Mark Sikes' Holiday House in Palm Springs, California

If you've been watching Mark's instagram you already know that he was hired to redesign the Holiday House boutique hotel in Palm Springs. Holiday House is a midcentury style resort hotel designed by famed California architect Herbert Burns in 1951. Mark was hired by the new owners to revive the dated rooms, and curate an impressive collection of art by such luminaries as Annie Leibovitz, David Hockney, and John Baldessari. All of the rooms have been decorated in Mark's signature blue and white color palette and the new Holiday House will open to guests in April, but before it does, I wanted to write a post about the old Holiday House, and the bits and pieces of what we already know Mark is doing to refresh it! 

An original advertisement for the exclusive Holiday House before it opened to the public in October 1951. The Holiday House was always intended to be a luxurious and exclusive resort. Conceived by original owner Lloyd S. Whaley, and designed by Herbert Burns, the resort claimed to have luxury with a capital "L" in every corner to lure discriminating patrons. 

Originally, Holiday House had 13 private apartments. One of the apartments was occupied by Mr. Whaley, the owner and his family, another by the manager of Holiday House. The remaining 11 apartments were rented to Palm Spring part-time residents. 

In the 1960's, due to the success of Holiday House, second level rooms were added, making the 13 room resort into a 28 room hotel. Holiday House was then renamed The Chase Hotel. For 50 years, thousands went in and out of The Chase Hotel during visits to Palm Springs and when it went up on the market it was quickly purchased by Jeff Brock and Richard Crisman who are seasoned Palm Springs hoteliers. Together, they own Sparrows Lodge in Palm Springs. They hired Mark D. Sikes to refresh all of the hotel rooms and exterior, along with the lobby which would include a restaurant/bar the pair planned to add.

When they purchased the Chase Hotel, the lobby looked like this:

It's a relatively large space considering the overall size of the property. A small breakfast area was tucked in behind the front desk waiting area, and a business center in a dark alcove added additional seating space. The decor really isn't a surprise. Palm Springs has long embraced it's midcentury roots in architecture and interior design. All of the information I've read on Holiday House says that the original details by Burns will stay in tact. 

Second floor rooms, not part of the original design in 1951, now look out over the pool courtyard.

The interior of The Chase went through a few changes prior to Mark getting his hands on it. Here are a few photos of the rooms at The Chase before their last renovation prior to sale: 

Simple, neutral earth tones with the quintessential early 90's blonde wood furniture. They shifted to all white bedding for a fresher look in the 2000's: 

Of course most everything else stayed the same. Now of course, everything is different. Wildly different! There have been few photos of the "new" Holiday House released online. Architectural Digest just showed this photo 5-days ago: 

This guest room was one of the first finished. WOW! Every wall is clad with pattern, either in paper or in wood, and the blue and white theme is carried out in every last detail. Other snapshots of the room's various corners were shared by Mark on his instagram, and the instagram page for Holiday House. 

Hardly looks like the same place, right? More snapshots show a few other spaces of the newly decorated hotel suites: 

Including this progress shot. Becky Boyle, who works for Mark, showed another wallpaper that had been chose for the rooms at Holiday House on her instagram: 

Along with this shot of the detail of the tile floors, HH for Holiday House: 

What I've been most interested in though is the transformation of the Lobby and other common and exterior spaces, like the pool. The original lobby needed a face lift, and so did the gardens around the property. 

This tile was snapshot shared just days ago on instagram. It's being used on the Lobby Bar front, which is obviously still a work in progress. 

These citrus trees were delivered to Holiday House and shared on instagram. I'm sure that the whole place will be absolutely amazing, and will be the new "hot spot" for Palm Springs visitors. It certainly has the bones, the atmosphere, and the cache of being designed by one of the hottest interior designers in the world right now. For more of Mark's designs, check out his website, his instagram, or his book, which is now less than $25! It make a great gift: