Catching up with Jessica Pell, Founder of Los Angeles-based Manola Studio, Hotel Designs discovered how the designer has turned a 1940s roadside lodge into a 12-key hotel that celebrates the magic of slow-living in the desert…
Now open in Twentynine Palms, California, Hotel Wren is a petite, design-driven hideaway that blends historic motel culture with modern craftsmanship, and embraces the quiet, rugged landscape of California’s high desert.
“Hotel Wren is my love letter to the desert,” said the designer, Jessica Pell – Founder of Manola Studio. “Joshua Tree has a way of making you feel both small and completely at home” – an ethos which comes through in the Wren’s thoughtfully curated interiors and architecture.
Once a roadside lodge, Hotel Wren has been reconceptualised with care and restraint, not forgetting its origins but representing them. The property’s original layout has been preserved and with it, its steel casement windows and architectural character restored. Timeless materials and custom craftsmanship have been introduced for a quiet modern vision; the 12-room property now balances rustic warmth with refined simplicity.
Image credit: Ethan Jones
Joshua Tree “quiets the noise and makes you listen,” notes Jessica, “I wanted Wren to reflect that stillness.” She adds that the Wren is a space where “architecture and landscape exist in quiet conversation, where every material and every detail is chosen with care and intention.”
As such, hand-trowelled plaster, customer terracotta floors, carved woodwork, and hand-painted tiles, inspired by the desert’s flora and fauna, converge delicately within the Wren.
The interiors also mirror the landscape’s shifting hues and Jessica has chosen colours that change with the light. Cream, sand, sage, adobe pink, rust and deep ochre filter seamlessly throughout the hotel, waxing and waning with the changing light and elements outside.
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- Image credits: Ethan Jones
At the heart of the hotel, the lobby serves as both a welcome space and a living room, where guests gather, linger, and take in the mountains that cradle the Joshua Tree National Park.
Anchoring the lobby area is a fireplace framed by custom millwork with hand-carved motifs by Nik Gelormino. Above sits a mural by artist Kim Swift, which stretches across the lobby walls in homage to the desert’s ‘endless horizon’, as Jessica lovingly puts it, and fills the vast wall spaces created from the site’s vaulted ceilings – which also serves to draw light in from outside.
Inviting visitors to engage more deeply with the land and sky surrounding, Jessica has hand-selected books on astronomy, geology, hiking, birding, philosophy and nature, to line the lobby’s bookshelves.
In the guest rooms, each suite is designed to feel like a private residence – a place to unwind, reset, and experience the stillness of the desert. Antiques and artworks decorate the space, while televisions were decisively left out of the rooms to underline Hotel Wren’s commitment to reflection and presence.
King or Queen beds are dressed in Parachute linens, and rooms are stocked with Wonder Valley bath products, a yoga mat, a meditation blanket and a pantry of artisanal luxuries – for the ultimate luxe wellness stay.
Image credit: Ethan Jones
Half of the bedrooms face the western desert, with bathtubs and private patios that open directly out on to vast landscape. The other half are more secluded, with enclosed patios and outdoor showers, for an intimate retreat. All guestrooms have built-in outdoor banquettes and gas fireplaces too, inviting guests to relax and rest under the stars.
A sensory pause, Hotel Wren is rooted in reverence for the land; elevated by meticulous design, it invites guests to slow down, to listen, and to feel at home in the stillness. With every hand-finished surface and thoughtfully chosen material, the hotel stands as both a tribute to the desert’s quiet grandeur and a modern reimagining of hospitality.
Who is Jessica Pell?
Jessica Pell is a Los Angeles-based designer and founder of Manola Studio, known for her ability to create spaces that feel both deeply personal and timeless. A graduate of Art Center College of Design, she studied environmental and architectural design, later continuing her studies in sustainability at Tama Art University in Tokyo.
Main image credit: Ethan Jones
