolf’s Hollywood Regency style, they feature a Mansard roof, historicist details, full height windows, and a grand entryway, but they do not feature a Pullman door like the designs of Plan C and D.

See Appendix C for the list of Plan B condominiums

ARCHITECTURAL DESCRIPTION
The primary elevation features the typical slump block-wrapped courtyard with ornamental gate, a direct entryway to the front door, Mansard roof, and prominent front door. A portico with two ornamental pipe columns shades the tall front door. Primary elevation. 430
70 The side elevation is a simple stucco-faced mass with inset doors and windows. The Mansard roof wraps around the structure and contains an inset vent. Side elevation.

The back patio overhang is supported by four ornamental pipe columns and features the signature 10’ sliding glass doors (in aluminum). The Mansard roof continues to wrap around the structure. The Plan B back patio is detached from the neighboring unit with a small breezeway. Rear elevation.
431
71 ANALYSIS
Like all condominium units in Marrakesh, many Plan B condominiums have been subject to various renovations and alterations. Most commonly, the location of minor windows and doors has been changed, and a number of units have had additions that have protruded into the private courtyard or back patio. However, the signature Woolf details, including the Mansard roof, entryway, color scheme, full height windows, columns, and color scheme have remained intact on all the Plan B units. Preservation in the future should focus on preserving these signature details while permitting minor alterations such as the relocation of windows, the expansion of the building footprint unobtrusively into the courtyard area or back patio, or the addition of a pool/water feature in the front courtyard. Additions and alterations should be compatible with the Woolf design but should not visually distract from or obscure signature details in any way. Additions should be kept as simple as possible, devoid of decorative molding, irregularly shaped windows, awnings, or other visually distracting elements. Any renovations or alterations to Plan B condominiums should first consult the Woolf archive and align with his design intentions.

FEATURES TO BE PRESERVED
General
Pink and white color scheme
Design and form of original Mansard roof
Placement and design of vents inset within Mansard roof Garage/driveway layout symmetrical to opposing unit (where possible) Ornamental wrought iron mailbox post
Primary Elevation
Placement and design of original front door, including decorative molding and columns Unobstructed entry pathway to front door
Front wall with a 6’ height and of slump block (4 ’’ x 16 ’’ x 6 ’’ ) construction At least 6’ setback of any portion of the structure from the slump block wall Ornamental gate in either wrought iron or solid wood construction painted in white or black
Side Elevation
Flat windows/doors with no obtrusive molding or detailing Atrium/Breezeway
Existing placement and size of breezeway
Placement and design of existing atrium 8’ slump block (4 ’’ x 16 ’’ x 6 ’’ ) wall At least 3’ of setback from the atrium wall
Rear Elevation/Back Patio
Placement and design of original columns on back patio
432
72 Placement of floor-to-ceiling (10’) aluminum sliding glass doors/windows At least 12’’ of setback of residence walls from columns 433
73 Condominium: Plan C
Designed by John Elgin Woolf and Robert Koch, the Plan C condominium is a two-bedroom and two-bathroom model consisting of approximately 2055 square feet. The Plan C model can be found in every phase of Marrakesh’s condominium construction. Like everything else designed in Woolf’s Hollywood Regency style, they feature Pullman doors, historicist details, full height windows, and a grand entryway, but instead of the typical Mansard roof, Plan C is designed with a sloping shed roof.

See Appendix C for the list of Plan C condominiums

ARCHITECTURAL DESCRIPTION
From the street, the garage is a simple unadorned volume. Depending on the site, the garage/driveway is either directly off the street or entered from the side. A slump block wall and ornamental metal gate creates a private courtyard area. Exterior details may include the signature lamppost and ornamental mailbox post. Primary elevation. 434
74 The primary façade features a shed roof with buttressed shoulder walls, a full height Pullman door with decorative molding, and a central pathway to the front door. Primary elevation.

The side façade is a simple stucco wall with an inset aluminum window(s). The volume of the buttressed shoulder wall is clear. Side elevation.
435
75 The back patio features ornamental pipe columns, an overhang, and a wall of 10’ aluminum sliding glass doors. The roof itself is flat but the shed roof on the front portion of the house is visible. Plan C homes are separated from adjoining units by a small breezeway, and their back patios are not connected or continuous. Rear elevation.

ANALYSIS
Like all condominium units in Marrakesh, many Plan C condominiums have been subject to various renovations and alterations. Most commonly, the location of minor windows and doors has been changed, and a number of units have had additions that have protruded into the private courtyard or back patio. However, the signature Woolf details, including the shed roof, entryway, color scheme, full height windows, columns, and color scheme have remained intact on all the Plan C units. Preservation in the future should focus on preserving these signature details while permitting minor alterations such as the relocation of windows, the expansion of the building footprint unobtrusively into the courtyard area or back patio, or the addition of a pool/water feature in the front courtyard. Additions and alterations should be compatible with the Woolf design but should not visually distract from or obscure signature details in any way. Additions should be kept as simple as possible, devoid of decorative molding, irregularly shaped windows, awnings, or other visually distracting elements. Any renovations or alterations to Plan C condominiums should first consult the Woolf archive and align with his design intentions. 436
76 FEATURES TO BE PRESERVED
General
Pink and white color scheme
Design and form of original shed roof with buttressed shoulder walls Placement and design of inset vents
Garage/driveway layout symmetrical to opposing unit (where possible) Ornamental wrought iron mailbox post
Primary Elevation
Placement and design of Pullman front door, including decorative molding and louvres Placement and design of turned wood finial atop door frame Unobstructed entry pathway and view to front door
Front wall with a 6’ height and of slump block (4 ’’ x 16 ’’ x 6 ’’ ) construction At least 6’ setback of any portion of the structure from the slump block wall Ornamental gate in either wrought iron or solid wood construction painted in white or black
Side Elevation
Flat windows/doors with no obtrusive molding or detailing Atrium/Breezeway
Existing placement and size of breezeway
Placement and design of existing atrium 8’ slump block (4 ’’ x 16 ’’ x 6 ’’ ) wall At least 3’ of setback from the atrium wall from any portion of the structure Rear Elevation/Back Patio
Placement and design of original pipe columns on back patio Placement of floor-to-ceiling (10’) aluminum sliding glass doors/windows At least 12’’ of setback of residence walls from columns 437
77 Condominium: Plan D
Designed by John Elgin Woolf and Robert Koch, the Plan D condominium is the largest condominium, featuring three bedrooms and three bathrooms over nearly 2,500 square feet. The Plan D model can be found in every phase of Marrakesh’s condominium construction. Like everything else designed in Woolf’s signature Hollywood Regency style, they feature a Mansard roof, Pullman doors, historicist details, full height windows, and a grand entryway.

See Appendix C for the list of Plan D condominiums

ARCHITECTURAL DESCRIPTION
The primary façade features signature Woolf details like a large Pullman door, Mansard roof, private courtyard, and ornamental gate inset in a slump block wall. Depending on the unit, the garage/driveway is either arranged directly off the street or is entered from the side. Primary elevation.
438
78 Like other plans, the side elevation is a simple stucco wall with inset doors and windows.

The Mansard roof (with inset vents) does not follow the edge of the side elevation but is inset within the building and visible from afar. Side elevation.

The back patio features ornamental pipe columns, an overhang, and a wall of 10’ aluminum sliding glass doors. Plan D homes are separated from adjoining units by a small breezeway, and their back patios are not connected or continuous. Rear elevation. 439
79 ANALYSIS

Like all condominium units in Marrakesh, many Plan D condominiums have been subject to various renovations and alterations. Most commonly, the location of minor windows and doors has been changed, and a number of units have had additions that have protruded into the private courtyard or back patio. However, the signature Woolf details, including the Mansard roof, Pullman door, entryway, color scheme, full height windows, columns, and color scheme have remained intact on all the Plan D units. Preservation in the future should focus on preserving these signature details while permitting minor alterations such as the relocation of windows, the expansion of the building footprint unobtrusively into the courtyard area or back patio, or the addition of a pool/water feature in the front courtyard.

Additions and alterations should be compatible with the Woolf design but should not visually distract from or obscure signature details in any way. Additions should be kept as simple as possible, devoid of decorative molding, irregularly shaped windows, awnings, or other visually distracting elements. Any renovations or alterations to Plan D condominiums should first consult the Woolf archive and align with his design intentions.

FEATURES TO BE PRESERVED
General
Pink and white color scheme
Design and form of original Mansard roof
Placement and design of vents inset within Mansard roof Garage/driveway layout per original site plan
Ornamental wrought iron mailbox post
Primary Elevation
Placement and design of Pullman front door, including decorative molding and louvres Unobstructed entry pathway and view to front door
Front wall with a 6’ height and of slump block (4 ’’ x 16 ’’ x 6 ’’ ) construction At least 6’ setback of any portion of the structure from the slump block wall Ornamental gate in either wrought iron or solid wood construction painted white/black Side Elevation
Flat windows/doors with no obtrusive molding or detailing Atrium/Breezeway
Existing placement and size of breezeway
Placement and design of existing atrium 8’ slump block (4 ’’ x 16 ’’ x 6 ’’ ) wall At least 3’ of setback from the atrium wall
Rear Elevation/Back Patio
Placement and design of original pipe columns on back patio 440
80 Placement of floor-to-ceiling (10’) aluminum sliding glass doors/windows At least 12’’ of setback of residence walls from columns 441
81 Gatehouse, Entryway, and Exterior Walls
Designed by John Elgin Woolf and Robert Koch, the gatehouse, entryway, and exterior walls are among the most visible and distinct elements of Marrakesh to the many cars which drive down Portola Avenue daily. In accordance with the entire scheme, they were designed in a Hollywood Regency style. These elements appeared in the earliest renderings of Marrakesh and were built before anything else. Construction began in 1968 and was completed in the beginning of 1969.

ARCHITECTURAL DESCRIPTION
Gatehouse

The gatehouse has a simple stucco base with three inset windows facing the front and is capped with an ornamental copper roof and decorative metal flag. In front of the gatehouse is a planting bed. Primary elevation, view west. 442
82 The copper roof wraps around the entire structure. On the north side is a single door and two windows. North elevation, view south.

The south side of the structure is like the north side, with an inset window and single door.

South elevation, view north.
443
83 The rear of the gatehouse has a symmetrical footprint to the front elevation, with a single window placed in the center. The copper roof also features an inset vent. Rear elevation, view east.

444
84 Entryway Sign

The main entryway is sited and designed to maintain a strong central axis, featuring the gatehouse at center with two curved walls. View west.

The northern portion of the entryway sign is constructed of slump block and features a curved design. At the corner is a rusticated column with a granite obelisk set on top. The Marrakesh Country Club logo is placed on this wall. View southwest.

