Stewart Williams, his father Harry and brother Roger along with a 44-unit hotel addition in what would become known as “mid-century modern architecture.” That design has long since been covered up by subsequent remodels. The tower remains today tucked behind the Oasis Commercial Building, added by E. More: Photos: Modernism Week Opening Night Party In style, it was Moderne as was fashionable in the 1920s and drew much attention and admiration upon its completion, particularly for its charming tower, a tribute to her father. Sited directly across from Nellie Coffman’s Desert Inn, Pearl’s Oasis Hotel was thoroughly modern: built of concrete, with a distinctive pattern created by the slip-form technique. Pearl bravely imagined his expertise and individual talent could make her vision a reality. She hired Frank Lloyd Wright, Jr., known as Lloyd Wright, who was estranged from his famous father, but an architect in his own right. With the development of the tourist trade, she decided to augment accommodations by building a hotel, her first foray into major development. He would prove an able partner in her real estate endeavors.
The dandy gentleman said he knew he loved Pearl when he came to see her a second time. The former haberdasher from Pasadena first came to the desert at night by train, walking 7 miles through the sand in his dress shoes, hoping that he would not step on anything that crawled.
Left alone by the untimely demise of her entire family, Pearl married Austin McManus. That was a mistake she said she would never again repeat. Desperate, she sold a valuable piece of land from her father’s original 80 Palm Springs acres with its water rights, for only $500. Soon after her mother’s death, Pearl was in dire poverty. Her tenacity and taste would turn the desert into a modern architecture showplace. She inherited his vast tracts of desert land. Her mother was in fragile health and died in 1914 leaving Pearl to try to realize her father’s dream of a fertile desert and friendly destination. By the time Pearl McCallum was a mere 30 years old, she had buried her father, all of her brothers, and her sister.
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