The Town & Country Center was designed by renowned Los Angeles architects A. Quincy Jones and Paul R. Williams in 1947. One year earlier, in 1946, Jones and Williams had designed the ultra Modern Palm Springs Tennis Club restaurant (now Spencers). A. Quincy Jones (1913 - 1979) was one of the key architects associated with the famous Case Study House Program that celebrated experimental Modern design in Southern California after World War II. Paul R. Williams (1894 - 1980) was the Los Angeles-based architect responsible for dozens of celebrity homes in Beverly Hills and Los Angeles, in addition to his extraordinary façade makeovers of the Beverly Hills Hotel (1947-51) and Palm Springs' El Mirador Hotel (1953). He was also the most acclaimed African American architect to practice in the 20th century.
An important recent book on mid-century Coachella Valley architecture titled "Palm Springs Weekend," lauds the Town & Country Center and, utilizing extensive research and vintage photographs, touts its architectural and historical importance. Additionally, the City of Palm Springs' recently completed historic resources survey describes the Town & Country Center as a "work of master architects" that is "an exceptional example of its type, period, and method of construction." Additionally, the professionally conducted survey states that The Center "contributes to the mid-century modernist character so strongly identified with Palm Springs." The survey concludes that The Center appears eligible for listing in the National Register of Historic Places, the California Register, and as a City of Palm Springs Class One Historic Site. Because The Center has been proven to be historically significant, the question becomes how best to preserve and adapt the property to meet today's needs.
