Bob Hope house in Palm Springs, long an architectural footnote, approaches masterpiece status
PALM SPRINGS, Calif. - For decades, this city has been known for its high-low mix of desert culture, exemplified by the offerings on East Palm Canyon Drive, a well-traveled road with views of the craggy brown hills to the south.
Discreet signs alert drivers to country clubs and golf resorts that are just a few blocks away from a string of consignment stores, luxury car dealerships, supermarkets - and a 1950s trailer park with streets named after planets and stars - Venus, Mars, Rigel, Vega.
Just past the turnoff for the Horizon Mobile Village and RV Park, there's no evidence of a multimillion-dollar project that will attract worldwide attention upon its completion. But up the hill and past the guard station on Southridge Drive, Palm Springs' most exclusive hillside neighborhood has been rumbling with the sound of power tools and construction trucks for well over a year, as more than a hundred craftsmen from across the Coachella Valley have worked to bring the city's most famous house back to life.
Starchitecture groupies may refer to it as a John Lautner house, in reference to the celebrated Los Angeles architect who designed it, but locally it's known to many as the Bob Hope house, a circular 24,000-square-foot residence built 40-plus years ago for the entertainer and his family.
Many observers have said
