Royal Hawaiian Estates

Update

On April 29, 2010, PSPF awarded a $1,200 preservation grant to the Royal Hawaiian Estates (RHE) Home Owners Association (HOA). The grant will enable the RHE HOA to contract with the well-respected local architectural firm of o2 Architecture to design and explore the fabrication feasibility of an architectural element known as a “tiki apex.” The tiki apexes were removed from all of RHE’s “outrigger beams” (another defining feature of tiki- or Polynesian-modern architecture) during the 1990s for a variety of reasons, including deferred maintenance. o2 Architecture has said it will rely heavily on 1960s-era vintage photographs to capture the appropriate scale and proportions of the tiki apexes and will consult with modernist architect Donald Wexler on the project. According to PSPF President Ron Marshall, “the RHE HOA has pledged to pursue any certificates of approval required by the city’s Historic Site Preservation Board,” for the eventual planned reconstruction of the tiki apexes. RHE (designed by the firm of Wexler & Harrison in 1960) was recently designated Palm Springs’ first residential historic district.