Desert research center
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Image List:
Image 1: Dawn above the Desert Club, a 3.98-acre site near Anza-Borrego Desert State Park in Borrego Springs. Thanks to a generous gift from Audrey Steele Burnand, the property will become UC Irvine's desert field research station. Tucked into a Sonoran desert slope, the site offers commanding views.
Image 2: Streamline Moderne architect William Kesling designed the structure as the social hub of a planned new community in the 1940s. The great room features seating along floor-to-ceiling glass walls.
Image 3: Jim Dice, state parks senior environmental scientist, walks along the property's main gate. Dice, who has lived in Borrego Springs for 18 years, helped the property become the field research center.
Image 4: Ocotillo blooms on the property below unusual lenticular cloud formations.
Image 5: Diane Pataki, director of UCI's Center for Environmental Biology, spent years trying to set up a facility in Borrego Springs. "This building is perfect," she says of the Desert Club. "It will be our home base for research of all kinds."
Image 6: Delicate desert woolly-star sprouts in springtime. The normally harsh environment of Borrego Springs has long been known for its seasonal flowers.
Image 7: The rising sun is reflected in the building's front doors. The property is expected to become part of the University of California’s 135,000-acre Natural Reserve System.
Image 8: The surrounding desert teems with often overlooked life in winter and spring. Here, a queen butterfly draws nectar from a desert lavender plant.
Image 9: South-facing windows overlook garden created by seller John Scranton.
Image 10: The building features 10-by-10-foot glass panes, two fireplaces and a red-leather bar. The major architectural elements will be retained.
Image 11: California quail surveys the area from atop a fence post.
Image 12: The curved red-leather bar is a signature element of the building, which was once Borrego Springs' social hub.
Image 13: Seller John Scranton chats with UCI biologist Diane Pataki at the bar. "It has great bones," he says of the property.
Image 14: Desert bird abandons its perch on a blooming ocotillo.
Image 15: State parks senior environmental scientist Jim Dice, who helped obtain funding for the project.
Image 16: Western kingbird in palo verde, painting a bright canvas for those who visit the area in springtime.
Image 17: The Desert Club's front entrance boasts a large, cooling overhang.
Image 18: The property's 85-foot-long swimming pool was once a popular community attraction.
Image 19: Borrego Springs landowner Dennis Avery has commissioned freestanding metal animal sculptures alongside some of the town's roads and in open fields.
Image 20: Businesses along Borrego Springs' main boulevard boast period signage.
© 2013 UC Regents