445
85 The southern portion of the entryway wall is identical but inverse to the northern portion and does not have a sign/logo placed on it. View west.

446
86 Exterior Walls

The 6’ slump block wall facing Portola Avenue features undulating curves interspersed evenly. View north.

On other sides of the development, the 6’ walls are of a simpler design but also constructed out of slump block. View south
447
87 ALTERATIONS

Gatehouse Planter

The unpainted brick border wall/planter in front of the clubhouse was removed at some point and replaced with a simple planter. The rear portion of the brick border wall remains.

Gatehouse Side Elevation

The window on the north elevation was shortened for the addition of a door, also resulting in the removal of the original brick border wall. This addition matches the other side and does not affect the primary elevation and is therefore unsubstantial.

448
88 Decorative Flag Paint Color

The decorative metal flag was originally unfinished metal to match the unfinished copper roof but has since been painted white. This did not affect the flag itself and is easily reversible, and therefore unsubstantial.

Gate Addition

The entryway used to be open but has since been gated as an additional security measure.

The gate is metal and consistent with Woolf’s design and therefore does not substantially affect the original entry design.

449
89 Wall Addition

At some point, a short wall was added to seal the space between the sign and metal gate (which was also added). The addition was done in slump block and matches the details of the historic wall and is therefore insubstantial.

Marrakesh Sign Typography

The typography of the original sign was larger and had greater spacing between characters. Woolf designed this original sign (and the detail drawing exists in his archive).

While the current sign matches the original logo, its scale is smaller. Newer landscaping has also replaced the historic desert landscaping and is obscuring a good portion of the wall and could be targeted for restoration.
450
90 ANALYSIS
The gatehouse, entryway, and exterior walls of Marrakesh have remained largely intact and easily convey the original design by John Elgin Woolf and Robert Koch. While the entryway originally only had a gatehouse, security improvements include the addition of metal gates and the extension of a small wall on either side of the entryway. These additions were done in accordance with the original design of the entryway and do not detract from the original design. Preservation of the gatehouse, entryway, and walls should mainly focus on preserving them as they are and restoring various small details including the original typography of the sign, the brick border wall around the gatehouse, and the raw metal finishing of the gatehouse flag. Future renovations, alterations, or restorations (particularly landscaping) should not significantly obscure the walls, entryway, or gatehouse. The landscape of the original entryway and easement along Portola Avenue also featured a variety of desert plants (perhaps meant to emphasize a “Moroccan” environment) and could be restored along those lines. Any renovations or alterations to these features should first consult the Woolf archive and align with his design intentions. These elements of Marrakesh are among the most visible to the public and therefore their preservation is of particular importance.

FEATURES TO BE PRESERVED
Exterior Walls
Pink color scheme
Existing and historic serpentine design lining Portola Avenue Walls remain unobscured by hedges, plantings, etc.

Slump block construction (4 ’’ x 16 ’’ x 6 ’’ blocks) with concrete cap Entryway Walls/Sign
Existing and historic curved design
Pink color scheme
Slump block construction (4 ’’ x 16 ’’ x 6 ’’ ) with concrete cap Walls remain unobscured by hedges, plantings, etc.

Rusticated detail at corner of each entrance wall with unpainted granite obelisk on top Location of Marrakesh sign on the southern wall and use of fluid 1970s typography consistent (or matching) the original Marrakesh logo
Gatehouse
Existing location, volume, and footprint of gatehouse
Pink and white color scheme
Set of three windows on east facade in their historic design/configuration Unpainted copper roof with ornamental edge detail
Decorative metal flag detail atop gatehouse
Location and design of existing inset vent on roof
Existing portions of brick border wall
451
91 Golf Course
Designed by Ted Robinson, the eighteen-hole golf course is the central feature and amenity of Marrakesh, winding through the entire development and featuring a set of lakes (for which Robinson is best known). The golf course was among the first features to be completed (before any condominiums) in Marrakesh. Work began in earnest in the fall of 1968 and was substantially complete a year later. It was the third golf course to be built in Palm Desert, but quickly became the most prominent in the city after its construction. The course features the signature features of a Robinson design and was one of the earliest course designs of his notable career.

ARCHITECTURAL DESCRIPTION
The fairways of the golf course wrap around the entire development, frequently lined by pairs of historic palm trees planted when the course and condominiums were built. Many units are placed directly on the course, and others have partial views. 452
92 Mature varieties of other trees, including pine and olive, are also planted throughout the course.
453
93 The set of four lakes are a key component of the golf course design and representative of Robinson’s ubiquitous inclusion of water features in his course designs. Some of the lakes contain decorative fountains.
454
94 One of the lakes features a cascading waterfall feature, original to Robinson’s design and one of the signature elements of the course design. A similar feature is a small artificial river which connects two of the lakes.
455
95 The most distinctive feature of the golf course landscape is a set of palms placed in a Vshape directly adjacent to the clubhouse. 456
96 ANALYSIS
The golf course largely remains as Robinson designed it in 1968. The size and placement of each of the eighteen holes and four lakes is the same. Most of the original trees (particularly varieties of palm, pine and olive trees) have matured into large, full-size trees.

The most distinctive landscape features — the twin V-shaped palms adjacent to the clubhouse and the waterfall and river features — also remain as Robinson designed them.

Small features of the golf course, including the location of hazards, golf cart pathways, and ornamental plantings, have changed over the years, but these have not substantially detracted from the Robinson design. Therefore, preservation should largely focus on preserving substantial features of the golf course such as the placement and size of the existing holes, lakes and water features, and signature details like the cascading waterfall and V-shaped palms. Mature historic trees should be maintained where possible.

Alterations to small features including ornamental plantings (including the transition to a drought-tolerant landscape), the placement of hazards, pathways, and other details may be permitted to continue.

FEATURES TO BE PRESERVED
Use as a golf course and/or open green space
Size and placement of each of the historic eighteen holes Size, design, and placement of the four lakes
Cascading waterfall feature
River feature between two lakes adjacent to clubhouse
Location and placement of V-shaped twin palms adjacent to clubhouse Mature pine, palm, and olive trees placed throughout the golf course 457
97 Lampposts
Placed throughout Marrakesh are dozens (possibly hundreds) of lampposts original to the Woolf design. These signature lampposts, featuring a single globe atop an ornamental post and crowned with a decorative spire, are iconic to the Hollywood Regency design of the development. It is unclear if they were custom designed by Woolf (no drawings exist) or purchased from a vendor, but regardless, they appear in the earliest Woolf renderings and are central to the design of the community.

ARCHITECTURAL DESCRIPTION
The lamppost design throughout the entire the community is the same: an ornamental metal base topped with a white globe and a decorative spire. 458
98 ALTERATIONS
Besides the removal and addition of some lampposts, various minor alterations are present throughout the community. These include:

1. Missing spire on some lampposts

2. Replacement of clear globe (with exposed interior elements) with a solid white globe

3. Original bronze/metal finish painted with light green to mimic patinated metal

ANALYSIS
The location of various lampposts has changed over the existence of the community, but newer ones are replicas of the original design and are therefore indistinguishable. Small details have changed (or are missing) on all lampposts, but these have not fundamentally altered their character. The vast majority of lampposts remain in their original locations throughout the community. Along some streets and medians, such as along Marrakesh Drive, the lampposts are placed equidistant in a row, whereas in most of the community they are placed randomly. These lampposts are key components of the Woolf design and preservation should be focused on preserving existing lampposts, restoring missing details (such as missing spires), and ensuring that future lampposts match the original design. In #1
#2
#3
#1
#2
#3 #3
#2
459
99 areas where they are placed in an equidistant row, this layout should be preserved.

Otherwise, if it is necessitated for practical reasons, lampposts can be removed or added, but they should match the original design as close as possible.

FEATURES TO BE PRESERVED
The design and size of original lampposts with ornamental post and spire In areas where symmetrically placed, the location and equidistant spacing of lampposts Uniform finish throughout in either unpainted metal or paint to mimic patinated metal 460
100
Pools and Pool Pavilions
Designed by John Elgin Woolf and Robert Koch, the pool pavilions are among the most quintessentially Hollywood Regency components of the club. Typically designed by Woolf for large, custom-built estates, each of the fourteen pool pavilions at Marrakesh was provided for a different section of condominiums. Except for the very first pavilion, all pavilions were built according to the same design and featured a covered patio area, a set of bathrooms/dressing rooms, a refrigerator, and space for mechanicals. The pavilions were built simultaneously with each phase of condominiums. For reasons which are unclear, the first pavilion completed in 1969 (with the first phase of condominiums) was different from Woolf’s primary design (see below for discussion). From the second set of condominiums onwards, all pavilions were the same until the completion of the club in 1979. The symmetrical placement of the pool in front of each pavilion is also the same throughout, however the placement of the jacuzzi varies by pavilion, and only occasionally is it on same central axis as Woolf intended. Also ubiquitous to each pavilion are symmetrical and equidistant rows of palm trees wrapping each side.

ARCHITECTURAL DESCRIPTION
The fourteen pool pavilions all feature the same basic layout of a pool on a central axis with the pavilion. The pools are all the same size and feature an inset corner detail (which can be found in other details in the community). The jacuzzi is at times placed on the same axis, on the opposite side of the pavilion, but in this example it is placed to the side.

Primary elevation.
461
101
The roof of the covered patio is curved and protrudes beyond the two structures topped by a Mansard roof. The roof is supported by symmetrical ornamental pipe columns.

Centered on the wall of each side of the pavilion is an oval painted white (intended to mimic a window. Primary elevation.

The beams supporting the roof are expressed on the ceiling of the covered porch and angled inwards.
462
102
The side of the pool pavilion is a simple stucco volume with the Mansard roof placed on the front portion facing the pool. A small aluminum framed window is placed in the middle of the wall. Both side elevations are identical. Side elevation.

The Mansard roof is visible from the rear elevation, from which the covered patio and pipe columns are also visible. The ends of the beams are visible on this elevation. Rear elevation.
463
103
A signature feature of every pool area are the rows of symmetrical mature palm trees which are placed on the three sides in front of/to the side of the pavilion. 464
104
The first pool pavilion (1969) differs from the rest of the Woolf designs, and it is unclear if Woolf designed this simplified version or if Dawson had it built in accordance with the rest of the Woolf design. In its current, extensively altered state, the pavilion is a simple structure with a mansard roof supported by four pipe beams with faced with a circular jacuzzi.

