Sunny Sixties in Palm Springs
The temperature in Palm Springs can be searingly hot, but if you drag yourself from the hotel pool another world awaits.
The temperature in California’s Palm Springs can be searingly hot, but if you drag yourself from the hotel pool with its requisite pink flamingo floatie, a glimpse of another world awaits.
The low-slung, mid-century modern architecture and sprawling grounds of Sunnylands epitomise both the restraint and the excesses of Palm Springs and offer some of the city’s most sublime mountain views.
Walter Annenberg was a Philadelphia media mogul (the world’s first TV Guide was his publishing coup), US ambassador to St James’s Court in London and, together with his wife, Leonore, one of the 20th century’s most generous philanthropists. The Annenbergs created Sunnylands with incredible vision and who knows how much money.
The 80ha estate, a swath of desert, was transformed with 11 man-made lakes, a nine-hole golf course, tennis court, swimming pool, more than 850 olive trees and hectare upon hectare of emerald-green lawn. The couple commissioned celebrated Los Angeles-based architect A. Quincy Jones to design a modernist masterpiece, completed in 1966. Three “cottages”, also by Jones, were added in the 1970s.
The Annenbergs were indefatigable entertainers and their winter home became an elite social and political hub for more than four decades, hosting eight US presidents (though not the incumbent) and a slew of tycoons, world leaders and movie stars. Ronald and Nancy Reagan holidayed there regularly. Richard Nixon retreated to Sunnylands after his resignation (his golf clubs are still there). Queen Elizabeth and Prince Phillip visited, Frank Sinatra married his fourth wife there, Bob Hope was a regular, Sammy Davis Jnr and Truman Capote were guests. The parties were legendary.
As we cruise beyond the pink walls and through the immaculate grounds in a golf buggy driven by a tour guide, the house seems hunkered low, modest even. The pyramidal roof is famously pink, to echo the sunrise and sunset hues as they wash across the San Jacinto Mountains.
The house’s almost-stark Mayan profile may be understated but there is nothing especially restrained about its size. It is more than 2300sq m, with lava stone walls more than 3m high and 22 guestrooms, a vast, light-flooded foyer and acres of polished marble.
Inside, the 300 bromeliads, also pink, that surround a Rodin sculpture beneath the soaring atrium are a typical A. Quincy Jones and modernist trope, bringing the outdoors in. Fabulous floor-to-ceiling windows similarly link inside and out.
The furnishings were never the era’s typical mid-century style. The Annenbergs’ designer (and former film star) William Haines was known for his “Hollywood regency”. There’s a luxurious, international look, bespoke furniture, embroidered upholstery, striped wallpapers, Chinese ceramics and a slew of sherbet colours such as vanilla, pink, pistachio and lemon.
Sunnylands was also a showcase for the Annenbergs’ spectacular collection of Impressionist and Post-Impressionist paintings by Renoir, Degas, Matisse, Van Gogh and more. The couple donated more than 50 masterworks to New York’s Metropolitan Museum of Art and copies in ornate gilded frames fill the house.
There are also original artworks and decorative arts, with pieces by Jean Arp, Picasso and Giacometti, Tang dynasty sculptures and Steuben glass. And there’s a Room of Memories with photos of family, famed guests and ephemera.
The Annenbergs established a non-profit foundation to convert the estate to a retreat for world leaders to convene, and to open it to the public.
Now, sustainability is a key focus and state-of-the-art water conservation systems are in place.
A stunning new Visitor Centre channels mid-century design and an “art garden”, with more than 53,000 drought-tolerant plants. Visitors can stroll the 2km of paths past massed plantings, grouped to create the effect of Impressionist brush strokes.
More than a third of the lawn area has been replaced by meadow grass and mulch although around the house it’s still lushly green.
There are tours of the house (only seven a group and heavily booked), garden and Visitor Centre, and birdwatching tours (the estate is on a major migratory path). A cafe with terrace offers mesmerising mountain views.