The sky above, the desert below

This newly built house in Rancho Mirage isn’t in the typical desert development built around a golf course.

The mountainside house is, instead, in the Santa Rosa and San Jacinto Mountains National Monument, established in 2000 to protect indigenous plant and animal species, including the peninsular bighorn sheep. The monument was set up to protect public lands in its 272,000 acres.

The house is contemporary in style and located in a gated community on privately owned land inside the monument. It has views from the Coachella Valley floor to the mountains.

About this house: The house is on one of 63 home sites in a development known as Mirada.

Asking price: $5.25 million, including furnishings. (Contemporary artwork is negotiable.)

Size: It has three bedrooms, 4 1/2 bathrooms and an office in 6,500 square feet. The lot is about three-quarters of an acre.

Features: The home was built for entertaining with its great room, sliding walls of glass, an infinity swimming pool, a fire pit and a detached guesthouse. The sloping ceiling in the great room reaches nearly 17 feet. The home also has stone flooring and curved walls.

An added feature is the use of services at the Lodge at Rancho Mirage, a four-star hotel adjacent to Mirada. The Lodge offers Mirada residents the same amenities it provides its guests, including room service, a concierge and a spa.

Where: Rancho Mirage in Riverside County

Listing agent: Jim Kane, (760) 321-8014

To submit a candidate for Home of the Week, contact Ruth Ryon, Real Estate Section, Los Angeles Times, 202 W. 1st St., Los Angeles, CA 90012.