From the side, the mansard roof is apparent, and the two beams are expressed. An addition protrudes from the rear of the pavilion.
465
105
From the rear, the addition is a simple structure made of slump block and the mansard roof is visible.
466
106

ALTERATIONS
While all other pool pavilions remain in well-preserved condition, the first pool pavilion (above) has been significantly altered over its existence. The location of the original beams has changed, the mansard roof was reduced in profile and size, slump block walls were added to extend from the pavilion, and a rear addition was completed for mechanical equipment. The only preserved element of the original design is its layout on an axis and the location of the circular jacuzzi.
467
107

ANALYSIS
Small alterations vary on each of the pavilions (such as the removal of the refrigerator or the addition of a ceiling fan) but, except for the very first pavilion, all of them remain substantially preserved and convey the original Woolf design. Preservation on pavilions #2-14 should be largely focused on preserving them as they are, including the presence of a strong central axis, rows of palm trees, and placement of pools/hot tubs. Any renovations or alterations to these features should first consult the Woolf archive and align with his design intentions. Because of its substantial alterations, preservation for pool pavilion #1 should focus on preserving its use and general design elements like the presence of a mansard roof, a plan with a strong central axis, and the location of the existing circular jacuzzi. Preservation of pool pavilion #1 may entail restoring altered design elements (such as the original mansard roof design), but efforts should not attempt to mimic the design of the other pool pavilions.

FEATURES TO BE PRESERVED
Pool Pavilion #1
Pink and white color scheme
Strong central axis
Design featuring a Mansard roof
Pool Pavilions #2-14
Pink and white color scheme
Strong central axis
Massing and design of Mansard roof
Original design with curved protruding awning
Placement and design of four columns (eight total) on either side of roof Placement and size of oval details on either side
Expression of angular beams on ceiling
Placement of one small window on either side of pavilion Pool and Jacuzzi (All Pavilions)
Symmetrical placement, size, and design of pool per original Woolf plan Symmetrical placement, size, and design of jacuzzi per original Woolf plan (note: this only applies to hot tubs that were built to the original Woolf spec, placed on opposite side of pavilion)
Landscape (All Pavilions)
Rows of symmetrical and equidistant palm trees surrounding each pool area 468
108
Appendix A: Historic Photographs
Unless otherwise noted, photographs are provided courtesy of the Historical Society of Palm Desert or the archives at Marrakesh Country Club. These photos are intended to provide both additional visual context and reference material for future preservation questions.

Aerials

469
109

470
110
Golf Course
471
111
472
112
473
113
474
114
475
115
476
116
477
117
Clubhouse
478
118
479
119
480
120
Administration Building
481
121
482
122
Entryway and Gatehouse
483
123
484
124
485
125
Condominiums and Streetscapes
486
126
487
127
488
128
489
129
490
130
Pool Pavilions
491
131
492
132
Appendix B: Historic Brochures
Historic brochures provided courtesy of the Historical Society of Palm Desert.

Brochure #1, Circa 1974
493
133
494
134
495
135
496
136
497
137
498
138
499
139
500
140
501
141
502
142
Brochure #2: 1968
Originally published as a spread in Palm Springs Life, September 1968 503
143
504
144
505
145
506
146
507
147
508
148
509
149
510
150
Appendix C: Parcel Information

GOLF COURSE AND COMMON AREAS

APN ADDRESS DESCRIPTION SUBDIVISION
630420001 47001 PORTOLA AVE GOLF COURSE N/A
630420002 47001 PORTOLA AVE GOLF COURSE N/A
630420003 47001 PORTOLA AVE GOLF COURSE N/A
630420004 47001 PORTOLA AVE GOLF COURSE N/A
630420005 47001 PORTOLA AVE GOLF COURSE N/A
630170017 N/A AREA 1 (COMMON) N/A
630210027 N/A AREA 2 (COMMON) N/A
630260039 N/A AREA 3 (COMMON) N/A
630280033 N/A AREA 4 (COMMON) N/A
630291034 N/A AREA 5 (COMMON) N/A
630292037 N/A AREA 6 (COMMON) N/A
630320039 N/A AREA 7 (COMMON) N/A
630340023 N/A AREA 8 (COMMON) N/A
630360036 N/A AREA 9 (COMMON) N/A
630360035 N/A AREA 10 (COMMON) N/A
630390035 N/A AREA 11 (COMMON) N/A
630400045 N/A AREA 12 (COMMON) N/A
630400019 N/A AREA 13 (COMMON) N/A
630410027 N/A AREA 14 (COMMON) N/A
511
151

CONDOMINIUMS
364 parcels total, organized by subdivision/tract

APN ADDRESS PLAN TYPE ADDRESS
630210024 47495 MARRAKESH DR A TR 3733
630210023 47493 MARRAKESH DR A TR 3733
630210020 47487 MARRAKESH DR B TR 3733
630210019 47485 MARRAKESH DR B TR 3733
630210016 47479 MARRAKESH DR B TR 3733
630210015 47477 MARRAKESH DR B TR 3733
630210003 47487 TANGIER DR B TR 3733
630210004 47485 TANGIER DR B TR 3733
630210007 47479 TANGIER DR B TR 3733
630210008 47477 TANGIER DR B TR 3733
630210010 47473 TANGIER DR C TR 3733
630210013 47467 TANGIER DR C TR 3733
630210014 47465 TANGIER DR C TR 3733
630210009 47475 TANGIER DR C TR 3733
630210026 47491 MARRAKESH DR D TR 3733
630210001 47491 TANGIER DR D TR 3733
630210002 47489 TANGIER DR D TR 3733
630210021 47489 MARRAKESH DR D TR 3733
630210018 47483 MARRAKESH DR D TR 3733
630210017 47481 MARRAKESH DR D TR 3733
630210011 47471 TANGIER DR D TR 3733
630210012 47469 TANGIER DR D TR 3733
630210005 47483 TANGIER DR D TR 3733
630210006 47481 TANGIER DR D TR 3733
512
152

APN ADDRESS PLAN TYPE ADDRESS
630170010 47011 ARCADIA LN A TR 3837
630170009 47015 ARCADIA LN A TR 3837
630170013 47025 MARRAKESH DR B TR 3837
630170014 47029 MARRAKESH DR B TR 3837
630170003 47041 ARCADIA LN B TR 3837
630170004 47039 ARCADIA LN B TR 3837
630170007 47021 ARCADIA LN B TR 3837
630170008 47019 ARCADIA LN B TR 3837
630170015 47035 MARRAKESH DR C TR 3837
630170016 47037 MARRAKESH DR C TR 3837
630170005 47033 ARCADIA LN C TR 3837
630170006 47031 ARCADIA LN C TR 3837
630170001 47045 ARCADIA LN D TR 3837
630170011 47013 MARRAKESH DR D TR 3837
630170012 47017 MARRAKESH DR D TR 3837
630170002 47043 ARCADIA LN D TR 3837
630260017 47438 RABAT DR A TR 3957
630260013 47446 RABAT DR A TR 3957
630260014 47444 RABAT DR A TR 3957
630260018 47436 RABAT DR A TR 3957
630260025 47422 RABAT DR A TR 3957
630260026 47420 RABAT DR A TR 3957
630260001 47470 MAROC CIR B TR 3957
630260002 47468 MAROC CIR B TR 3957
630260011 47447 MAROC CIR B TR 3957
630260012 47445 MAROC CIR B TR 3957
630260023 47426 RABAT DR B TR 3957
513
153

APN ADDRESS PLAN TYPE ADDRESS
630260024 47424 RABAT DR B TR 3957
630260036 47410 MARRAKESH DR B TR 3957
630260035 47408 MARRAKESH DR B TR 3957
630260034 47406 MARRAKESH DR B TR 3957
630260033 47404 MARRAKESH DR B TR 3957
630260029 47403 MEDINA DR B TR 3957
630260030 47401 MEDINA DR B TR 3957
630260007 47455 MAROC CIR B TR 3957
630260008 47453 MAROC CIR B TR 3957
630260010 47449 MAROC CIR C TR 3957
630260015 47442 RABAT DR C TR 3957
630260016 47440 RABAT DR C TR 3957
630260038 47414 MARRAKESH DR C TR 3957
630260037 47412 MARRAKESH DR C TR 3957
630260027 47407 MEDINA DR C TR 3957
630260028 47405 MEDINA DR C TR 3957
630260009 47451 MAROC CIR C TR 3957
630260003 47466 MAROC CIR D TR 3957
630260019 47434 RABAT DR D TR 3957
630260020 47432 RABAT DR D TR 3957
630260021 47430 RABAT DR D TR 3957
630260022 47428 RABAT DR D TR 3957
630260032 47402 MARRAKESH DR D TR 3957
630260031 47400 MARRAKESH DR D TR 3957
630260004 47464 MAROC CIR D TR 3957
630260005 47459 MAROC CIR D TR 3957
630260006 47457 MAROC CIR D TR 3957
514
154

APN ADDRESS PLAN TYPE ADDRESS
630280003 47468 E MEDINA DR B TR 4125
630280029 47436 W MEDINA DR B TR 4125
630280030 47434 W MEDINA DR B TR 4125
630280025 47415 W MEDINA DR B TR 4125
630280026 47413 W MEDINA DR B TR 4125
630280004 47466 E MEDINA DR B TR 4125
630280007 47460 E MEDINA DR B TR 4125
630280008 47458 E MEDINA DR B TR 4125
630280001 47472 E MEDINA DR C TR 4125
630280002 47470 E MEDINA DR C TR 4125
630280017 47431 W MEDINA DR C TR 4125
630280018 47429 W MEDINA DR C TR 4125
630280021 47423 W MEDINA DR C TR 4125
630280022 47421 W MEDINA DR C TR 4125
630280010 47454 E MEDINA DR D TR 4125
630280011 47452 E MEDINA DR D TR 4125
630280012 47450 E MEDINA DR D TR 4125
630280013 47448 E MEDINA DR D TR 4125
630280014 47446 E MEDINA DR D TR 4125
630280027 47440 W MEDINA DR D TR 4125
630280028 47438 W MEDINA DR D TR 4125
630280015 47435 W MEDINA DR D TR 4125
630280016 47433 W MEDINA DR D TR 4125
630280031 47432 W MEDINA DR D TR 4125
630280032 47430 W MEDINA DR D TR 4125
630280019 47427 W MEDINA DR D TR 4125
630280020 47425 W MEDINA DR D TR 4125
515
155

APN ADDRESS PLAN TYPE ADDRESS
630280023 47419 W MEDINA DR D TR 4125
630280024 47417 W MEDINA DR D TR 4125
630280005 47464 E MEDINA DR D TR 4125
630280006 47462 E MEDINA DR D TR 4125
630280009 47456 E MEDINA DR D TR 4125
630291010 47049 KASBAH DR B TR 4273
630291015 47071 KASBAH DR B TR 4273
630291016 47073 KASBAH DR B TR 4273
630291021 47103 MARRAKESH DR B TR 4273
630291022 47105 MARRAKESH DR B TR 4273
630291025 47113 MARRAKESH DR B TR 4273
630291026 47115 MARRAKESH DR B TR 4273
630291009 47047 KASBAH DR B TR 4273
630291001 47051 MARRAKESH DR C TR 4273
630291028 47053 MARRAKESH DR C TR 4273
630291032 47107 MARRAKESH DR C TR 4273
630291024 47109 MARRAKESH DR C TR 4273
630291007 47085 MARRAKESH DR C TR 4273
630291008 47087 MARRAKESH DR C TR 4273
630291011 47055 KASBAH DR D TR 4273
630291012 47057 KASBAH DR D TR 4273
630291030 47063 KASBAH DR D TR 4273
630291014 47065 KASBAH DR D TR 4273
630291031 47081 KASBAH DR D TR 4273
630291018 47083 KASBAH DR D TR 4273
630291019 47093 KASBAH DR D TR 4273
630291033 47095 KASBAH DR D TR 4273
516
156

APN ADDRESS PLAN TYPE ADDRESS
630291003 47059 MARRAKESH DR D TR 4273
630291004 47061 MARRAKESH DR D TR 4273
630291005 47075 MARRAKESH DR D TR 4273
630291029 47077 MARRAKESH DR D TR 4273
630292015 47152 EL MENARA CIR B TR 4274
630292016 47154 EL MENARA CIR B TR 4274
630292025 47147 EL MENARA CIR B TR 4274
630292026 47145 EL MENARA CIR B TR 4274
630292033 47127 EL MENARA CIR B TR 4274
630292034 47125 EL MENARA CIR B TR 4274
630292007 47136 EL MENARA CIR B TR 4274
630292008 47138 EL MENARA CIR B TR 4274
630292038 47131 EL MENARA CIR C TR 4274
630292013 47148 EL MENARA CIR C TR 4274
630292014 47150 EL MENARA CIR C TR 4274
630292019 47159 EL MENARA CIR C TR 4274
630292020 47157 EL MENARA CIR C TR 4274
630292003 47128 EL MENARA CIR C TR 4274
630292031 47133 EL MENARA CIR C TR 4274
630292004 47130 E EL MENARA CIR C TR 4274
630292001 47124 EL MENARA CIR D TR 4274
630292010 47142 EL MENARA CIR D TR 4274
630292011 47144 EL MENARA CIR D TR 4274
630292012 47146 EL MENARA CIR D TR 4274
630292017 47156 EL MENARA CIR D TR 4274
630292018 47158 EL MENARA CIR D TR 4274
630292002 47126 EL MENARA CIR D TR 4274
517
157

APN ADDRESS PLAN TYPE ADDRESS
630292021 47155 EL MENARA CIR D TR 4274
630292022 47153 EL MENARA CIR D TR 4274
630292023 47151 EL MENARA CIR D TR 4274
630292024 47149 EL MENARA CIR D TR 4274
630292027 47143 EL MENARA CIR D TR 4274
630292028 47141 EL MENARA CIR D TR 4274
630292029 47137 EL MENARA CIR D TR 4274
630292030 47135 EL MENARA CIR D TR 4274
630292035 47123 EL MENARA CIR D TR 4274
630292036 47121 EL MENARA CIR D TR 4274
630292005 47132 EL MENARA CIR D TR 4274
630292006 47134 EL MENARA CIR D TR 4274
630292009 47140 EL MENARA CIR D TR 4274
630320001 47170 EL AGADIR CIR B TR 4749
630320011 47194 EL AGADIR CIR B TR 4749
630320012 47196 EL AGADIR CIR B TR 4749
630320017 47209 EL AGADIR CIR B TR 4749
630320018 47207 EL AGADIR CIR B TR 4749
630320002 47172 EL AGADIR CIR B TR 4749
630320025 47193 EL AGADIR CIR B TR 4749
630320026 47212 MARRAKESH DR B TR 4749
630320027 47189 EL AGADIR CIR B TR 4749
630320028 47187 EL AGADIR CIR B TR 4749
630320031 47181 EL AGADIR CIR B TR 4749
630320032 47179 EL AGADIR CIR B TR 4749
630320015 47202 EL AGADIR CIR C TR 4749
630320016 47204 EL AGADIR CIR C TR 4749
518
158

APN ADDRESS PLAN TYPE ADDRESS
630320019 47205 EL AGADIR CIR C TR 4749
630320020 47203 EL AGADIR CIR C TR 4749
630320023 47197 EL AGADIR CIR C TR 4749
630320024 47195 EL AGADIR CIR C TR 4749
630320035 47173 EL AGADIR CIR C TR 4749
630320036 47171 EL AGADIR CIR C TR 4749
630320005 47178 EL AGADIR CIR C TR 4749
630320006 47180 EL AGADIR CIR C TR 4749
630320010 47188 EL AGADIR CIR D TR 4749
630320013 47198 EL AGADIR CIR D TR 4749
630320014 47200 EL AGADIR CIR D TR 4749
630320021 47201 EL AGADIR CIR D TR 4749
630320022 47199 EL AGADIR CIR D TR 4749
630320029 47185 EL AGADIR CIR D TR 4749
630320003 47174 EL AGADIR CIR D TR 4749
630320030 47183 EL AGADIR CIR D TR 4749
630320033 47177 EL AGADIR CIR D TR 4749
630320034 47175 EL AGADIR CIR D TR 4749
630320037 47190 EL AGADIR CIR D TR 4749
630320038 47192 EL AGADIR CIR D TR 4749
630320004 47176 EL AGADIR CIR D TR 4749
630320007 47182 EL AGADIR CIR D TR 4749
630320008 47184 EL AGADIR CIR D TR 4749
630320009 47186 EL AGADIR CIR D TR 4749
630340001 47120 EL MENARA CIR B TR 5445S
630340011 47090 EL MENARA CIR B TR 5445S
630340012 47088 EL MENARA CIR B TR 5445S
519
159

APN ADDRESS PLAN TYPE ADDRESS
630340015 47099 EL MINARA CIR B TR 5445S
630340016 47101 EL MENARA CIR B TR 5445S
630340002 47118 EL MENARA CIR B TR 5445S
630340021 47115 EL MENARA CIR B TR 5445S
630340022 47117 EL MENARA CIR B TR 5445S
630340005 47108 EL MENARA CIR B TR 5445S
630340006 47106 EL MENARA CIR B TR 5445S
630340010 47094 EL MENARA CIR C TR 5445S
630340013 47093 EL MENARA CIR C TR 5445S
630340014 47095 EL MENARA CIR C TR 5445S
630340019 47109 EL MENARA CIR C TR 5445S
630340020 47111 EL MENARA CIR C TR 5445S
630340009 47096 EL MENARA CIR C TR 5445S
630340017 47103 EL MENARA CIR D TR 5445S
630340018 47105 EL MENARA CIR D TR 5445S
630340003 47114 EL MENARA CIR D TR 5445S
630340004 47112 EL MENARA CIR D TR 5445S
630340007 47102 EL MENARA CIR D TR 5445S
630340008 47100 EL MENARA CIR D TR 5445S
630360013 47327 N ABDEL CIR B TR 5904
630360014 47329 N ABDEL CIR B TR 5904
630360021 47368 AVENUE JADIDA B TR 5904
630360022 47370 AVENUE JADIDA B TR 5904
630360027 47390 AVENUE JADIDA B TR 5904
630360028 47392 AVENUE JADIDA B TR 5904
630360003 47306 N ABDEL CIR B TR 5904
630360031 47374 MARRAKESH DR B TR 5904
520
160

APN ADDRESS PLAN TYPE ADDRESS
630360032 47372 MARRAKESH DR B TR 5904
630360004 47308 N ABDEL CIR B TR 5904
630360007 47314 N ABDEL CIR B TR 5904
630360008 47316 N ABDEL CIR B TR 5904
630360001 47302 N ABDEL CIR C TR 5904
630360011 47323 N ABDEL CIR C TR 5904
630360012 47325 N ABDEL CIR C TR 5904
630360015 47331 N ABDEL CIR C TR 5904
630360016 47333 S ABDEL CIR C TR 5904
630360002 47304 N ABDEL CIR C TR 5904
630360025 47382 AVENUE JADIDA C TR 5904
630360026 47384 AVENUE JADIDA C TR 5904
630360029 47388 MARRAKESH DR C TR 5904
630360030 47386 MARRAKESH DR C TR 5904
630360033 47366 MARRAKESH DR C TR 5904
630360034 47364 MARRAKESH DR C TR 5904
630360010 47320 N ABDEL CIR D TR 5904
630360017 47330 N MARRAKESH DR D TR 5904
630360018 47328 MARRAKESH DR D TR 5904
630360019 47360 AVENUE JADIDA D TR 5904
630360020 47362 AVENUE JADIDA D TR 5904
630360023 47376 AVENUE JADIDA D TR 5904
630360024 47380 AVENUE JADIDA D TR 5904
630360005 47310 N ABDEL CIR D TR 5904
630360006 47312 ABDEL CIR D TR 5904
630360009 47318 N ABDEL CIR D TR 5904
630390017 46930 AMIR DR B TR 6229-1
521
161

APN ADDRESS PLAN TYPE ADDRESS
630390018 46920 AMIR DR B TR 6229-1
630390021 73581 MALABATA DR B TR 6229-1
630390022 73587 MALABATA DR B TR 6229-1
630390003 73561 MINZAH WAY B TR 6229-1
630390031 46860 AMIR DR B TR 6229-1
630390032 46850 AMIR DR B TR 6229-1
630390004 73567 MINZAH WAY B TR 6229-1
630390007 73591 MINZAH WAY B TR 6229-1
630390008 73597 MINZAH WAY B TR 6229-1
630390011 46950 SOMIA CT C TR 6229-1
630390012 46940 SOMIA CT C TR 6229-1
630390025 73586 MALABATA DR C TR 6229-1
630390026 73580 MALABATA DR C TR 6229-1
630390029 73556 MALABATA DR C TR 6229-1
630390030 73550 MALABATA DR C TR 6229-1
630390005 73571 MINZAH WAY C TR 6229-1
630390006 73577 MINZAH WAY C TR 6229-1
630390001 73541 MINZAH WAY D TR 6229-1
630390010 73580 MINZAH WAY D TR 6229-1
630390013 73566 MINZAH WAY D TR 6229-1
630390014 73560 MINZAH WAY D TR 6229-1
630390015 46960 AMIR DR D TR 6229-1
630390016 46950 AMIR DR D TR 6229-1
630390002 73547 MINZAH WAY D TR 6229-1
630390023 73596 MALABATA DR D TR 6229-1
630390024 73590 MALABATA DR D TR 6229-1
630390027 73576 MALABATA DR D TR 6229-1
522
162

