(7 Dec 2015) LEAD-IN:
It's best wishes and birthday greetings for Ol' Blue Eyes. December 12 marks famed late crooner Frank Sinatra's 100th birthday.
The Rat Pack singer lived in various locations during his 82 years. His home in the Palm Springs Desert is now a popular rental property, frequented by music fans and Sinatra obsessives.
STORY-LINE:
Like so many things in his life, Frank Sinatra did it his way.
The Twin Palms Estate, set among the Palm Springs Desert, is the only house Ol' Blue Eyes ever built completely from the ground up.
Today, architectural historians say it's the personification of desert contemporary modernism.
In 2011, it was designated as a Class 1 Historical Site by the City of Palm Springs.
It's also a popular tourist destination, in an area once known as a playground for the rich and famous.
According to William Sayegh, a member of the concierge team at Beau Monde Villas, Sinatra was attracted to the area and felt it was "his" spot in the world.
The singer and actor commissioned the retreat at the height of his early fame after he made his first million dollars.
He originally paid 150,000 US dollars for the air-conditioned desert property. It remained his primary home from 1948 till 1957.
Sinatra named it the 'Twin Palms Estate' after the twin palm trees on the front lawn. They still remain there to this day.
"One of the great aspects of this house is that Frank Sinatra bought the empty land and had the house built," says Sayegh.
"And he was flying around in his plane looking for a site and saw the two twin palm trees in the backyard which are still here and decided this is where he wanted to build his house. He bought the two lots of land and built this wonderful estate with a swimming pool on one lot of land and the house of the other lot of land."
Sinatra arrived in the desert town in 1947, with him he brought the allure and sex appeal of glamorous Hollywood.
Soon Palm Springs became a jet set destination for Hollywood's royalty. Neighbours included comedian and actor Jack Benny, actor Cary Grant and singer Al Jolsen.
The sprawling one floor estate boasts two addresses - the swimming pool and cabana are on one lot of land, the house on the other.
Spanning 45-hundred square feet (4,180 square metres), the address boasts four bedrooms, seven bathrooms and a swimming pool shaped like a piano.
Now operated by Beau Monde Villas as a luxury rental property, it's claimed to be the most popular destination to rent in Palm Springs.
Architectural historian, Robert Imber, gets a kick out of the home's design. Specifically tailored to Sinatra's taste for Georgian architecture, he says.
"He wanted a Georgian styled house. He was very knowledgeable of architecture - loved architecture apparently. They gave him drawings both for Georgian and for contemporary. The mid-century architecture, importantly, was simply the architecture of the day, the contemporary architecture of the day," says Imber, who is also the owner of Palm Springs Modern Tours.
"He was then married to Ava Gardner, chose this, and lived here for a good number of years. When this house was built, it was in the middle of nowhere, open desert as far as you could see. There was a landing strip someplace nearby. You flew you're plane out, you looked for Frank's house in the desert and walked over for cocktails."
The property's current owners have gone to great lengths to keep as much of the home as possible, they've even added some extra Sinatra memorabilia. Sinatra himself designed the master suite.
Sinatra and Gardner were married in 1951 and divorced in 1957.
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