Some of us have guest rooms. Pearl McManus had a guest resort.
McManus was a critical developer behind important city properties, including the area’s first apartments, a Frank Lloyd Wright–designed hotel, and the Palm Springs Tennis Club, a serene retreat tucked against the San Jacinto Mountains near downtown.
According to Katherine Ainsworth’s The McCallum Saga: The Story of the Founding of Palm Springs, McManus decided on a whim to build a few tennis courts for friends visiting her family’s ranch. Then came the pool, with a memorable oval shape and towering palm trees that would later inspire many a hotel natatorium. After the addition of sprawling gardens and streams stocked with trout for guests to catch, the resort opened officially as a private club in 1937.
Ten years later, McManus expanded. She brought on Paul R. Williams, a prolific Southern California modernist and the first Black architect to be certified west of the Mississippi River, and A. Quincy Jones, Williams’ protégé and frequent collaborator. The pair upgraded the original structures, adding new dining spaces, terraces, and the Bougainvillea Room, where natural rock intrudes dramatically along one wall. Considering the area’s arid conditions, the site “became a continuous testing laboratory for building materials and equipment,” Williams told Southwest Builder and Contractor in 1947.
The project more than quadrupled McManus’ original budget of $60,000 — but she didn’t bat an eye. “I never thought about what it would cost,” she wrote. “I just plunge into it … After I achieve what I want to do, it always works out.”
Indeed, the resort continues to be a beloved local institution. “We have guests who have been coming here for over 40 years, telling me their kids grew up here,” says the club’s general manager, Michael Lewis. “I think that speaks volumes to what a great destination [it is].”