APN ADDRESS PLAN TYPE ADDRESS
630390028 73570 MALABATA DR D TR 6229-1
630390009 73586 MINZAH WAY D TR 6229-1
630400010 73579 EL HASSON CIR B TR 6229-2
630400017 73595 EL HASSON CIR B TR 6229-2
630400018 73597 EL HASSON CIR B TR 6229-2
630400009 73577 EL HASSON CIR B TR 6229-2
630400011 73583 El HASSON CIR C TR-6229-2
630400012 73583 EL HASSON CIR C TR 6229-2
630400015 73591 EL HASSON CIR C TR 6229-2
630400016 73593 EL HASSON CIR C TR 6229-2
630400005 73570 EL HASSON CIR C TR 6229-2
630400006 73572 EL HASSON CIR C TR 6229-2
630400001 73596 EL HASSON CIR D TR 6229-2
630400013 73587 EL HASSON CIR D TR 6229-2
630400014 73589 EL HASSON CIR D TR 6229-2
630400002 73594 EL HASSON CIR D TR 6229-2
630400003 73571 EL HASSON CIR D TR 6229-2
630400004 73573 EL HASSON CIR D TR 6229-2
630400007 73574 EL HASSON CIR D TR 6229-2
630400008 73576 EL HASSON CIR D TR 6229-2
630400021 47050 AMIR DR B TR 6229-3
630400031 47310 AMIR DR B TR 6229-3
630400032 47340 AMIR DR B TR 6229-3
630400022 47060 AMIR DR B TR 6229-3
630400043 73590 AMIR DR B TR 6229-3
630400044 73596 AMIR DR B TR 6229-3
630400027 47200 AMIR DR B TR 6229-3
523
163

APN ADDRESS PLAN TYPE ADDRESS
630400028 47220 AMIR DR B TR 6229-3
630400030 47280 AMIR DR C TR 6229-3
630400041 73580 AMIR DR C TR 6229-3
630400042 73586 AMIR DR C TR 6229-3
630400025 47130 AMIR DR C TR 6229-3
630400026 47160 AMIR DR C TR 6229-3
630400029 47260 AMIR DR C TR 6229-3
630400033 47360 AMIR DR D TR 6229-3
630400034 47390 AMIR DR D TR 6229-3
630400035 47420 AMIR DR D TR 6229-3
630400036 47460 AMIR DR D TR 6229-3
630400037 73560 AMIR DR D TR 6229-3
630400038 73566 AMIR DR D TR 6229-3
630400039 73570 AMIR DR D TR 6229-3
630400040 73576 AMIR DR D TR 6229-3
630400023 47080 AMIR DR D TR 6229-3
630400024 47090 AMIR DR D TR 6229-3
630410021 73719 AMIR DR B TR 9129
630410022 73729 AMIR DR B TR 9129
630410025 73759 AMIR DR B TR 9129
630410026 73769 AMIR DR B TR 9129
630410005 46760 AMIR DR B TR 9129
630410006 46750 AMIR DR B TR 9129
630410017 73649 AMIR DR C TR 9129
630410018 73669 AMIR DR C TR 9129
630410023 73739 AMIR DR C TR 9129
630410024 73749 AMIR DR C TR 9129
524
164

APN ADDRESS PLAN TYPE ADDRESS
630410003 46800 AMIR DR C TR 9129
630410004 46790 AMIR DR C TR 9129
630410007 46730 AMIR DR C TR 9129
630410008 46720 AMIR DR C TR 9129
630410001 46840 AMIR DR D TR 9129
630410010 46680 AMIR DR D TR 9129
630410011 46650 AMIR DR D TR 9129
630410012 46640 AMIR DR D TR 9129
630410013 73569 AMIR DR D TR 9129
630410014 73589 AMIR DR D TR 9129
630410015 73609 AMIR DR D TR 9129
630410016 73629 AMIR DR D TR 9129
630410019 73689 AMIR DR D TR 9129
630410002 46830 AMIR DR D TR 9129
630410020 73709 AMIR DR D TR 9129
630410009 46690 AMIR DR D TR 9129
525
526

C I T Y O F P A L M D E S E R T
73-510 FRED WARING DRIVE
PALM DESERT, CALIFORNIA 92260-2578
TEL: 760-776-6483
[email protected]

CITY OF PALM DESERT

PUBLIC HEARING NOTICE
CASE NO. CRPC25-0002

NOTICE IS HEREBY GIVEN THAT A PUBLIC HEARING WILL BE HELD BEFORE THE CITY

COUNCIL OF THE CITY OF PALM DESERT, CALIFORNIA, TO CONSIDER ADOPTING A

RESOLUTION FOR THE DESIGNATION OF MARRAKESH COUNTRY CLUB AS A HISTORIC

DISTRICT
The City of Palm Desert (City), in its capacity as the Lead Agency for this project under the California Environmental Quality Act (CEQA), has determined that the proposed historic district designation is not subject to CEQA pursuant to Guidelines Section 15060(C)(2) and 15060(C)(3) as the project will not result in a direct or reasonably foreseeable indirect physical change in the environment and is not a Project as defined by Section 15378.

PROJECT LOCATION: South of Grapevine Lane, west of Portola Avenue, north of Haystack Road, and east of Amir Drive. The site contains 383 non-sequential Assessor’s Parcels Numbers (APN) that will be listed in the staff report, once posted with the agenda.

PROJECT DESCRIPTION: The project is a request to designate the residential condominium structures, associated common areas, clubhouse, guardhouse, and administrative building that comprise “Marrakesh Country Club” as a local historic district.

HISTORIC PRESERVATION COMMITTEE (HPC) RECOMMENDATION: At its regular meeting on August 27, 2025, the HPC recommended that the City Council approve the historic district request.

PUBLIC HEARING: NOTICE IS HEREBY GIVEN that the City Council of the City of Palm Desert, California, will hold a Public Hearing at its meeting on October 23, 2025. The City Council meeting begins at 4:00 p.m. in the Council Chamber at 73510 Fred Waring Drive, Palm Desert, California.

Pursuant to Assembly Bill 2449, this meeting may be conducted as a hybrid meeting allowing public access via teleconference or in person. Options for remote participation will be listed on the Posted Agenda for the meeting at https://www.palmdesert.gov/connect/city-council.

COMMENT ON THIS APPLICATION: Those wishing to comment on this application may either appear in person at the public hearing or submit written comments, which must be received by 10:00 a.m. on the day of the hearing. Written comments should be sent to the City of Palm Desert at 73510 Fred Waring Drive, Palm Desert, California 92260, Attention: City Clerk, or emailed to:

[email protected].

Any challenge of the proposed project in court may be limited to raising only those issues raised at the public hearing described in this notice or in written correspondence delivered to the City Clerk at or prior to the public hearing. [Government Code Section 65009(b)(2)].

Si necesita ayuda con esta notificación por favor llame a la Ciudad de Palm Desert y comuníquese con Damian Olivares (760) 346-0611.

PUBLISH: THE DESERT SUN ANTHONY MEJIA, MMC, CITY CLERK
OCTOBER 10, 2025 CITY OF PALM DESERT, CALIFORNIA
527
528
City of Palm Desert
Historic Context Statement &
Reconnaissance Survey Findings

Prepared for:

City of Palm Desert
Prepared by:

April 11, 2025
529
City of Palm Desert | Historic Context Statement & Phase 1 Historic Resources Survey Aoril 11, 2025 ARCHITECTURAL RESOURCES GROUP i

1. Introduction ........................................................................................................................ 1

1.1 Project Overview and Scope ........................................................................................................ 1

1.2 Description of the Survey Area .................................................................................................... 1

1.3 Project Team ................................................................................................................................ 2

1.4 Previous Designations and Surveys .............................................................................................. 3

2. Methodology ....................................................................................................................... 5

2.1 Technical Guidance ...................................................................................................................... 5

2.2 Archival Research ......................................................................................................................... 5

2.3 Reconnaissance Survey ................................................................................................................ 6

2.4 Community Outreach ................................................................................................................... 7

2.5 Historic Context Statement .......................................................................................................... 8

3. Regulatory Environment ...................................................................................................... 9

3.1 National Register of Historic Places ............................................................................................. 9

3.2 California Register of Historical Resources................................................................................. 10

3.3 City of Palm Desert Historic Preservation Ordinance ................................................................. 12

4. Historic Context Statement................................................................................................. 14

4.1 Purpose and Overview ............................................................................................................... 14

4.2 Summary of Contexts and Themes ............................................................................................ 14

4.3 Context: The Palm Desert Area, Pre-1910 ................................................................................. 18

4.4 Context: Early Development in Palm Desert, 1910-1945 ........................................................... 23

4.5 Context: Palm Desert Planned Community Development, 1946-1956 ...................................... 40

4.6 Context: Palm Desert Diversified Development, 1957-1966...................................................... 86

4.7 Context: Palm Desert Country Clubs and Incorporation, 1967-1980 ....................................... 127

4.8 Context: Architecture and Design, 1910-1980 ......................................................................... 158

5. Reconnaissance Survey Findings ....................................................................................... 183

5.1 Summary of Reconnaissance Survey Findings .......................................................................... 183

6. Bibliography ..................................................................................................................... 184

Appendix A. Survey Area Map
Appendix B. Chronology Map
Appendix C. Reconnaissance Survey Findings Map
Appendix D. Reconnaissance Survey Findings Property List Appendix E. Tract Development Summaries

Cover image: Ca. 1965 aerial photograph, Shadow Mountain Collection, Historical Society of Palm Desert 530
City of Palm Desert | Historic Context Statement & Reconnaissance Survey Findings April 11, 2025 ARCHITECTURAL RESOURCES GROUP 127

4.7 Context: Palm Desert Country Clubs and Incorporation, 1967-1980 Historical Background
The decade following the late 1960s was perhaps the most crucial in the establishment of contemporary Palm Desert. The decade saw to the continued development of the community’s assets, but more pressingly, to the incorporation of the community as its own city. Until the 1970s, “Palm Desert” was a loosely defined community. Its borders were informal and at times reached into Rancho Mirage and Indian Wells. Indeed, various prominent developments in those two cities – including Eldorado Country Club, Eisenhower Medical Center, or Desert Air Park – had associated themselves with Palm Desert at one point or another. By the 1970s, the population of Palm Desert had greatly expanded, and now contained a much more diverse constituency of year-round families and retirees living in a variety of developments, even if it was still primarily a seasonal community.

Palm Desert recovered quickly from the late-1960s lull in construction activity, which could be attributed in part to the diminishing novelty of the style and type of previous developments, combined with larger economic trends. The refined Mid-Century Modern style (with Desert Modernism as a local subset) which had put the Coachella Valley on the map, had taken a more popular and exotic turn at the beginning of the 1960s, and by the early 1970s had lost even more of its appeal. The early country club model, which had been pioneered to immense success in the late 1950s and early 1960s with its single-family estates sited on a golf course, also needed a revamp to reinvigorate its profitability.

