The Casa del Desierto station and hotel was built in 1911 by the
Atchison, Topeka and Santa Fe Railway to replace an earlier one built in 1885 that burned in 1908. The building is a synthesis of
Spanish Renaissance and
Classical Revival architecture styles, with a Moorish feeling as well. The concrete frame is faced with red tapestry brick and beige artificial stone. Majestic arcades and
colonnades line the facade, providing shade from the desert sun. Red clay barrel tiles are used to cover the roof. Towers at the building's corners, and those of the central projecting bay facing the tracks, are capped with pointed roofs or painted domes.
Francis W. Wilson is the architect credited by the
Historic American Buildings Survey of the
National Park Service. Amtrak's
Great American Stations site says that "according to contemporary accounts, the Casa del Desierto ... was designed by Francis W. Wilson of
Santa Barbara, Calif." Earlier Wilson had designed the
Fray Marcos hotel in
Williams, Arizona, and
El Garces in
Needles for the Santa Fe and Fred Harvey. The historic structure is the finest remaining depot-hotel in California, The Santa Fe closed the station in 1973. Casa del Desierto was added to the
National Register of Historic Places in 1975, ==See also==