Holiday House Palm Springs ★★★

A 1951 Herbert Burns Design, Freshly Reconsidered

Herbert W. Burns designed Holiday House in 1951, working in a register often described as low-key modernism, more livable and less severe than the work of contemporaries like Albert Frey or John Lautner. The building had never been fully renovated until new owners Jeff Brock and Richard Crisman brought in designer Mark D. Sikes, who built the refresh around mid-century blues, cornflower and cobalt against walnut veneers and rattan furniture, rather than stripping the hotel back to white walls. The result keeps the 1951 bones legible while making the twenty-six rooms feel current, a balance harder to strike than either a full gut renovation or a period museum piece, and one that few Palm Springs hotels of this age manage without losing something along the way.

Why It Works

We chose Holiday House for how seriously the renovation treats the original architecture. Playful blue and white tile work and travertine floors carry through from the public spaces into the rooms, and mahogany and brass accents keep the palette warm rather than cold and clinical. Original artwork by David Hockney and Alex Katz hangs throughout the property, and a David Sultan sculpture sits poolside, details that put real art rather than prints on the walls of a boutique hotel. It is a renovation built around restraint, not reinvention, which is exactly what a Herbert Burns building from 1951 deserves, and the result feels assembled by people who understood what they were working with.

Why This Location

The hotel sits on West Arenas Road in the historic Tennis Club neighborhood, at the foot of the San Jacinto Mountains, a stretch that once held several of Burns's other mid-century designs. It is a short walk into downtown Palm Springs, close to the Art Museum and Palm Canyon Drive, while staying quiet enough that the mountains, not the street, set the backdrop. Few addresses in the city carry this much architectural pedigree within a few minutes' walk, and the neighborhood itself is worth a slow walk before or after the pool.

Fast Facts

• Prix: Luxe

• Vibe: mid-century, art-filled, quietly confident

• Chambres: 26 rooms, walnut veneers and rattan furniture

• Best For: design-conscious travellers who want period architecture with a considered refresh

• Our Favorite Thing About the Hotel: the original David Hockney and Alex Katz artworks on display

• Dining: no restaurant detailed; mid-century lounge spaces for guests to gather

• Amenities: pool with a David Sultan sculpture, travertine floors, mahogany and brass accents throughout

• Attractions: historic Tennis Club neighborhood, San Jacinto Mountains, downtown Palm Springs and Palm Canyon Drive nearby

Mid-Century Blues, Room by Room

Mark D. Sikes built the room palette around cornflower and cobalt blue, set against walnut veneers, patterned fabrics and graphic wallpapers that nod to the 1950s without copying them exactly. Rattan furniture and brass fixtures keep the look from tipping into pastiche, and the travertine floors that run through the public areas continue into several rooms. It is a renovation that reads as curated rather than themed, the kind of mid-century reference a design-literate guest will clock immediately without the hotel needing to point it out, and one that photographs as well in person as it does from the street.

Art by the Pool

The pool area carries some of the property's best details: a David Sultan sculpture presides over the water, and the playful blue and white tile work ties the space back to the rooms above. Original pieces by David Hockney and Alex Katz hang throughout the hotel rather than being confined to a single gallery wall, so art becomes part of the walk from room to pool rather than a separate stop. It gives Holiday House a gallery-adjacent feel without ever losing its function as a place to actually swim and relax, which keeps the art from feeling like a pose.