New Kids on the Block

At Le Parker Meridien Palm Springs, Jonathan Adler and a California resort both get a fresh start

Edie Cohen -- Interior Design, 11/1/2004 12:00:00 AM

Just ask any SoHo, South Beach, or West Hollywood hipster: Jonathan Adler is the style visionary who single-handedly turned earthy-crunchy "pottery" into groovy "ceramics." But his name didn't ring any bells with Adam Glick. "It shows what a Philistine I am," says the hospitality executive. As president of the Jack Parker Corporation, he was responsible not only for the 2003 purchase of a 13-acre resort in Palm Springs, California, but also for the hiring of a suitable architect and designer—and he had begun to despair after reviewing half a dozen proposals. (Too conventional. Too modern.) But he liked what he saw in a magazine spread on a modernist beach house on Shelter Island, New York. The place just happened to be one of Adler's first interiors projects.

The two men connected via e-mail, and the deal was sealed—it was a double leap of faith. Glick was hiring a complete neophyte on a project of this scale; Adler lacked the support staff generally associated with hospitality design. But neither was perturbed. It also helped that Adler enlisted MR Architecture & Décor principal David Mann, as the two had played well together on an apartment renovation in New York. "My look is clean-lined, while Jonathan's is over-the-top," explains Mann. "That's why it works."

The combination works particularly well, given the hybrid architectural history of Le Parker Meridien Palm Springs, as the desert resort is now called. Its L-shape main building opened in 1959 as one of California's first Holiday Inns. In the 1960's, Gene Autry purchased it and added five more buildings: one with 68 rooms split between two floors, three similar freestanding units divided into four villas each, and his own 3,000-square-foot house, all in the International Style. Merv Griffin took over in the 1980's, transforming the property into the Givenchy Resort and Spa—where Barbra Streisand knocked down walls to expand a suite, and the cops busted Robert Downey, Jr., in room 311. But "beyond all that Merv badness," says Adler, were terrific bones.

When you pull up the curved driveway today, the first thing you see is a high latticework wall of white concrete. Behind this brise soleil, the $25 million resort's bright-orange entry doors pop into focus. Open them, Adler says, and a wide-open lobby offers his personal brand of happy chic: "The two words might seem diametrically opposed, but they can and should be fused." On a quest to do just that, he combed sources worldwide, amassing a furnishings collection with no common denominator other than the capacity to pique his own wild interest. Arranged in vignettes—set against Mann's backdrop of slump-block walls and granary-oak ceiling sectors—Adler's insouciant collection tames the 4,400-square-foot lobby into three zones.

The first mise-en-scène combines a slew of disparate elements. Adler gave a vintage Palm Springs sectional an exotic touch, with pillows made from Moroccan bridal shawls, and placed his own handmade bowl and vases on a white-lacquered hexagonal cocktail table. A loopy glass Vistosi chandelier from the 1960's hangs overhead, and a full suit of reproduction armor stands guard. Nearby, the medieval theme finds an abstract echo in a French 1950's tapestry, which can be viewed from a pair of side chairs with fuzzy white cotton seat upholstery and 4-foot-high curlicue wire backs.

The rest of the lobby presents an exuberant "rich hippie" mix, Adler says, and he makes the point with the main lounge's two Edwardian-style sofas draped in embroidered suzanis from Uzbekistan. His latte-colored rug displays an exaggerated Moroccan pattern, and the terrazzo-topped side tables might be souvenirs from a souk, while Gio Ponti's walnut chairs and a geometric brass chandelier from the 1960's exude incomparable Italian elegance. A pair of Adler's trademark circle-motif table lamps flank the ersatz fireplace, above which hangs evidence of his naughty wit: a coyly anatomical "panty panting," as he calls it, by John Kacere. A freestanding fire pit anchors the third lounge, set off at the rear of the lobby by a custom resin screen. Here, "rich hippie" Moroccan accents blend with "Latin moderne" string draperies and lacquered floor lamps.

