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Capital of Desert Modernism

Palm Springs architecture

The Palm Springs Aerial Tramway is the largest rotating aerial tramway in the world, lifting riders up Chino Canyon to a mountain station at 8,516 feet. Every February the city celebrates its famous mid-century architecture with Modernism Week, an 11-day festival of tours, films and lectures.

  • 11Landmarks
  • 1893Oldest · Cornelia White House
  • 5Architects

Before you go

  • Fly intoPalm Springs Int'l (PSP)

    Palm Springs International sits just two miles east of downtown, so the pool is never far away after landing. Originally a World War II army airfield, it is known for open-air walkways between its gates and was ranked third in a 2011 list of America's most stress-free airports.

  • CurrencyUS Dollar ($)
  • LanguageEnglish

    English is the everyday language of this desert resort, but the valley's oldest voice belongs to the Cahuilla people, who settled here about 2,000 years ago and spoke Ivilyuat. In winter the population roughly triples as snowbirds arrive, most of them from Canada.

  • Getting aroundSunLine Transit

    SunLine Transit Agency runs the bus network across Palm Springs and the rest of the Coachella Valley. Amtrak's combined Sunset Limited and Texas Eagle stop at the Palm Springs station three times a week. Amtrak Thruway buses connect downtown and the airport with cities such as Riverside and Pasadena.

  • Where to stayFind hotels in Palm Springs on Expedia Vacation rentals on Vrbo

    Stamped! may earn a commission when you book through these links.

  • Tours and ticketsFind tours in Palm Springs on GetYourGuide More tours on Viator

    Skip-the-line tickets and guided tours of the landmarks. Stamped! may earn a commission.

11 landmarks in Palm Springs

  1. Kaufmann Desert House
    Photo: Pmeulbroek, CC BY-SA 4.0, via Wikimedia Commons

    Kaufmann Desert House

    470 W Vista Chino, Palm Springs, CA 92262

    Richard Neutra designed this glassy pavilion in 1946 for Edgar J. Kaufmann Sr., the businessman who also commissioned Frank Lloyd Wright's Fallingwater. Floating roof planes, flowing spaces and walls of glass open the house up to the desert light and the mountains beyond. It became a modernist classic and helped define the look of postwar Palm Springs. The city has designated it a Class 1 Historic Site.

    Built
    1946
    Architect
    Richard Neutra
    Style
    International Style
    Today
    Residence
  2. Twin Palms
    Photo: Farragutful, CC BY-SA 4.0, via Wikimedia Commons

    Twin Palms

    1148 E Alejo Rd, Palm Springs, CA 92262

    Frank Sinatra commissioned this house, known as Twin Palms, and it became the very first residential job for a young E. Stewart Williams. Completed in 1947 in the Movie Colony East neighborhood, it captures the relaxed, glamorous spirit of mid-century Palm Springs. The house was listed on the National Register of Historic Places in 2016.

    Built
    1947
    Style
    Mid-century Modern
    Today
    Residence
  3. Palm Springs Aerial Tramway
    Photo: Gillfoto, CC BY-SA 4.0, via Wikimedia Commons

    Palm Springs Aerial Tramway

    Tramway Rd, Palm Springs, CA 92262

    Opened in September 1963 in rugged Chino Canyon, this is the largest rotating aerial tramway in the world. The roughly ten-minute ride climbs from the Valley Station at 2,643 feet to the Mountain Station at 8,516 feet, passing through five distinct life zones on the way. Before it was built, the only way up the mountain was a long hike from Idyllwild. The slowly rotating cars, added in 2000, give every rider a full 360-degree view.

    Built
    1963
    Today
    Aerial Tramway
  4. Tramway Gas Station
    Photo: Bryanb7, CC BY-SA 4.0, via Wikimedia Commons

    Tramway Gas Station

    2901 N Palm Canyon Dr, Palm Springs, CA 92262

    This former Enco service station was meant to be the first building visitors saw when driving into Palm Springs from the north. Albert Frey and Robson C. Chambers gave it a dramatic cantilevered, wedge-shaped canopy, a hyperbolic paraboloid that seems ready for takeoff. Built in 1965, it closed by the mid-1990s and was saved from an uncertain fate. Since 2003 it has welcomed travelers as the Palm Springs Visitor Center, and it joined the National Register of Historic Places in 2015.

