Der Winter Kommt. Die Wüste Hat Andere Pläne. Die 25 Besten Häuser Weltweit (Wallpaper*)

As winter settles over Europe and North America, Dreamer / Lil’ Dreamer offers a different season in Rancho Mirage: 3.83 acres of desert light, mountain air, privacy, and a fully authored architectural environment designed for prolonged arrival.

Recognised by Wallpaper* among its Top 25 Houses of 2025, and selected as the hero image for that global architecture feature, Dreamer / Lil’ Dreamer is Robert Stone, AIA’s singular desert compound. The project has also been profiled in a dedicated Wallpaper* architecture feature, covered by Robb Report, and featured on the March 2026 cover of Palm Springs Life.

This is not familiar desert modernism. It is Stone’s fully realised statement of California Chicano Futurism: an authored place shaped by desert light, landscape, crafted materials, bold colour, and a distinctly Southern Californian cultural language.

Stone’s earlier works, Acido Dorado and Rosa Muerta, received the 2013 AIA Top Honor Award; were exhibited by the Smithsonian; and drew the attention of Vogue Italia, Saint Laurent, and Beyoncé. At Kelley Lane, that sensibility becomes more expansive and more inhabitable: an architectural work designed not simply to be seen, but to alter the experience of the desert itself.

The 4,029-square-foot estate comprises five bedrooms and 4.5 bathrooms across two independent structures.

• Main Residence - A low, ground-reaching sculptural form beneath a roof of traditional pottery tile, finished in four metallic glazes that shift with the desert light. Mirrored ceilings in the great room draw the San Jacinto Mountains into the interior, creating a continual exchange between architecture, sky, and landscape. The kitchen is a bespoke installation of silver crocodile-embossed leather cabinetry, stainless hardware, and a deliberately unconventional material palette. A dramatic plane of Kelly green tile anchors the primary suite, while composed breeze-block screens filter light and views into an evolving desert composition.

• Lil’ Dreamer - More than a guest house, Lil’ Dreamer is a fully independent second residence with its own entrance, kitchen, and living space. It can operate as a private guest retreat, studio, creative base, or a distinct place of work and arrival within the wider estate.

• Grounds Designed for Gathering - A half Olympic-length pool forms the reflective spine of the property. Dedicated service access and a valet configuration support private entertaining at a scale rarely available in an architectural residence, accommodating events of up to 200 guests. The 3.83-acre setting is more than double the largest lot in the private enclave opposite, creating an unusual degree of separation, flexibility, and composure.

The house follows the path of the sun by design, welcoming winter warmth and moderating desert heat through the changing seasons. Dreamer / Lil’ Dreamer has already served as the setting for the Palm Desert Food & Wine Celebrity Chef Reception.

It is a private winter base, a complete architectural environment, and a consequential work of contemporary California design: for the principal who understands that the most enduring properties do not merely contain a life. They give it a new form.

Private viewings and the complete architectural dossier are available through Simon Court.