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Circa 1960 Present Day
44-860 Cabrillo Ave
The residence at 44-870 Cabrillo Avenue is significant as it was designed by seminal California
architect Rudolph M. Schindler, and retains the integrity of his design. It is further significant for
its contribution as an early home built during the transition of Palm Village from predominantly
agriculture to early tourism.
Trained in Austria, architect Rudolph M. Schindler was working in Frank Lloyd Wright’s Chicago
office while Wright went to Japan from 1917-1922 for the building of several projects including
the Imperial Hotel. W right had Schindler came to California in 1920 to oversee the construction
of Wright’s Hollyhock House for Aline Barnsdall in Los Angeles. Upon its completion Schindler
decided to stay in California and set up his own practice.
Schindler’s first project in the Coachella Valley was in 1922 for Paul Popenoe. The home, no
longer is existence, was built in Coachella and is thought to be the first modern structure in the
valley.
From 1946-48 Schindler built this home for Maryon Toole in what was then known as Palm
Village. The home was built in the later years of Schindler’s career, which ended prematurely
with his death in 1953 at the age of 65. In The Architecture of R. M. Schindler, Michael Darling
of The Museum of Contemporary Art, Los Angeles said “The richness of the Toole house shows
an architect in full command of his medium, orchestrating a range of architectural concerns
toward a fully integrated whole.”
Concurrently development was just beginning in the bare desert on the south side of Highway
111 for the same reasons. In 1951 the two communities of Palm Village and Palm Desert united
and took the name of Palm Desert. The home pre-dates city incorporation by 25 years.
Little is known of Maryon Toole, but during World War II she served in the Women’s Army Corp.
She was also the postmistress for Indian Wells, operating out of the El Dorado Date Gardens on
Highway 111.
The current owner Mr. Douglas Kopp, purchased the home from the original owner Maryon
Toole in 1968.
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