"Few designers have achieved greatness with any formal training. Fewer
still are those that reached the pinnacles of their careers during the depths
of the Great Depression. William Kesling met both these challenges with
designs that played a unique role in the development and acceptance of modern
architecture in Southern California. At a critical time in the beginnings, he
brought modern design within reach of the everyday home-buying public.
His was a historically significant career, though brought to ruin by deception
and extortion. The scandals have long since been forgotten, but his buildings
and the weight of his influence on modern architecture remain.¹"

William Kesling's association with Borrego Springs begins with his father, German-born Adolph Kessling. At the age of thirteen, Adolph Kessling ran away from home and traveled to Russia where he was taken in a butcher and his wife. He immigrated alone to America and lured to Kansas City by the cattle business, met and married his wife Pauline (William's mother). In nearly a dozen years the family (William was the 4th of 5 children) acquired a cattle ranch, slaughterhouse and butcher shop in Brenham, Texas. In 1911, after 25 years of marriage Adolph abandoned Pauline, taking the eldest son with him and leaving no word as to his whereabouts. Pauline managed the Texas ranch and businesses, until 5 years later when contacted by her (vanished) husband, she moved to Calexico where he had established a new home and successful cattle ranch.

In the mid-1920's Adolph Kessling sold the Calexico ranch to search for gold in Anza Borrego desert while Pauline and the children moved to La Jolla. In 1928 Adolph Kessling died in a prospecting accident in the Anza Borrego Desert - it was surmised he accidentally pitched himself over a precipice while wielding a pick ax. .²

William Kesling was 16 when he arrived at his father's Calexico ranch and began doing odd jobs. He gravitated towards carpentry and construction and ultimately moved to Los Angeles to work various construction jobs and with various firms. By the late 1920's he was operating his own general contracting firm, and designing homes in the styles popular of the period. It was also in Los Angeles that Kesling changed his name, dropping one "s" - "it just looks better" he told his disapproving parents. .³

During the 1930's Kesling founded "Kesling Modern Structures" and began building homes in the Los Angeles area (primarily Silverlake, West Hollywood, San Fernando Valley, Pasadena and Westwood) in the Streamline Moderne style. Kesling was acting as designer, builder and arranging financing. In 1936, as construction costs were rapidly rising, Kesling's business began to unravel. A disgruntled client accused him of fraud - the charges eventually leading to his and his wife Ehrma's, arrest and grand jury indictment. (While Kesling handled the design and build aspects of the company, Ehrma handled the bookkeeping.) The publicity surrounding the case effectively killed his business. Despite maintaining his innocence and rather than defend himself in a costly trial, Kesling pleaded guilty to one count of fraud with the understanding charges would be dropped against his wife. The one count involved a $24.00 dispute. In March of 1937, Kesling was sentence to the maximum term at San Quentin, however it was suspended and he was placed on two years probation during which time he was prohibited from operating as a contractor.⁴

While on probation, Kesling supported his family by selling steel window sashes moving frequently to various parts of the state. In 1939, as his probation came to an end, Kesling decided to resume his career back in La Jolla where his mother lived. He reorganized "Kesling Modern Structures" and constructed a new office. It was World War II and the need for military and defense industry housing that changed the course of his career. In 1942 Kesling was awarded a contract to design and build one hundred small, prefabricated single family homes for the influx of aircraft industry workers to San Diego. His Streamline Moderne designs gave way to a clean, modern design as the means to control costs and reduce construction time. California Arts + Architecture magazine featured the project at the time, called the project "…pleasing…the architect attained simplification by elimination".⁵ In 1946 Kesling, seeking to prosper by offering affordable housing bought a dozen of La Jolla's least expensive lots and created a tract that featured homes that were variations on his basic floor plan. Following the war, Kesling continued to have success with his modern designs (including several important custom home commissions) in La Jolla and several other San Diego suburbs.

In 1948, A.A. Burnand, George Khurts and partners were marketing Borrego Springs as a resort community. Development plans called for a golf course and modern clubhouse, which would act as the social hub for the growing community. (For more information on Burnand and Khurts see http://www.borregomodern.com/the_dream/index.php
At this time Kesling was at the pinnacle of his second career, and was hired to design the Borrego Springs Desert Club which opened in 1949.

