Late Architect William Charles Tanner Being Honored In Palm Springs

PALM SPRINGS, CA — The late artist and architect William Charles Tanner will be honored next week with the 456th star on the Walk of the Stars Palm Springs, the Chamber of Commerce announced Wednesday.

The star will be unveiled at 1 p.m. Feb. 24 at 330 S. Palm Canyon Drive, according to the chamber.

The ceremony will be free and open to the public.

"We are thrilled that William Charles Tanner, a true artist who helped make Palm Springs the treasure it is today, is being honored on the Palm Springs Walk of Stars," Palm Springs Preservation Foundation President Gary Johns said in a statement.

The foundation sponsored Tanner's star.

Tanner inspired modern architecture in Palm Springs, according to chamber officials. As a painter, he used his skills to create works of art in concrete, stucco and tile.

"It was Tanner who transformed Nellie Coffman's dowdy old Desert Inn into a Spanish paradise of such charm it was soon hailed as `the hotel that built Palm Springs,"' according to the chamber. "Tanner's masterfully crafted Desert Inn set in motion a mania for Spanish design that lasted up until World War II."

Charles died in 1960 at age 83.