Mission: Mud House Coachella Valley Museum surveys the area’s
adobe structures The Coachella Valley once was dotted with
hundreds of adobe houses, but most have washed away, collapsed,
or been bulldozed. In recent months, some classics were slated
for demolition. But economy-wary developers allow us a last
chance to see these structural gems. The best-known local adobes
include the La Quinta Resort casitas, Casa Cody in Palm Springs,
and the Cavanagh adobe in Indian Wells, dating from 1922. Dozens
more hide behind hedges or stucco walls. Researchers and
historians from the Coachella Valley Historical Society are on a
mission to locate and document the best remaining architecture
in the East Valley. Dating mostly from the late 1920s and 1930s,
the dwellings reflect their former owners’ love of organic
contours, textures, and earthy comfort — with a big nod to
Mexican and Spanish styles. "To live in one automatically makes
you an aristocrat," said Harry Oliver, the late humorist who
built a sprawling adobe (now