Seven Lakes Golf & Country Club takes step toward becoming Palm Springs’ largest historic district

The Palm Springs Historic Site Preservation Board voted Tuesday to designate Seven Lakes Golf & Country Club as a historic district. 

The country club and golf course is located west of Gene Autry Trail off of East 7 Lakes Drive. The site was the first golf course condominium development in the Palm Springs area, and the historic district boundaries cover the entire 120-acre condominium complex and golf course.

The 18-hole golf course opened first, in January 1965, with sales of residential units starting later that year. Seven Lakes includes 341 residential units spread across 147 residential buildings designed by Richard A. Harrison, along with 15 pools with ramadas, 10 carports, a tennis court, a Hugh Kaptur-designed gatehouse and a William Cody-designed clubhouse.

The golf course itself was designed by David Hamilton and Theodore G. Robinson. 

The historic district, proposed by the Seven Lakes Homeowners Association, “is by far the largest nomination request the city has received for a district,” city staff said during the Tuesday meeting. The applicant’s assessment identified 205 of those residential units and 29 of the 34 non-residential resources as contributing resources to the potential district. 

In addition to being the first golf course condominium development in Palm Springs, Seven Lakes is the first “in the entire Coachella Valley, and the jury’s not out as to whether or not we’re the first in the nation,” said Matthew Dillhoefer, co-chair of the Seven Lakes Historic Preservation Ad Hoc Committee, at Tuesday’s meeting. 

“It has been said among owners here at Seven Lakes that people come for an authentic mid-century modern residential experience, but they stay for the community,” Dillhoefer continued.

Seven Lakes is also notable for its associations with former President Dwight D. Eisenhower, a member and frequent player at the country club who was known as “the golfing president.” Eisenhower reportedly achieved a hole-in-one on the course’s 13th hole in 1968, which received widespread media attention at the time. The former head of state called the event “the thrill of a lifetime.”

Then-sitting president Lyndon B. Johnson met Eisenhower for a round of golf at Seven Lakes on February 18, 1968, when the pair discussed the status of the Vietnam War and held a press conference near the 18th green. 

The historic designation will next go before the Palm Springs City Council for a final approval. If approved, Seven Lakes will be the city’s 14th historic district, joining the Royal Hawaiian Estates, Country Club Estates and Sagewood Condominiums. 

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