Palm Springs Spa / Gone

 

The Palm Springs Spa (now The Spa Resort and Hotel) will be demolished within the next 18 months. The Agua Caliente Band of Cahuilla Indians confirmed this at a recent meeting withthe Palm Springs City Council. The hotel is scheduled to close on July 8th. Apparently, this is a done deal.  

Photo: Julius Shulman, Getty Research Institute

Architects Donald Wexler, Richard Harrison and William Cody teamed up to design Palm Springs Spa Hotel in 1958.

Those Nelson benches are really cool. Too bad they aren't there anymore.

Photo: Julius Shulman, Getty Research Institute

Photo: Julius Shulman, Getty Research Institute

The reflecting pool and Architectural Pottery are long gone.

It's easy to miss, but there's an insane John Mason ceramic installation behind the bushes, to the left of the walkway.

The Mason sculptures can be seen in this cropped shot from 1961. 

Photo: Julius Shulman, Getty Research Institute

John Mason's work is included in the permanent collections of major museum. It's disgraceful how they've hidden them. 

Busted

City Councilman Paul Lewin asked the tribal council to save certain architectural features, like the concrete arched entryway. Agua Caliente officials will meet with local groups to discuss these sort of issues. I hope the Mason sculptures will be included in these talks.  These need to be saved! More here.

Another sculpture around the corner from the spa entrance.