Merrill Lynch Building 415 South Palm Canyon, Palm Springs, CA 92264
The two-story 1971 Merrill Lynch Building was architect Donald Wexler’s very successful foray into “New Formalism,” a style which blended modernism and classicism. Wexler’s large building (13,000 square feet) commands a prominent site on South Palm Canyon Drive in the city’s financial district. The building’s temple-like design, rigid use of symmetry and massive columns, combine to evoke a sense of gravity, authority, stability, and permanence. All perfect attributes of a financial institution.
In June of 2021, the Palm Springs Preservation Foundation board of directors assigned the task of writing the Class 1 Historic Resource nomination for the Merrill Lynch Building to PSPF board member Steven Keylon.
