La Quinta Museum
The La Quinta Museum is located near La Quinta’s Old Town and features artifacts and specimens from La Quinta’s history. In May 2008 the museum underwent a $2.5m expansion and will reopen . MW Steele Group has provided architecture services that include design through construction administration.
The original museum was in a 1920's-era 1-story, 953sf Spanish style structure. The original structure is connected to the new La Quinta Museum through a private landscaped courtyard with custom tile and paving patterns.
The new Museum structure compliments the existing structure with its Spanish design and the building features heavy timber trusses, a rotunda, a courtyard fountain, and balconies overlooking the courtyard and adjacent park. Additional details include meeting spaces, presentation rooms, archive areas, classroom, museum store, and display areas. It will also include refurbished stain-glass windows from the Desert Club (a resort popular in the 1940's and 1950's) and other preserved artifacts such as wrought iron gates and decorative ornate light fixtures.
Of special note: mural artist Andre Blanché has been commissioned to provide a 32' wide mural in the main meeting room that will depict the history of the area from when the Cahuilla Indians occupied the land through the development of today’s golf-course resorts.