The development of the late 1960s and 1970s accounted for these issues in multiple ways. First, the architecture moved further away from Mid-Century Modernism, now fully embracing historicist themes and motifs, the Late Modern style, or, increasingly, a combination of both. An ambiguous Southwestern style became popular across California, incorporating elements from Spanish and Pueblo Revival styles to give form to architecture that had stucco walls and red tile roofs but still retained modern impulses.

Examples of this style developing in Palm Desert from this period range from the Palm Desert Tennis Club (John Outcault, 1971-73) to the clubhouse of Del Safari Country Club (John Galbraith, 1969). Architects previously working in a distinctly Mid-Century Modern style began designing almost solely in this style. In other instances, the Late Modern style, with its high-tech and structurally expressive approach, found its way into some of Palm Desert’s architecture. Generally speaking, architecture became more eclectic, historicist, and regional.

The second way that developers responded to new demands, particularly in the realm of residential architecture, was the final and complete expansion of the condominium model. While condominiums had been introduced as part of country clubs in the prior decade (e.g., Shadow Mountain Fairway Cottages) and had already found widespread popularity in Palm Desert, their implementation was taken even further. New large developments in Palm Desert, including Ironwood Country Club (1971), Marrakesh Country Club (1968), and Sommerset Villas (1977), consisted entirely or mostly of condominiums.

Developers also purchased the remaining vacant parcels in the heart of Palm Desert and filled them with self-contained condominium communities.

These new country clubs and condominiums were also part of a regional shift that was occurring across the Coachella Valley. Whereas attention had been initially focused on Palm Springs in the postwar era, and mid-valley cities like Palm Desert had developed as a result, this dynamic reversed in the 1960s and 531
City of Palm Desert | Historic Context Statement & Reconnaissance Survey Findings April 11, 2025 ARCHITECTURAL RESOURCES GROUP 128
1970s. The country clubs, which had been pioneered and matured in the hinterlands surrounding Palm Springs, came to offer a much more enticing and exclusive product than Palm Springs could, made increasingly affordable to various income levels via condominiums.243 Country club developments required large parcels of land (which Palm Springs did not have) and limited restrictions on development, which unincorporated communities like Palm Desert did not impose. For this reason, country clubs of varying sizes became widespread in the communities outside of Palm Springs, which went into a decline during this period. Rancho Mirage, Indian Wells, Palm Desert, and Bermuda Dunes prevailed during this period with their country clubs, golf tournaments, and upscale narrative.

The increased development of country clubs and condominiums in the late 1960s and 1970s exacerbated an identity crisis which Palm Desert had begun to face in the early 1960s. On one hand, unlike Rancho Mirage or Indian Wells, it was not an entirely seasonal community, and although many of its residents were seasonal, it was also home to increasing numbers of families due to the development of affordable single-family tracts and schools. On the other hand, it was not an entirely year-round or working-class community like Indio or Cathedral City. It occupied a position (and arguably still does) somewhere in between, supporting a variety of year-round and seasonal residents at varying socioeconomic levels, though certainly leaning towards a demographic that was upper-class and White. In many ways, this limbo reflected its geographic location at the very center of the Coachella Valley, and in other ways, it symbolized the unresolved dispute between Cliff and Randall Henderson, the two brothers who founded Palm Desert, over the character of Palm Desert.

This dynamic began to boil over in the late 1960s in light of continued development which many residents saw as compromising to the refined character of Palm Desert. The community, which was unincorporated, had limited control over development and planning, which was governed by Riverside County. In the 1940s, the PDC had instituted total control over the development of its land, but the sale to the Palm Desert Sales Company (PDSC) diminished this control, and an increasing variety of landowners and developers who answered to no one except the county further complicated matters.

The result was that development in Palm Desert, even within its historic boundaries and directly adjacent to the most upscale neighborhoods, began to fall out of the existing character of the city. Affordable apartments and condominiums, mobile home parks, and even a proposed K-Mart all earned the wrath of legions of residents and organizations who quickly realized how little control they had over the planning of Palm Desert.244 Even developments like Ironwood Country Club and Deep Canyon Tennis Club, which were both upscale country clubs, were faced with opposition. In turn, the period between the late 1960s and early 1970s was one of relative civic crisis. Such organizations as the Palm Desert Property Owners Association (PDPOA) and the Concerned Citizens of Palm Desert (CCPD) came into existence and prominence, waging numerous fights against development, particularly in the historic heart of Palm Desert south of Highway 111.245
243 Stanley Fonseca, “Whiteness on the Green: Golf, the Coachella Valley, and the Leisure-Industrial Complex,” Pacific Historical Review 90, no. 4 (2021): 448-474. 244 “K-Mart Project in Palm Desert is Gone… But Melody Lingers,” Desert Sun, January 1, 1974. 245 “Association Signs Agreement,” Palm Desert Post, January 30, 1964; “PD Citizens Group Formed to Protect Local Interests,” Palm Desert Post, June 17, 1961.
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Between the 1960s and the early 1970s, there were multiple attempts to incorporate the city, which finally succeeded in 1973. The failure of other attempts to incorporate Palm Desert can be attributed to either the fact that it had such loose borders, or that it had overreaching ambitions.246 Palm Desert’s earlier incorporation attempts had included significant parts of both Indian Wells and Rancho Mirage, which were also facing similar growing pains to Palm Desert. A competition was essentially started between the three communities, as all of them vied to incorporate and included parts of the others within their borders. Ultimately, Indian Wells and Rancho Mirage both incorporated before Palm Desert and left most of its border untouched. Developments like Eisenhower Medical Center, Desert Air Park, and Eldorado Country Club, however, which at times were previously associated with Palm Desert, now formally belonged to those cities.

After Palm Desert incorporated and elected its first city council in 1973, it took its newfound cityhood seriously, implementing a robust planning program and incentivizing the types of development it sought out. It placed strict limits on building height, type, and density and retroactively policed the built environment, even banning most types of signage (which saw to the eradication of the city’s neon in 1979). And after a series of devastating flash floods in the years immediately after incorporation, the City also undertook a massive infrastructural campaign that was completed in the early 1980s.247 The immediate result of Palm Desert’s incorporation and first phase of planning was that development slowed, and what did continue was typically of an upscale nature.

Palm Desert’s role as a formidable mid-valley presence expanded during the institutionalization of the city. Schools like Palm Desert Middle School and Palm Desert High School were planned or constructed, while existing institutions like College of the Desert expanded. El Paseo finally matured into an upscale downtown, while Highway 111 also continued to fill in. In the beginning of the 1970s, Palm Desert established its first public park, and by the end of the 1970s, it was at work on the first civic center, which was to dramatically expand the city's civic amenities and government buildings.248 Palm Desert had entered the late 1960s rife with development but without a clear vision and left the 1970s as a newly minted yet planned city.

Theme: Residential Development, 1967-1980
The end of the 1960s brought about yet another distinct phase of residential development in Palm Desert. In the 1950s and 1960s, the prevailing models of residential development across the Coachella Valley were split between the condominium and the country club, and in some cases a lucrative combination of the two. Palm Desert had seen these in projects like the Shadow Mountain Fairway Cottages (1961), Sandpiper (1958), and Sands and Shadows (1959) These projects were typically marketed to an upper-class seasonal or retiree population, but developments were built in the community for other demographics including Palm City (1960) and Shadow Village (1959). 246 “Anger and Confusion Follow PD Action,” Desert Sun, September 22, 1966; Chuck Kramer, “Cityhood Plans Progressing in Valley,” Desert Sun, January 4, 1964. 247 Janice Kleinschmidt, “The Fascinating History of Palm Desert, Celebrating 50 Years,” Palm Springs Life, November 5, 2023, https://www.palmspringslife.com/the-fascinating-history-of-palm-desert-celebrating-50-years/. 248 “Palm Desert Civic Center Planning Set,” Desert Sun, June 1, 1979. 533
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The 1950s and 1960s also saw to a shift in the prevailing source of development in Palm Desert, which had previously been accomplished mostly through individuals building their own custom homes in subdivisions. Increasingly, the prevalent source of development was developers who laid streets and built homes or condominiums for sale, and custom-built homes were not as common. In other parts of Palm Desert, developers purchased empty lots and parcels in existing subdivisions and filled them in with spec homes and condominiums. Finally, the last shift was in architectural style, which saw a turn away from a refined Mid-Century Modern and Ranch to a more popular style that incorporated themed elements.

These shifts in Palm Desert’s mid-century development took further hold at the end of the 1960s and 1970s. Residential developments of this period almost ubiquitously consisted of condominiums that were combined with recreational facilities. Moreover, while Palm Desert had a golf course since the late 1950s, it previously did not have a formal upper-class “country club” with a residential component built by the same developer. This changed in the late 1960s as the country club further solidified its regional presence, especially in the communities in the middle and eastern portion of the Coachella Valley, where vacant land was widely available.

Development on two of Palm Desert’s first country clubs, Marrakesh County Club and Del Safari Country Club [Avondale Golf Club], began at the end of the 1960s. They were each private, gated clubs that were to contain a central clubhouse, full-size golf course, communal pools, recreational facilities, and a residential component sited directly on the golf course. Moreover, they both embodied the direction of branding and architecture in the late 1960s, which departed from a refined modernism, and towards an eclectic, popular, and vaguely historicist direction. Marrakesh, for example, was designed in a Hollywood Regency style thematized with Moroccan branding, while Del Safari was both designed and themed with African motifs, including lakes named after mountains in Africa and faux spear decorations on its entrance gates.

