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Casa Adaire

White Spanish Colonial Revival exterior of Casa Adaire behind palms and desert landscaping.

Palm Springs house history · Driving stop 2 · Walking stop 4

Built twenty years before Taylor and Todd’s stay, Casa Adaire adds a Spanish Colonial Revival house to a tour better known for mid-century modernism.

Built
1937S01
Architects
Brewster & BenedictS01
Style
Spanish Colonial RevivalS01
Historic status
Palm Springs Class 1S01S03

Celebrity history

Elizabeth Taylor and Mike Todd at Casa Adaire.

Elizabeth Taylor and producer Mike Todd rented Casa Adaire beginning in October 1957. Taylor celebrated her 26th birthday here on February 27, 1958; the couple did not own the property.S01

Architecture

Design, materials, and historic status.

Brewster & Benedict designed the 1937 Spanish Colonial Revival residence for Walter and Adair Kirschner.S01

The preservation record characterizes the Kirschner Residence as an important custom example of Spanish Colonial Revival architecture, placing it in Palm Springs’ prewar resort era rather than its later modernist boom.S02

Historic status

The city designated the Kirschner Residence, known as Casa Adaire, a Class 1 historic site in 2019.S01S03

Architectural details

  • Prewar resort architecture

    The house belongs to Palm Springs’ Spanish Colonial Revival era, predating the city’s better-known postwar modernism.S01

  • The original commission

    The documented design was prepared for Walter and Adair Kirschner; the celebrity tenancy came two decades later.S01

The wider story

The house in context.

Walter Kirschner co-owned the nationwide Grayson’s women’s-apparel chain and named Casa Adaire for his daughter. That original family commission predates the brief Taylor–Todd tenancy by two decades.S02

House chronology

Key dates in the house’s history.

Dates come from the records cited below.

  1. Brewster & Benedict design the Kirschner ResidenceS01
  2. Elizabeth Taylor and Mike Todd begin their tenancyS01
  3. Taylor celebrates her 26th birthday hereS01
  4. Property changes hands; published prices conflictS05S06
  5. Class 1 historic designationS01S03

Research notes

Sources for Casa Adaire.

Claims on this page are tied to the records below. Research was checked .

  1. Walter and Adair Kirschner Residence Class 1 nominationCity of Palm Springs · checked
  2. Walter Kirschner ResidencePalm Springs Preservation Foundation · checked
  3. Palm Springs historic resources registryCity of Palm Springs · checked
  4. Open Source Routing Machine service informationFOSSGIS and OpenStreetMap contributors · checked
  5. 417 W Hermosa Place property and ownership historyHomes.com · checked
  6. 417 W Hermosa Place sale historyRedfin · checked