Desert retreat is art lovers’ completed canvas

Triple, a Scottish terrier, was running across the lawn near a citrus orchard when his owners, lounging under their porte-cochere, had an idea.

Let’s move and “build from scratch,” said one. “Let’s re-list,” said the other, thinking back eight months to when the house had been briefly on the market.

To launch their sales campaign, they decided to put their contemporary retreat, built in 2002, on the fifth annual home tour to benefit the Children’s Discovery Museum of the Desert in Rancho Mirage.

They aren’t the only ones to make use of the tour as a marketing tool. At least one other house of the six on the tour, today from 9 a.m. to 5 p.m., is also for sale.

Voyeurs on this tour will see more than just homes. The owners of this Rancho Mirage house -- entertainment lawyer Scott Schwimer and investor Michael Epstein -- are the co-owners of HurrellPhotos.com, publishers of the work of Hollywood glamour photographer George Hurrell.

There is a large collection of Hurrell’s work on display in the home as well as a number of lifelike poly-resin sculptures by Marc Sijan, samples of Andy Warhol’s Pop art and a fleet of collectible motor vehicles.

“We’re selling because we want to build a home with our own floor plan and a minimum of an eight-car garage to house our ever-growing car collection,” Schwimer said.

Since becoming partners 20 years ago, the two have overseen the construction or remodeling of seven houses “in our quest for perfection,” Epstein said. “We’re still trying.”

About this house: It’s the only house in Rancho Mirage on the tour, which includes an Old World-style home in Palm Desert and a couple of Palm Springs moderns, one with an early version of an infinity pool. Tickets, at $45 each for those doing their own driving and $75 for those using the museum’s bus, are available the day of the tour at the museum gift shop, 71-701 Gerald Ford Drive, Rancho Mirage.

Asking price: $2,695,000

Size: Depending on how the rooms are used, the 5,000-square-foot house can have two bedrooms, two offices and a gym-massage room -- or five bedrooms. The one-story home, on an acre with hill and mountain views, also has a detached guesthouse.

Features: The house was custom-built with large stretches of wall and open spaces for displaying art. There are 18-foot ceilings in one room plus travertine floors, three fireplaces, a fire pit, a saltwater pool, an outdoor living space and a three-car garage.

Where: The Renaissance, a community in Rancho Mirage.

Listing agent: Deirdre Coit, (760) 837-4205, and Susan Canavan, (760) 341-9710, both of Coldwell Banker Residential Brokerage.

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To submit a candidate for Home of the Week, send color interior and exterior photos on a CD and a description of the house, including what makes the property unusual, to Ruth Ryon, Real Estate section, L.A. Times, 202 W. 1st St., L.A., CA 90012.