Lilian Rice designed The Inn 1922 as a twelve-room guest house for Rancho Santa Fe officials, business visitors, and prospective buyers. This simple, one unit, brown adobe building was the first structure erected at The Ranch, and it featured broad terraces, open fireplaces, and a charming Spanish and Mediterranean style. Glen Moore, a landscape designer, planned the grounds with colorful shrubs and trees. From this strategically placed building, guests could enjoy the view of the mountains to the north-east and also what would soon become the Civic Center, an exquisitely planned village.

By 1923, many visitors created the need for facilities usually offered by a hotel. The Guest House was renamed "La Morada" (house of many rooms) and opened to the public. In 1924, workmen constructed a residence for Lilian Rice behind La Morada.

Mr. Roslington bought La Morada in the 1930s, but before long sold it again. Then George Richardson, an executor of the Marshall Field estate, purchased the building in 1941, renaming it The Inn at Rancho Santa Fe. He hired a Pasadena architect to create a master plan for the property and built two guest cottages on the lawns facing the village.

The Inn became an important social gathering place, with movie stars such as Errol Flyn, Bette Davis and Jimmy Stewart, visiting there from time to time. After 1946, the owners added another new guest cottage almost every year and in 1954 built the Meeting House. The Inn became known throughout the country due to listings in "Distinguished Hotels Of America" and "Country Inns of America." The Royce family has owned The Inn since about 1958.

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