Off the lobby is the restaurant Norma's, a transplant from New York. Mann's version for Le Parker Meridien Palm Springs melds Big Sur earthiness and Los Angeles attitude through slump block, rough oak, Mario Bellini's Cab chairs, and custom café tables with round white Corian tops set on angular iron legs. Though the resort's second restaurant, Mister Parker's, is still unfinished, Adler describes its decor as psychedelic-Goth.

Noticeably less mannered than the public spaces, the 144 guest rooms and suites have the residential look of ad hoc pieces acquired over the years. Adler's white four-poster bed—a painted-steel open cube paying homage to Sol LeWitt sculpture—acts as each room's focal point. Chinese Chippendale meets Hollywood Regency in the leopard-covered bench standing at the foot of the bed, and it's flanked by octagonal night tables worthy of The Arabian Nights. Above the headboard hangs Ruben Toledo's black-and-white profile portrait of a woman. Mrs. Parker, by any chance? Not even close. It's Toledo's wife, Isabel.

Previous spread, left: In the main lounge at California's Le Parker Meridien Palm Springs hotel, designed by Jonathan Adler and David Mann, suzani-draped custom sofas and Gio Ponti's walnut chairs gather around a 1970's mirrored cocktail table. The Italian brass chandelier dates to the 1960's. An oil on canvas by John Kacere hangs above the ersatz fireplace, flanked by Adler's ceramic lamps.

Previous spread, right: A concrete brise soleil screens the hotel entry.

Left: Taking a cue from the walls of the reception area, Mann built a slump-block desk. Adler then added the ceramic-tile frieze, a paean to the seven deadly sins.

Opposite top, from left: The front lounge's custom lacquered cocktail table, velvet-covered vintage sectional, Moroccan bridal-shawl pillows, and 2,000-piece Vistosi chandelier, reassembled on-site. A nearby 1960's wire chair and 1950's wool tapestry, both French. Opposite bottom, from left: Adler's handmade ceramic lamp illuminating a French 1970's acrylic in the lobby. The rear lounge's custom faux-bronze resin screen and Moroccan brass candlesticks, leather-covered hassock, and wool rug.

Top, from left: A villa's wicker swing. Mount San Jacinto, rising beyond the brise soleil. Bottom, from left: Mario Bellini's Cab chairs and a custom table topped in Corian at Norma's, the hotel's 100-seat restaurant. The bluestone surround of the new saltwater pool, a 60-foot-long oval.

Opposite: A standard guest room features Adler's painted-steel four-poster complemented by his own lamps, sisal matting, and rugs of sheepskin or Moroccan wool. Ruben Toledo's limited-edition print depicts his wife, Isabel.

PROJECT TEAM (JONATHAN ADLER): DARREN BROWN; LESLIE DEGLER. PROJECT MANAGER (MR ARCHITECTURE DCOR): BRANKO POTOCNIK. COCKTAIL TABLE (MAIN LOUNGE): THROUGH PAVILION ANTIQUES. CHANDELIER (MAIN LOUNGE), TAPESTRY (FRONT LOUNGE): THROUGH PEGASO INTERNATIONAL. LAMPS, PILLOWS, CUSTOM RUG (MAIN LOUNGE), POTTERY (RECEPTION), CUSTOM LACQUERED COCKTAIL TABLE, POTTERY, PILLOWS (FRONT LOUNGE), LAMPS (LOBBY, GUEST ROOM): JONATHAN ADLER. KEY (RECEPTION): THROUGH HARRIS KRATZ ANTIQUES. ARMOR (FRONT LOUNGE): THROUGH GARTH VINCENT. CHANDELIER: THROUGH ATMOSPHERE. TUFTED SOFA: THROUGH ANTIQUE LEATHER COMPANY. BRONZE COCKTAIL TABLE: THROUGH CENTURY DESIGN. SWING (VILLA): WICKERLAND. CHAIRS (RESTAURANT): CASSINA. TABLETOP CORIAN: DUPONT. SCONCE: THROUGH LAS VENUS. CHAISE FABRIC (POOL AREA): GLEN RAVEN. SHEEPSKIN RUGS (GUEST ROOM): SHEEPSKIN EXPRESS. THROW: CRATE BARREL. LANDSCAPE ARCHITECT: JUDY KAMEON. GENERAL CONTRACTOR: DAVIS REED.