Marrakesh Country Club was announced in the fall of 1967 by venerable Coachella Valley developer Johnny Dawson, who was responsible for such prototypical country clubs as Thunderbird and Eldorado.249 He had purchased the former Haystack Ranch, a large parcel of land on the upper slope of Palm Desert that had evaded previous developers’ acquisition, and hired the prominent Los Angeles architect John Elgin Woolf to oversee all aspects of its planning and design.250 Woolf envisioned sets of condominiums (designed in four models) winding around a verdant golf course landscape that was overlooked by an elegant clubhouse. The entire development was to be painted in a distinctive pink and white color scheme, from which Dawson later extrapolated the Moroccan theme. Woolf designed every aspect of the development in his distinct Hollywood Regency style, from the gate house to lampposts. When Woolf fell ill near the conclusion of the project’s design, the commission for the clubhouse was given to Palm Springs architect Richard Harrison, who provided a design for a boxier, austere structure more typical of his noted Mid-Century Modern work.251 Theodore Robinson, prominent designer of golf courses, was also brought on for the construction of the community’s full-size golf course. 249 “Marrakech Country Club is Name of Dawson Project,” Desert Sun, July 11, 1968. 250 Steven Price, “Pink Gold,” Palm Springs Life, January 30, 2019, https://www.palmspringslife.com/marrakeshcountry-club-50-years/. 251 Gail Phinney, “Marrakesh Country Club,” John Elgin Woolf: Master of Hollywood Regency, https://johnelginwoolf.com/marrakesh-country-club/.
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Built in phases between 1968 and 1979, Marrakesh opened to outstanding success in Palm Desert, embodying the type of development that the community sought: low-density and well-designed homes for an upper-class clientele. Marrakesh’s developers built everything within its walls, from the golf course to the condominiums, and strictly controlled and maintained all aspects of the design. There were no single-family homes in the 364-uniit development, and residents had to adhere to Woolf’s design. An entire social life was formed around the clubhouse, which contained a dining room and entertaining spaces overlooking the golf course.252
Architect John Elgin Woolf’s original rendering for the Marrakesh Country Club, designed in his quintessential Hollywood Regency style. (John Elgin Woolf Papers, Architecture and Design Collection, UC Santa Barbara) While Marrakesh was underway, a group of investors led by local residents Burton Graham and George Glickley announced the Del Safari Country Club in the beginning of 1969. They commissioned the Pasadena architect John F. Galbraith to design the clubhouse, an inventive design that combined African motifs with a highly sculptural Pueblo-influenced style.253 The clubhouse, completed in 1970, was a circular, balcony-wrapped three-story structure that sat atop an artificial hill, giving it commanding views 252 Price, “Pink Gold,” Palm Springs Life, 2019. 253 “New Major Golf Project Planned,” Palm Desert Post, May 29, 1969. 535
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of the full-size golf course and surrounding desert. Del Safari was developed on a large parcel of vacant land north of Palm Desert (almost bordering Bermuda Dunes), pushing the border of the town farther than ever before. Del Safari, which was developed in a similar context and concept as Marrakesh, never enjoyed the success of its contemporary. Despite building one set of condominiums, the developers followed a custom-built development model and only a handful of homes were built.

The entrance and clubhouse of Marrakesh Country Club (left) painted in its classic pink and John F. Galbraith’s Late Modern clubhouse for the Del Safari Country Club (right), both embodying 1960s shifts in architecture. (Desert Beautiful Slide Collection, Historical Society of Palm Desert)
By far the largest and most comprehensive country club development of this period was Ironwood Country Club, a sprawling development on upwards of 1000 acres tucked at the very top of Palm Desert’s southern slope. The developers, a consortium led by Robert Haynie and Jack Vickers, had purchased land formerly part of Silver Spur Ranch at the base of Deep Canyon, and hired architect William Cody to envision a plan with upwards of 3000 housing units, three golf courses, tennis facilities, a clubhouse, and variety of other amenities.254 This plan (as many others were during this period) was met with backlash from neighborhood groups, and ultimately reduced in scale.255 Still, it was the largest residential of any type proposed in Palm Desert since Palm City.

Over the course of ten years, against the backdrop of various citizen backlashes and incorporation, the developers of Ironwood built upwards of 1,000 homes. Most of them were condominiums designed by architect Francisco Urrutia in a Late Modern style hybridized with Southwestern motifs, resulting in angular volumes that had stucco walls and Spanish red tile roofs.256 Elsewhere, units also included singlefamily “Fairway Homes” and estate-sized lots for custom-built houses. The central clubhouse (architect unknown) was also a Late Modern design that looked out onto the golf course designed by Desmond Muirhead in consultation with famed golfers Arnold Palmer and Jack Nicklaus.257 Palmer had invested in the Ironwood development early on and became its spokesperson, which was a marketing move typical of mid-century country clubs (previously seen in Palm Desert with Gene Sarazen’s role in the marketing of the Shadow Mountain Golf Course).
254 Ron Dresnick, “Largest PD Development Proposed,” Palm Desert Post, December 29, 1971. 255 “Silver Spur Opposition Withdrawn,” Desert Sun, September 21, 1972. 256 [Illustration of Ironwood progress], Palm Desert Post, March 6, 1975. 257 “Stars to Initiate Course,” Desert Sun, February 3, 1973. 536
City of Palm Desert | Historic Context Statement & Reconnaissance Survey Findings April 11, 2025 ARCHITECTURAL RESOURCES GROUP 133
Marrakesh, Del Safari, and Ironwood represented the pinnacle of this new and robust era of country club development in Palm Desert, but they were supplemented by numerous smaller developments which similarly marketed the fashionable life offered by condominiums. The Palm Desert Tennis Club (1971), built across the street from Ironwood, was a 100-unit condominium complex that wrapped around a central clubhouse and championship tennis courts.258 John Outcault, the architect of the complex, traded his typical Mid-Century Modern style for a 1970s Spanish style. Likewise, the Deep Canyon Tennis Club (1971) opted for tennis as its marketable recreational amenity and was developed on an empty parcel along Highway 74.259 Built in two phases, one in 1971 and one in 1979, the complex eventually totaled 360 condominium units hosted by a series of two-story buildings (which were the subject of some controversy).

Fairway Homes at Ironwood Country Club as designed by Francisco Urrutia in a Late Modern and Southwestern influenced style. (Julius Shulman Collection, Getty Research Institute)
258 “103 Unit Racquet Club Planned in Palm Desert,” Palm Desert Post, August 19, 1971. 259 Ron Dresnick, “PD Condominium Project to Offer Swimming & Tennis,” Palm Desert Post, July 8, 1971. 537
City of Palm Desert | Historic Context Statement & Reconnaissance Survey Findings April 11, 2025 ARCHITECTURAL RESOURCES GROUP 134
A significant amount of development in the 1970s occurred on empty lots and parcels within central Palm Desert (south of Highway 111), and by 1980 the area was largely filled in. This was due to larger developments like Ironwood and Marrakesh, but especially to the further proliferation of condominium complexes. The condominium, also evidenced by their development in new country clubs, further increased its presence in Palm Desert’s built environment. As before, they were outstandingly popular and could be marketed to retirees and professionals alike, they could be designed by talented architects, and they were built by a wide selection of developers. Their design, however, had shifted towards the Late Modern and Southwestern aesthetic of contemporary, and they were increasingly gated complexes with some shared amenities.

Condominium developments of this type included Mountainback (1971-73), Sommerset (1977), Corsican Villas (1973-76), King’s Point (1974-76), and Sandroc (1973). Talented architects, many of whom had previously made their names designing Mid-Century Modern structures, were frequently commissioned for their design. The Palm Springs architect Hugh Kaptur designed King’s Point (locally designated) in a highly angular Late Modern and Southwestern style, while architect Barry Berkus, noted internationally for his condominium designs, designed the Corsican Villas, and San Diego architect Paul Thoryk designed Sandroc.260 Each of them contained communal facilities (pools, tennis courts, etc.), and even if they weren’t complete “country clubs,” they attempted to emulate its upper-class model. Retirees, seasonal residents, and young professionals – but rarely families – were among the targeted demographics. 260 “Corsican Villas Mark Opening,” Desert Sun, April 13, 1974; “View Selling Point for Sandroc Site,” Desert Sun, April 13, 1973; “King’s Point at PD Plans Approved,” Palm Desert Post, July 5, 1973. 538
City of Palm Desert Historic Context Statement and Reconnaissance Survey Findings, Appendix D2: Districts, April 11, 2025 APN Number Street/Location Name Year Built Source Property Type Architectural Style Description Context Theme Criteria Notes Birdie Way
Birdie Way Potential Historic District 1962-1965 Building permits District, MFR and SFR Mid-Century Modern Cul de sac district of Mid-Century Modern duplexes and a few single-family residences within Silver Spur Ranch, most (if not all) designed by Richard Harrison for Adrian Schwilck.

Diversified Development, 1957-1966; Architecture & Design, 1910-1980 Residential Development, 1957-1966; Modernism A/1/A,E,F; C/3/C,D
46011-46087 Fairway Dr
Fairview Cottages Potential Historic District 1963 Assessor District, MFR Mid-Century Modern 20 condominium nits designed by architect Richard Dorman and built by realtor Dick Coffin and builder Monte Wenck.

Diversified Development, 1957-1966; Architecture & Design, 1910-1980 Residential Development, 1957-1966; Modernism A/1/A,E,F; C/3/C,D
Feather Trail
Feather Trail Potential Historic District 1962-1965 Building permits District, SFR Mid-Century Modern Cul de sac district of Mid-Century Modern single-family residences within Silver Spur Ranch, most (if not all) designed by Richard Harrison for Adrian Schwilck.

Diversified Development, 1957-1966; Architecture & Design, 1910-1980 Residential Development, 1957-1966; Modernism A/1/A,E,F; C/3/C,D
Goldflower St
Goldflower Street Potential Historic District 1959-1970 Assessor District, SFR Mid-Century Modern Cul de sac district of Mid-Century Modern single-family residences, part of the Joe Dunas/Charles DuBois Purple Hills Estates development.

Diversified Development, 1957-1966; Architecture & Design, 1910-1980 Residential Development, 1957-1966; Modernism A/1/A,E,F; C/3/C,D
Golf Course Ln., Cottage Ln. 18th Fairway Ln., and 73585-73650 Ironwood St.

Shadow Mountain Fairway Cottages Potential Historic District 1961-1963 2006 List District, MFR Mid-Century Modern 54 Mid-Century Modern condominium units (largely duplexes) designed by Richard Harrison for Adrian Schwilck, facing Shadow Mountain Golf Club.

Diversified Development, 1957-1966; Architecture & Design, 1910-1980 Residential Development, 1957-1966; Modernism A/1/A,E,F; C/3/C,D Historic district nomination submitted by HOA in 2023; current status unknown. 73700 Grapevine St
Mountain Shadows Potential Historic District 1964 Assessor District, MFR Mid-Century Modern The 16-unit Mountain Shadows, designed by architects Harold J. Bissner and Robert Pitchford, and developed by Fred B. Hartley and C. L. Barton under the Barton Corporation.

Diversified Development, 1957-1966; Architecture & Design, 1910-1980 Residential Development, 1957-1966; Modernism A/1/A,E,F; C/3/C,D
Hwy 74
Mountainback Potential Historic District 1971-1973
Periodical: Desert Sun, 04.14.1972 District, MFR Late Modern Condominium complex designed by Don Sandy for EDCO. District is bounded by Sommerset Drive on the north, Desert Flower Drive on the west, Starbust Drive on the south, and parcel lines/Hwy 74 on the east.

Country Clubs and Incorporation, 1967-1980; Architecture & Design, 1910-1980 Residential Development, 1967-1980; Modernism A/1/A,E,F; C/3/C,D
49305 Hwy 74
Indian Springs Mobile Home Park Potential Historic District 1971 Periodical: Palm Desert Post, 04.29.1971 and 09.02.1971 District, MFR Mobile Homes/Late Modern Mobile home park with original site plan and planning features, developed by Sherman Smith.