    Built
    1965
    Architect
    Albert Frey & Robson C. Chambers
    Style
    Desert Modernism
    Today
    Visitor Center
  5. Villa Hermosa
    Photo: SchoolOfNight, CC BY-SA 4.0, via Wikimedia Commons

    Villa Hermosa

    155 W Hermosa Pl, Palm Springs, CA 92262

    Albert Frey designed this 1946 residential hotel for winter visitors as a set of stacked, terraced apartments wrapped around a garden and pool facing the mountains. Yellow canvas railings add a cheerful touch to its crisp International Style lines. In 2001 The New York Times Magazine ranked it among the five most intact and notable of Frey's roughly 200 Palm Springs projects. Edgar J. Kaufmann even rented an apartment here while Richard Neutra was finishing his Kaufmann House.

    Built
    1946
    Architect
    Albert Frey
    Style
    International Style
    Today
    Residential
  6. Palm Springs Art Museum
    Photo: Carol M. Highsmith, Public domain, via Wikimedia Commons

    Palm Springs Art Museum

    101 Museum Dr, Palm Springs, CA 92262

    Founded in 1938 as the Palm Springs Desert Museum, the institution moved into this 75,000-square-foot Modernist building by E. Stewart Williams in January 1976. The museum has focused on design and contemporary art since 2004 and holds roughly 24,000 objects. It sits at the foot of the mountains, where the famous Cactus to Clouds Trail begins its climb toward San Jacinto Peak. The Williams building was listed on the National Register of Historic Places in 2016.

    Built
    1976
    Style
    Modernism
    Today
    Museum
  7. Santa Fe Federal Savings and Loan Association
    Photo: Farragutful, CC BY-SA 4.0, via Wikimedia Commons

    Santa Fe Federal Savings and Loan Association

    300 S Palm Canyon Dr, Palm Springs, CA 92262

    E. Stewart Williams took his inspiration for this bank from Mies van der Rohe's 1929 Barcelona Pavilion. The single-story steel-frame building has a flat roof, deep overhangs, slender steel posts and broad walls of glass. Full-height sliding perforated metal panels screen the interior from the fierce desert sun. Palm Springs Art Museum bought it in 2011 and reopened it as its Architecture and Design Center.

    Built
    1960
    Style
    International Style
    Stories
    1
    Today
    Museum
  8. Koerner House
    Photo: Farragutful, CC BY-SA 4.0, via Wikimedia Commons

    Koerner House

    1275 S Calle de Maria, Palm Springs, CA 92264

    E. Stewart Williams designed this house in 1955 for Vancouver couple Leon and Thea Koerner. The single-story home has a shed roof, deep overhangs and big sliding glass doors that blur the line between indoors and out. Warm natural wood appears everywhere, from the post-and-beam frame and board-and-batten cladding to the built-in furniture. It was listed on the National Register of Historic Places in 2016.

    Built
    1955
    Style
    Modernism
    Stories
    1
    Today
    Residence
  9. Palm Springs International Airport
    Photo: Don Ramey Logan, CC BY 4.0, via Wikimedia Commons

    Palm Springs International Airport

    Palm Springs, CA 92262

    Just two miles east of downtown, this airport began life during World War II as the Palm Springs Army Airfield. Its main terminal building, designed by Donald Wexler, opened in 1966. Travelers move between gates along open-air walkways, a rare luxury made possible by the desert climate. In 2011 it was ranked third on a list of America's most stress-free airports.

    Built
    1966
    Architect
    Donald Wexler
    Today
    Airport

  10. Plaza Theatre

    128 S Palm Canyon Dr, Palm Springs, CA 92262

    This historic theater anchors La Plaza, a streetside row of shops that opened in 1936 as one of the first planned shopping centers in Southern California. From 1990 through 2014 its stage was home to The Fabulous Palm Springs Follies, a show that drew national media attention. The theater sits right on South Palm Canyon Drive in the heart of downtown. A fundraising campaign is underway to restore it for a new generation of performances.

    Built
    1936
    Today
    Theater
  11. Cornelia White House
    Photo: Toohool, CC0, via Wikimedia Commons

    Cornelia White House

    Village Green Heritage Center, Palm Springs, CA 92262

    Dating from 1893, this modest wooden house is one of the oldest surviving buildings in Palm Springs. It was built using railroad ties from the defunct Palmdale Railroad, a resourceful solution in the early desert settlement. Known as Miss Cornelia White's "Little House", it now stands in the Village Green Heritage Center downtown. Today it is one of the Palm Springs Historical Society's museums, offering a glimpse of the town long before the movie stars arrived.

    Built
    1893
    Today
    Museum

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