{"nrhp_refnum":"10001123","name":"O'Donnell, Thomas, House","other_names":["Ojo del Desierto"],"category":"building","location":{"address":"447 Alejo Rd","address_restricted":false,"city":"Palm Springs","county":"Riverside County","state":"CA","lat":33.82456601900003,"lon":-116.549798195,"geom_source":"nps_gis"},"listed_date":"2011-01-07","is_nhl":false,"nhl_designated_date":null,"areas_of_significance":["Exploration/Settlement","Social History"],"significance_levels":["local"],"summary":{"what_it_is":"A two-story, four-bedroom concrete block residence of about 4,100 square feet on a steep hillside lot above downtown Palm Springs, Riverside County, California. Built in 1925 as a vacation home for oilman Thomas O'Donnell, with William Charles Tanner as designer and Alvah Hicks as contractor.","why_significant":"The nomination argues the house is the last surviving intact building of the Desert Inn, the luxury resort created by Nellie Coffman that helped turn Palm Springs from a rural village into a resort city. It was built on land leased from Coffman in exchange for O'Donnell's loan funding the hotel's expansion. It is significant locally under Criterion A for its role in the development of recreational tourism.","narrative":"Built in 1925 on the lower slopes of Mt. San Jacinto, this two-story concrete block house was the first Palm Springs building constructed above the valley floor, about 200 feet over the village. Designed by William Charles Tanner and built by Alvah Hicks, it combines Spanish Colonial Revival and Monterey styling, with cement plaster walls, variegated clay tile roofs, wrought iron, decorative tile and a curving second-floor balcony. Oilman Thomas O'Donnell leased the hillside from hotelier Nellie Coffman after lending her $350,000 to expand the Desert Inn. That resort helped change Palm Springs from a small rural village into a destination for wealthy visitors. The Desert Inn has since been lost, leaving this residence as its last intact building. Changes in the 1940s enclosed a patio and roofed a sundeck, and the house has since been restored. Its period of significance runs from 1925 to 1946, when the lease reverted to Coffman.","period_of_significance":"1925-1946","architect_builder":"Building designer: William Charles Tanner; Contractor: Alvah Hicks","architectural_style":"Late 19th and 20th Century Revivals: Colonial Revival / Monterey Style variant (hybrid Spanish Colonial Revival / Monterey, \"Hollywood Spanish\")","criteria":["A"],"status_note":"Condition described as excellent following a thorough restoration after a period of decline; used as a single dwelling.","vacant_flag":false,"machine_generated":true,"model":"claude-sonnet-5-5","prompt_version":"v1.0-2026-10-29","generated_at":"2026-10-29 02:54:29.7278-05","source_pdf":"https://s3.amazonaws.com/NARAprodstorage/lz/electronic-records/rg-079/NPS_CA/10001123.pdf"},"photo":{"url_800":"https://nationalhistoricalregister.com/media/10001123/1b601b8ad7-800.webp","url_1600":"https://nationalhistoricalregister.com/media/10001123/1b601b8ad7-1600.webp","licence":"CC BY-SA 4.0","author":"JERRYE &amp; ROY KLOTZ, M.D.","credit_html":"<a href=\"https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:THOMAS_O%27DONNELL_HOUSE,_PALM_SPRINGS,_RIVERSIDE_COUNTY,_PA.jpg\" rel=\"noopener\">JERRYE &amp;amp; ROY KLOTZ, M.D.</a>, <a href=\"https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0\" rel=\"license noopener\">CC BY-SA 4.0</a>, via Wikimedia Commons","source_page":"https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:THOMAS_O%27DONNELL_HOUSE,_PALM_SPRINGS,_RIVERSIDE_COUNTY,_PA.jpg"},"district":null,"sources":{"nps_snapshot_date":"2026-05-22","nara_catalog":"https://catalog.archives.gov/id/123860501","wikipedia":null,"wikidata":"https://www.wikidata.org/wiki/Q133419823"},"indexable":true,"url":"https://nationalhistoricalregister.com/california/riverside-county/odonnell-thomas-house-10001123/"}