"He (Kesling) also returned to Borrego Springs, where his father had died, to
hunt and erect the Borrego Desert Club. This beautiful 5,000 square-foot facility
offered an elaborate dining room and a unique, enormous swimming pool set
against a view of the mountains surrounding the Anza-Borrego. The dining room
was sided by nine, ten-by-ten-foot glass panes looking out to the desert. The
pool was a twelve-foot-deep, thirty-by-sixty foot ellipse looking out over a pristine desert canyon. Though the club failed after just a few years, it remains nearly intact".⁶

For Kesling, the 1950's proved to be a repeat of the 1930's. He became overextended and resorted to dubious business practices. After a carpenter he employed was injured, it was discovered he had been underpaying his workers compensation insurance and was sued by the carpenters union. By 1962, Kesling had built his last building and at the age of 63 was financially wiped out. He found occasional work as a handyman and carpenter. In his mid seventies Kesling developed Alzheimer's disease. He died in 1983 at the age of 84. His wife Ehrma, never believing his work would be of interest destroyed his notes and record. She died at the age of 90 in 1993.

The Desert Club - 1949

While there are well preserved examples of Kesling's 1930's Streamline Moderne buildings, the Desert Club is perhaps one of the best preserved example of his mid-century modern design work.

The Desert Club was part of the vision of developer A.A. Burnand, founder of the Borrego Springs Community Association. Burnand, along with his partners, desired to create the ideal desert community, one that was "…protected from becoming a hodge-podge of desert shacks." To control growth and development, the Community Association initiated deed restrictions on properties that defined what could and could not be built, somewhat of a revolutionary idea in 1949. It was, in many ways, the most effective means of controlling development at the local level. Borrego Springs is an unincorporated area of San Diego County, and as such, County regulations (or lack of them) also define development in the Valley.

The Desert Club opened in 1950, and included as its members the most prominent citizens of Borrego Springs. The grand opening was a three day party, documented by Life Magazine photographer Allan Grant whose images have recently been made available as part of the Life Magazine digital archive on Google. As part of the festivities a luau was held, featuring a performance by Hawaiian entertainer Hilo Hattie.

The clubhouse design by William Kesling features large glass panels with expansive views of the desert valley. The family-type clubhouse was built, furnished and equipped by the Borrego Land and Development Company…Membership was a requirement for owners of property in the estate section of Borrego, tracts B,D,F and K in the Borrego Springs subdivision. ⁷ The club was for many years the social center of the community - long time residents today remember the parties and for many years the children of Borrego learned to swim in the pool.

"Annual costume parties were gay affairs. More than one prominent
citizen landed in the club's pool as the result of hi-jinks of fun-loving
Borregans."⁸

A 1951 renovation of the club designed by Architect Richard Zerbe (see The Design: Richard Zerbe) created a circular bar near the entrance and enclosed the previously open breezeway between the clubhouse and locker room facilities. When the club first opened, murals depicting de Anza's historic trek through the Borrego Valley were executed by Ted Curtis of Borrego Springs.

While the Desert Club was the first golf course development in Borrego Springs, it would soon be eclipsed by the development of de Anza Country Club in the northern part of the Borrego Valley.

The course was never fully completed and membership waned following the opening of de Anza Country Club. The acreage set aside for future development of home sites would be sold off in 1964. In 1968 the three acres and building that had been the clubhouse was sold to Robert and Sophia Schepe for $31,500. The Schepe's opened the "Galeria de Anza Borrego", an art studio and antique store that was in business for more than 35 years.

There have been few alterations to over the years, although living quarters were installed in some of the clubs offices and rooms. The building's defining corner glass windows remain with a sweeping view of the valley. The cocktail bar renovation by Richard Zerbe is also intact. In 2005 (two days after closing escrow) John Scranton, the present owner, opened the building to the public for the first time in a decade. Many in the community turned out to specifically get a look inside the Desert Club as part of the first mid-century modernism tour sponsored by Save Our Heritage Organisation and the Borrego Springs Chamber of Commerce. Dozens of dumpsters full of debris, and the remnants of the antique business have been removed and once again the present restoration has brought to light the beauty of William Kesling's expansive design.

In recent years the association of William Kesling to the Desert Club had been lost in the community. It wasn't until real estate agent Elizabeth Courtier emailed her contact list the brochure announcing the sale of the Desert Club that a member of the La Jolla Historical Society recognized it as the work of William Kesling.

As of January of 2009, the Desert Club is for sale. A new chapter waits to be written for this landmark.

Editor's Note: Special thanks to Patrick Pascal and to Balcony Press, author and publisher respectfully of Kesling Modern Structures: Popularizing Modern Design in Southern California 1934-1962. The book is available for purchase http://www.balconypress.com/html/kesling.html