Country Clubs and Incorporation, 1967-1980; Architecture & Design, 1910-1980 Residential Development, 1967-1980; Modernism A/1/A,E,F 652150001 50001 Hwy 74
Silver Spur Mobile Home Park Potential Historic District 1959-1968 Assessor District, MFR Mobile Homes/Contemporary Ranch
Mobile home park with original site plan and planning features, Contemporary Ranch clubhouse (1963), incorporation of natural rocky landscape. May be Palm Desert's first mobile home park. Diversified Development, 1957-1966 Residential Development, 1957-1966 A/1/A,E,F 46133 Hwy 74
Sands and Shadows Phase 2 Potential Historic District 1963 Assessor District, MFR Mid-Century Modern Sands and Shadows condominiums designed by architect Harold J. Bissner and Robert Pitchford and developed by Neil Davis. This was the second phase.

Diversified Development, 1957-1966; Architecture & Design, 1910-1980 Residential Development, 1957-1966; Modernism A/1/A,E,F; C/3/C,D
46183 Hwy 74
Sands and Shadows Phase 1 Potential Historic District 1960 Assessor District, MFR Mid-Century Modern Sands and Shadows condominiums designed by architect Harold J. Bissner and developed by Neil Davis. This was the first phase.

Diversified Development, 1957-1966; Architecture & Design, 1910-1980 Residential Development, 1957-1966; Modernism A/1/A,E,F; C/3/C,D
655090012 73735 Irontree Dr
Ironwood Country Club Potential Historic District 1971-1980s Assessor Commercial Late Modern Developed by Silver Spur Associates in multiple phases, only pre-1980 phases included.

Country Clubs and Incorporation, 1967-1980; Architecture & Design, 1910-1980 Residential Development, 1967-1980; Modernism A/1/A,E,F; C/3/C,D
627400045 45405-45451 Lupine Ln
Sandroc Potential Historic District 1973 Assessor District, MFR Late Modern Condominium complex located primarily on Lupine Ln, with some having Shadow Mountain and possibly San Pablo addresses. 90 units with shared amenities, designed by Paul Thoryk, built by Durco Construction Co Inc.

Country Clubs and Incorporation, 1967-1980; Architecture & Design, 1910-1980 Residential Development, 1967-1980; Modernism A/1/A,E,F; C/3/C,D
47000 Marrakesh Dr
Marrakesh Country Club and Condominiums Potential Historic District 1969-1974 LL Google Map; 2006 Individually Eligible/Designated List District, MFR Regency, Late Modern, Exotic Revival
Iconic country club design, conceived and planned by John W. Dawson and Ted Robinson, designs by John Elgin Woolf (later clubhouse building by Robert Ricciardi).

Country Clubs and Incorporation, 1967-1980; Architecture & Design, 1910-1980 Residential Development, 1967-1980; Modernism A/1/A,E,F; C/3/C,D Historic district nomination in progress, not yet submitted. 009616645 43500 Monterey Ave
College of the Desert Potential Historic District 1961-1976 2006 List District, Institutional Mid-Century Modern, Late Modern
Multiple contributing buildings and designed landscapes comprise private college campus. Supervising architect was John Porter Clark, other buildings designed by other notable architects including E. Stewart Williams and Robert Ricciardi. O'Dell House pre-dates college and is now part of the campus.

Diversified Development, 1957-1966; Architecture & Design, 1910-1980 Institutional Development, 1957-1966; Modernism A/1/A,E,F; C/3/C,D
District boundaries and contributing/non-contributing properties to be determined in later phase; preliminary finding includes entire COD pending additional study. 43101 Portola Ave
Palm Desert Estates Mobile Home Park Potential Historic District 1964 Building Permit No. 10237 and 106689 District, MFR
Mobile Homes/Googie
Mobile home park with original site plan and planning features, including Googie clubhouse with folded plate roof. Diversified Development, 1957-1966 Residential Development, 1957-1966 A/1/A,E,F Additional research required to assess integrity of clubhouse 000020707 47900 Portola Ave
Outcault Buildings in Living Desert Zoo and Gardens 1970-72 2006 List District, Institutional Mid-Century Modern Two Mid-Century Modern buildings designed by John Outcault appear to be the only original elements of the Living Desert as first developed 1970-1972.

Country Clubs and Incorporation, 1967-1980; Architecture & Design, 1910-1980 Institutional Development, 1967-1980; Modernism A/1/A,E,F; C/3/C,D
627371015 45750 San Luis Rey Ave
Shadow Mountain Club Potential Historic District 1948 2006 List District, MFR N/A Extant Tomson-designed planning features at the original Shadow Mountain Club. Planned Community Development, 1946-1956 Residential Development, 1946-1956 A/1/A,E,F The Shadow Mountain Golf Course is landmarked, and the clubhouse has been significantly altered. Likely only the surviving Tommy Tomson planning features (figure-8 pool and palm tree area) are potentially eligible, and they may compose one individual property rather than a district. Additional research needed. 45395-45575 San Luis Rey Ave
Shadowcliff Apartments Potential Historic District 1960 Assessor District, MFR Mid-Century Modern Designed by architect John Outcault for Clifford Henderson. Tommy Tomson designed landscape.

Diversified Development, 1957-1966; Architecture & Design, 1910-1980 Residential Development, 1957-1966; Modernism A/1/A,E,F; C/3/C,D
640190033 1301-1316 Sandpiper Cir
Sandpiper Circle #13 Potential Historic District 1967 Assessor District, MFR Mid-Century Modern Designed by architect William Krisel and constructed by builder George Holstein as a phase of one of the first condominium projects to be built in the Coachella Valley.

Country Clubs and Incorporation, 1967-1980; Architecture & Design, 1910-1980 Residential Development, 1967-1980; Modernism A/1/A,E,F; C/3/C,D
640190034 1401-1416 Sandpiper Cir
Sandpiper Circle #14 Potential Historic District 1967 Assessor District, MFR Mid-Century Modern Designed by architect William Krisel and constructed by builder George Holstein as a phase of one of the first condominium projects to be built in the Coachella Valley.

Country Clubs and Incorporation, 1967-1980; Architecture & Design, 1910-1980 Residential Development, 1967-1980; Modernism A/1/A,E,F; C/3/C,D
640150033 1501-1516 Sandpiper Cir
Sandpiper Circle #15 Potential Historic District 1969 Assessor District, MFR Mid-Century Modern Designed by architect William Krisel and constructed by builder George Holstein as a phase of one of the first condominium projects to be built in the Coachella Valley.

Country Clubs and Incorporation, 1967-1980; Architecture & Design, 1910-1980 Residential Development, 1967-1980; Modernism A/1/A,E,F; C/3/C,D
640150006 1601-1616 Sandpiper Cir
Sandpiper Circle #16 Potential Historic District 1970 Assessor District, MFR Mid-Century Modern Designed by architect William Krisel and constructed by builder George Holstein as a phase of one of the first condominium projects to be built in the Coachella Valley.

Country Clubs and Incorporation, 1967-1980; Architecture & Design, 1910-1980 Residential Development, 1967-1980; Modernism A/1/A,E,F; C/3/C,D
640150052; 640150053 1701-1718 Sandpiper Cir
Sandpiper Circle #17 Potential Historic District 1969 Assessor District, MFR Mid-Century Modern Designed by architect William Krisel and constructed by builder George Holstein as a phase of one of the first condominium projects to be built in the Coachella Valley.

Country Clubs and Incorporation, 1967-1980; Architecture & Design, 1910-1980 Residential Development, 1967-1980; Modernism A/1/A,E,F; C/3/C,D
Shadow Mountain Dr btw Ocotillo and Ironwood
Shadow Mountain Drive Potential Historic District 1959-1979 District, SFR Mid-Century Modern Mid-Century Modern single-family residences on Shadow Mountain Drive between Ocotillo and Ironwood, part of the Joe Dunas/Charles DuBois Purple Hills Estates development.

Diversified Development, 1957-1966; Architecture & Design, 1910-1980 Residential Development, 1957-1966; Modernism A/1/A,E,F; C/3/C,D
73838 Smoketree Ct
Corsican Villas Potential Historic District 1973
Periodical: Desert Sun, 02.16.1973 District, MFR Late Modern Late Modern townhouse condominium complex by Barry Berkus, 130 units with model at 73838 Smoketree Ct.

Country Clubs and Incorporation, 1967-1980; Architecture & Design, 1910-1980 Residential Development, 1967-1980; Modernism A/1/A,E,F; C/3/C,D
45401-45453 Sunrise Ln
Village Green Potential Historic District 1961 Assessor District, MFR Mid-Century Modern The 16-unit Village Green co-op apartments, designed by architect Harold J. Bissner.

Diversified Development, 1957-1966; Architecture & Design, 1910-1980 Residential Development, 1957-1966; Modernism A/1/A,E,F; C/3/C,D
73195-73223 Tumbleweed Ln
Desert Dorado Potential Historic District 1963
Building Permit No. 100252; Periodical: Desert Sun, 11.02.1963 District, MFR Mid-Century Modern Mid-Century Modern condominium complex developed by Meyer & Son, also has frontage on Shadow Mountain Dr.

Diversified Development, 1957-1966; Architecture & Design, 1910-1980 Residential Development, 1957-1966; Modernism A/1/A,E,F; C/3/C,D
Willow St
Willow Street Potential Historic District 1959-1979 Assessor District, SFR Mid-Century Modern Mid-Century Modern single-family residences on Willow St (between Hwy 74-paralleling frontage road and turn to Purslane St) May have been developed by L.W. Thompson.

Diversified Development, 1957-1966; Architecture & Design, 1910-1980 Residential Development, 1957-1966; Modernism A/1/A,E,F; C/3/C,D
Yucca Tree Dr
Yucca Tree Drive Potential Historic District 1950s-70s District, SFR Mid-Century Modern Mid-Century Modern single-family residences on Yucca Tree Drive (between Deep Canyon and Fairway). Appears to be a Monte Wenck development, some/most designed by Charles W. Doty.

Diversified Development, 1957-1966; Architecture & Design, 1910-1980 Residential Development, 1957-1966; Modernism A/1/A,E,F; C/3/C,D
1 539
540
Visible Alterations
(08.04.2025)
Figure 1 – Non-original window type in original opening Figure 2 – Reconfigured driveway and expanded front courtyard 541
Figure 3 – Front Addition
Figure 4 – Rear Addition
542
Figure 5 – Non-original windows and door of administrative building set within original building recesses
Figure 6 – Rear second-story terrace addition to clubhouse 543
544
DOC # 2021-0673474
11/12/2021 11 :39 AM Fees: $356.00