An Arizona Casita's Rich History Inspires Its Next Iteration

Once part of the Moroccan-themed Casa Blanca resort built in the 1920s in Paradise Valley, designer David Michael Miller’s own home is a pure reflection of his love of life in the desert. Originally designed by architect R.T. Evans as a private residence for an industrial magnate and his family, Casa Blanca later became a corporate retreat, complete with its own airstrip, then a desert getaway to which Hollywood royalty like Marilyn Monroe, Clark Gable and Charlie Chaplin would regularly escape. “Casa Blanca is so unique—there’s nothing quite like it,” Miller notes. He knows the enclave well, having already owned a unit there and rented yet another while redoing this residence. When Miller purchased the space, it hadn’t been touched since the ’80s, when the entire development was converted to condos. “It was a little gnarly—it needed everything,” he says. So he gutted it and started over.

Drawing on the vernacular and design principles of Casa Blanca, Miller redesigned and reconfigured the home, which he refers to as his casita. Casa Blanca’s aesthetic comes from Moroccan and Territorial styles—the latter drawing on Native American and Spanish Colonial influences. “I picked up some details from the original buildings, like how they built their interior doors and how they did their plaster work,” Miller says. “I wanted to re-create those things in subtle ways.” As a nod to local design elements and to bring in a bit of texture, Miller, working with general contractor Luke Wilson, added contemporary, squared-off vigas, or beams, to the painted plank ceiling in the living room and designed a modern, geometric version of the classic kiva fireplace. “There was a giant Michelin Man marshmallow-shape fireplace in the living room, and it just ate up the space, so we took it out and completely started over,” Miller explains. He designed a similar fireplace for the enchanting private patio—reached via new steel-sash-and-glass pivot doors in the living room and bedroom—which landscape designer Charlie Ray curated with specimen cacti and salvaged ironwood trees.

The entrance, which once opened to an awkward view of the guest bathroom, now exists as a modest foyer, its flagstone flooring giving way to rustic French white oak planks in the dining and living room just beyond. Miller kept the palette neutral and the materials natural by design, and selected vintage and antique wood furnishings. “It’s very simple and edited,” he notes.

One of Miller’s most treasured pieces is an unfinished 18 th -century walnut bust of a bishop placed on the angular original windowsill in the dining room—one of the few areas Miller left untouched. “The light is so beautiful here, and I love that particular piece,” he says. In the living room, above a circa 1900 Belgian painted dresser that conceals a screen (“I enjoy watching TV but hate looking at TV screens,” he notes), he curated a group of artworks that includes a Fritz Scholder monotype, a sepia-toned architectural sketch he found in France, a Mark Klett photograph of an anthropomorphic cactus, and a pastel painting by Phoenix artist Ellen Wagener. “Some paintings have followed me to every house I’ve had,” he says. “These things all remind me of my history, and I like being surrounded by that.”

Miller says he’s used to being his own client at this point, having redone several houses for himself. “I’m a bit of a perfectionist, so if that means I have to do it twice to get it right, then that’s how it is,” he says. “But as my own client, I’m good—I know where I want to go and I go there. Sometimes when you’re designing your own space, you see things you fall in love with, and you don’t need anyone’s permission—you’re in love with it and you just go with it.”