Lillian Rice built this compound in the 1920s as part of her broader vision for Rancho Santa Fe itself — a rare instance of a woman architect shaping not just a building but an entire Southern California community from the ground up. The Inn at Rancho Santa Fe grew from that original commission by the Santa Fe Land Improvement Company, which had planted the surrounding eucalyptus groves to supply railroad ties before pivoting to one of California's most coveted residential enclaves. Rice's signature is everywhere in the exteriors: the low-slung white stucco volumes, terracotta barrel-tile roofs, brick pathways edged by dry-stacked fieldstone walls, and a relationship to the landscape that feels less designed than cultivated over generations. The gardens seen in the images — rose beds tumbling between levels, mature palms punctuating the lawn, hedgerows pressed close against the cottages — carry that same quality of deliberate informality. Inside the 87 rooms and cottages, the interiors balance ranch-house practicality with a quiet residential warmth. Reclaimed-timber headboards with cross-brace joinery anchor the bedrooms, set against botanical-patterned wallcoverings in amber and cream. Floors alternate between honey-toned hardwood and traditional terracotta tile depending on the building's position on the grounds, and plantation shutters filter the inland San Diego light throughout. The terrace dining area, with its long linear fire feature and wicker-and-rattan seating arrangements, extends Rice's original indoor-outdoor thinking into contemporary use without displacing the atmosphere she established a century ago.

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