Palm Springs’ last hillside enclave, Desert Palisades, has released its first homesites available along the colorful, boulder-strewn landscape of Chino Canyon. The breakout star of Modernism Week, Desert Palisades is home to acclaimed architectural masterpieces, including the Lance O’Donnell-designed Desert House No. 1 (above) and a home based on the never-before constructed plans by famed midcentury modern architect Al Beadle.
Offering the first opportunity to own within the gates, the initial release of homesites offers varying acreage, elevation, and topography, capturing sweeping views of the Coachella Valley and surrounding mountain peaks. Homesites range from .34 to .62 acres, each appointed to preserve the natural contours of the land and coordinate fluently with the landscape. Residents have the chance to custom design their homes in the enclave poised to become a new, worldwide model for exceptional, modern architectural vision.
A departure from the typical, master-planned community, Desert Palisades is the first enclave in Palm Springs that from the ground up will adhere to ideals that represent the very best in midcentury and contemporary architecture. Community guidelines were created to encourage residents to enlist the world’s most prominent architects to explore new ideals in desert modernism while providing mindful, resource-efficient designs. Lots were created to blend with the Chino Canyon landscape rather than re-shape it, with no flat-grade pads constructed and no mass grading to occur.
The intricately designed entry gate stands as a beacon of the architectural ideals Desert Palisades aspires to represent. Featuring midcentury-inspired design by Sean Lockyer of Palm Springs-based Studio AR&D Architects, the entry gate displays the eloquent balance between nature and architecture, with a 34-foot cantilever suspended above a 12-foot boulder.
The first two homes in the community also display this marrying of form and function, including Desert House No. 1, a contemporary, split-level design currently available for sale. The second, The Beadle House, floats above the landscape on a pedestal-like foundation, a so-called “Beadle Box,” a design famous for its structural simplicity. Each was unveiled, along with the Desert Palisades enclave itself, to rave reviews during Modernism Week.
Situated three minutes from Downtown Palm Springs, Desert Palisades is nestled along the sun-drenched hillsides of Chino Canyon, one of the most recognizable landscapes in the Coachella Valley. The desert floor rises to the alpine peak in a dramatic transition that can’t be found anywhere else in North America. Its alluvial fan and surrounding hillsides boast a rich geological and cultural history—one Desert Palisades is committed to preserving. The vision for its 110 homesites is to form an organic relationship with the land while melding the long-celebrated architectural heritage of Palm Springs with a thoughtful, forward-thinking design vision.
Learn more about available real estate by visiting DesertPalisades.com.
Learn more about Desert House No. 1 on the home’s listing page.
Photography by David Blank Photo.
