Designing Palm Springs

By Emma Peterson. 

Dive into the history behind some of the classic and sophisticated desert landscapes that make Palm Springs, California iconic. 

When you think of California, you probably think of Hollywood glitz and glam. And nothing is more iconic of this elegant and sophisticated aesthetic than Palm Springs. But Palm Springs wasn’t always the desert oasis escape for Hollywood stars and wealthy industrialists that it is today. No, the rise of Palm Springs as a glamorous escape is thanks to two designers in the 1930s – Katherine Bashford and Fred Barlow, Jr.  

Katherine was one of the few women working in the architectural field in Southern California at the time, but even beyond that, she stood out for her sophisticated and refined work. Architect Myron Hunt described her as having “an inborn interest in the planting and yearly renewal of the annuals and perennials whose blending colors make the jewels of the garden.” She met Fred in 1930 when she hired him for her firm in Pasadena. Fred, who had previously worked on Greystone as a trained landscape architect, would eventually become her business partner and principal designer. 

This talented duo has an extensive portfolio, but they are well known for three major landscape designs in Palm Springs. The first was a commission in 1933 for the Arthur K. Bourne estate (pictured in this article’s cover image). The goal? To create a landscape that complemented the existing Wallace Neff architectural design that brought the family’s living space outside with a Moroccan-styled swimming pool and patio.  

Katherine and Fred rose to the challenge with a design that did not compete with the natural beauty of the desert around the home but rather complemented. One part of this design were panels of low-growing, naturally drought-tolerant groundcover around the pool to create a cooling green space. They also included what would become known as Katherine’s signature element – a collection of flowering plants in pots that could be moved and arranged seasonally.  

Fred described the philosophy behind their designs, saying, “It is inevitable that any garden will be dwarfed by the immensity of its surroundings and could not compete with the endless vistas and ever-changing colors of the desert and mountains. How, then, to treat a garden so that it will not be an incongruous note in such a picture? Simply by relating the garden to the house, making of it a purely architectural feature.” 

This is just one of their iconic designs that have made Palm Springs a vacation destination for so many. Learn more about their thoughtful design that balances respect for natural desert beauty with sophisticated design sensibilities in this article from Tracy Conrad in the Daily Sun newspaper. 

Original image source: Daily Sun