Luxury in the Depths of the Desert

WESTERN LANDMARK Valley. In doing so, Anschutz awarded Colorado-based OZ LUXURY IN THE DEPTHS OF THE DESERT Architecture the task of catapulting both hotel properties A historic inn and ranch offer a point of departure to explore scorching, forbidding, and colorful Death Valley into the modern era while preserving the historic integrity, stylistic qualities, and Mission architecture. “The inn and the ranch’s architecture weren’t totally WRITTEN BY Robert Kaufman aligning,” said Rebecca Stone, a principal architect and hospitality practice leader at OZ Architecture. “The ranch seemed a bit temporary and Old Western, while the inn appeared more California Territorial and adobe looking.” Stone explains that the firm’s approach included low-water- use landscaping, for shading and cooling the property, and they avoided disturbing the environment by building as much as possible within the footprint of the old structures. ated the Moorish-influenced stonework, and hand-made adobe bricks from Paiute and Shoshone laborers, the From top: Sunset lights the badlands at the Furnace Creek Inn opened in 1927 and was reportedly built Zabriskie Point overlook in Death Valley National Park. | The brilliant Milky Way illuminates the for $30,000. salty landscape in the below-sea-level basin. The inn was expanded to include 66 rooms by 1935 Clockwise from top left: Find tranquil Photos courtesy of The Oasis at Death Valley and remained that size until 2018, when billionaire Philip moments amidst the Oasis’ date palms. | Anschutz, owner of Xanterra Travel Collection, invested New casitas were added to the resort in 2018. | The historic spring-fed swimming roughly $100 million to transform the entire 338-acre pool is always 87 degrees. Photos courtesy During my first night at The Oasis at Death Valley, million-acre national park boasts endless geological wonders desert compound and reopen it as The Oasis at Death of The Oasis at Death Valley this city slicker was captivated by an eye-popping plethora of that have been folded, twisted, uplifted, re-formed, and bur- stars forming a hazy band of light across the black sky. This ied by cataclysmic forces over thousands of years, creating was outmatched the following morning when Mother Nature a landscape of raw beauty that attracted nearly 1.7 million illuminated the panorama with a rare rainbow arc spanning visitors in 2018. miles across the desert floor. In the hottest (the second- Despite the remote locale of America’s largest national highest temperature ever recorded was here at 134 degrees park outside of Alaska, first-time guests to Death Valley will Fahrenheit), lowest (Badwater Basin sits at 282 feet below sea discover that the Oasis serves as one of the main activity level), and driest (with an average of 2 inches of rain there hubs in the area. Guests can take comfort at either of the two per year) region of the Western Hemisphere, nature already distinct hotels that make up the property: the luxurious Inn seems to rule. But in this arid landscape, the meteorological at Death Valley and the family-friendly Ranch at Death Valley. occurrence was so unusual that Trey The roots of Death Valley’s pros- Matheu, the hotel’s general manager, perity started during the early 1900s suggested, “Today is the day you go when the Pacific Borax Company buy a lottery ticket.” capitalized on mining the powdered Contrary to its name, Death mineral, considered “white gold.” Valley is a thriving natural museum The company eventually commis- with more than 900 species of plants sioned architect Albert C. Martin and desert wildlife unknown in other (who designed Los Angeles City parts of the world. Situated along Hall) to create a 12-unit hacienda- the California-Nevada border, 140 style hotel. With help from Spanish miles northwest of Las Vegas, the 3.3 stonemason Steve Esteves, who cre- 70 WA A WA A 71 WESTERN LANDMARK Along with refreshing the guest rooms, lobby, restaurant, and fitness room, and adding massage rooms next to the spring-fed pool, the most dramatic enhancement to the inn was building 22 private casitas that circle the gardens, each with its own golf cart for transportation. The inn’s neighboring 224-room ranch, adjacent to the world’s lowest elevation golf course and the Death Valley visitor center, also benefitted from a much-needed make- over. Today, it includes a Mission-style town square with an improved lobby, new restaurant, ice cream and coffee bar, general store, post office, and a saloon where you’ll feel like an extra in a Western movie. The Oasis offers a welcome reprieve from the mysteries of life contained in Death Valley’s arid atmosphere and isolated landscape. Both the ranch and inn offer great escapes for those looking to explore the surprises found in one of the hottest and driest places on Earth. Clockwise from lower left: The Oasis at Death Valley’s signature prickly pear mar- Robert Kaufman is an internationally published writer garita. | A standard room in one of the new casitas. | The resort serves such delicacies as blue cheese stuffed dates wrapped in prosciutto and finished with a pomegranate and award-winning photographer based in Marin County, reduction. Photos courtesy of The Oasis at Death Valley California; pictureparfect.com. 72 WA A.

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