03. San Marcos of the Desert
- Chandler Museum
Courtesy of the Frank Lloyd Wright Foundation
The monumental San Marcos in the Desert was to offer beautiful views of the desert spreading out below. Located on 1,400 acres in the South Mountain foothills, the hotel was to be built into the side of the mountain, with three terraced floors of guest rooms on each wing. Guests were to drive underneath the main lobby of the hotel following the course of a ravine. In addition to the structural blocks, glass blocks were to be used to allow natural light in. The geometric design of the building was meant to encourage guests to focus on the desert outside. The hotel was accented in copper and glass with repeated geometric shapes. Each guest suite had two bedrooms and two bathrooms. Every bedroom was to be adorned with a large tapestry woven in a pattern to match the architecture. Since the hotel was terraced, the roof of each level served as a garden for the level above.
Irregularly shaped triangular patterns inside the hotel created unique spaces. Each room featured a large fireplace on the western wall. The ceiling at the highest point in the hotel reached 20 feet. The ceiling in the dining room was decorated in copper and its terraced levels were made to look like an arbor. Skylights pierced the ceiling throughout the center rooms of the hotel.Â
Courtesy of the Frank Lloyd Wright Foundation
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