The Avery Edwin Field Cabin Ruins, circa 1920, are located in the Historic Tennis Club neighborhood of Palm Springs, Calif. 

In the middle of the prestigious, wealthy enclave of the Historic Tennis Club neighborhood in Palm Springs sits an empty concrete foundation. It’s not the beginning of the next mid-century modern mansion, though. The landmark historic site is an ode to the creative early years of the burgeoning city, and it remains one of the few places where one can imagine what it might have been like to live in this part of the desert more than 100 years ago. 

But after plans for a new home were recently proposed just beside this unique and tranquil space, time may be running out to visit the notable relic before the experience is fundamentally altered. 

Advertisement

Article continues below this ad

The Avery Edwin Field Cabin Ruins lie at the end of West Santa Rosa Drive, steps from beyond where the road terminates and the terrain turns from paved road to rock-strewn dirt as you walk toward the foothills. Stone steps set in the hill lead up to the remnants of the home, a set of low stone walls and a stately stacked-stone fireplace. Standing at the center of the “room,” looking out at the view, it’s easy to see what attracted trailblazing artists to this spot to set up homes, long before Palm Springs was even officially established. 

Avery Edwin Field, a well-known photographer at the time, chose this spot to be in community with a small colony of artists who had built shelters in the area. Historian Peter T. Wild dubbed the group, which consisted of painters, naturalists, writers and photographers, “the Creative Brotherhood.”

The Avery Edwin Field Cabin Ruins, circa 1920, are located in the Historic Tennis Club neighborhood of Palm Springs, Calif. 

“This was not a formalized band with a manifesto or anything such as that, but a loose association [of men] with commonly shared attitudes and interests,” the historian told Palm Springs Life in 2007. “[They] often traveled together, sharing hardships as well as the joys of the trail; and they felt a deep bond in their shared values, especially in their romantic view of nature.” 

Advertisement

Article continues below this ad

There are no official building records, but historians estimate that Field built his roughly 250-square-foot-cabin in 1920. It wasn’t hastily constructed,........

© SFGate