Palm Springs Life’s Miranda Caudell takes a look at The Vintage Club’s reimagined clubhouse. The renovation of the 17 year old 85,000 square foot Clubhouse began as part of a larger plan to focus on the future of The Vintage Club. Original Vintage Club architect, Robert J. Geering, FAIA, was retained as Lead Design Consultant for the project. Geering and fellow Aetypic architects Mark B. Steppan and David Tritt oversaw the building’s architectural design elements during the renovation. Wilson Associates, a world-renowned interior design firm, managed the interior design features, while Craig Roberts Associates Inc. of Dallas handled the new lighting installations. Completed on Jan. 16, 2016, with a budget of $24 million, the finished product falls nothing short of pure desert luxury.
Miranda writes that the main entrance welcomes visitors with the warm glow of floor lanterns and blooming desert plants. Floor-to-ceiling glass doors and windows add a dynamic visual element to the scene with their Mondrian-esque pattern, which also appears on the lanterns.
From the main entrance, guests step through the glass doors and cross The Clubhouse’s redesigned gallery: floor lanterns continue along both walls as a guiding sense of warmth; a green onyx fireplace adds a touch of intimacy; and an abstract wall sculpture echoes the mountains in the distance, as do the pyramidal ceilings overhead.
Miranda also notes that the subtle grandeur and sophistication expressed in the first few rooms extends to the rest of The Clubhouse, including its multipurpose card room, updated bathrooms, boardroom, private dining room, and 1,000-seat ballroom. Members and their guests can enjoy an enhanced dining experience at LakeView Grille, surrounded by luxurious furnishings that reflect the design pattern found in the building’s entryway. The restaurant’s bar area, now known as Mick’s Bar, has also been redesigned and includes beautiful, custom-glass lighting and an abstract water feature that creates a soothing, natural soundtrack. Pass from the LakeView Grille to the Pointe, the restaurant’s extended outdoor seating area, and you will find a distinctive dining space. Though dining alfresco is the desert standard, The Vintage Club has created a unique space by doubling the size of the patio, adding radiant floor heating and four fire pits, and providing ample light with newly installed black metal torches. Enhanced water features in the surrounding lake and four “floating” palm trees make guests feel as though they too are floating on top of the water.
The renovations also included adding elements that make The Clubhouse all the more grand, including state-of-the-art technology in the boardroom, club lighting, music and a 5,000-square-foot kitchen, featuring all new equipment and include a pastry shop, a butcher shop, and wood-burning Italian pizza ovens. There’s also a new children’s playground, and high-speed wireless Internet.
The physical revitalization of The Clubhouse represents a much larger rebirth happening at The Vintage Club. The Club is in the midst of a real estate renaissance; investors and developers are buying up and transforming properties into luxurious, turnkey homes. New builds are even in the works. At the same time, The Vintage Club’s real estate rebirth has taken on a multi-layered renaissance all its own; more than $65 million has poured into home improvements during 2015 alone.
The remodel of the Tom Fazio–designed Mountain Course has also contributed to The Club’s new look and feel. Completed in 2014, the Tom Fazio course updates have brought The Club to the forefront of the golf scene, earning the designation “Best New Remodel” in the December 2015 issue of Golf Digest..
Miranda closes by noting that the timelessness of the original building and architecture has been preserved, including the pyramidal ceilings and trellis walls, but the more modern and sophisticated touches that now fill the space help illustrate a perfect blend of old and new; of an iconic past and exquisite present. As for the future, The Vintage Club expects nothing less than the best. After all, that’s what being Vintage is all about.
To read Miranda Caidell’s original article and view the accompanying pictures, courtesy of Palm Springs Life magazine, please visit: http://www.palmspringslife.com/Palm-Springs-Life/Desert-Guide/March-2016/The-Best-in-the-Desert/