The Thunderbird Lodge is one of the last and best examples of a great residential estate on Lake Tahoe from the period in which prominent San Francisco society built homes on the lake. In addition to the main house, there is a Card House, Caretaker's Cottage, the Cook/Butler's House, an elephant garage, the Admiral's House, the Boathouse with adjoining 600' tunnel, and Gatehouse. The Thunderbird Lodge is an example of an approach to architectural design that is intended to be in harmony with its setting. The siting, design and materials of the buildings, landscape features, walls, paths and driveway are a result of this design philosophy. The Lodge represents a high level of expertise in building crafts, stone masonry, iron work and wood work. Examples of this craftsmanship are evident in the buildings, tunnel, walls, steps and fountains. The Lodge is also an example of the work of Frederic J. DeLongchamps, who served as Nevada's State Architect and was Nevada's most prominent architect of his era.

The land is forested with a heavy stand of mixed conifers that slopes to the shoreline and provides a panoramic view of the entire Lake and the surrounding mountain ranges, including the Desolation Wilderness and the Mount Rose Wilderness. Its shoreline and creek outlets are a mixture of sandy beaches and massive granite boulders.

In 1998, Del Webb Corporation (Del Webb), a developer of over 50 active adult life-style communities, purchased the Whittell Estate and 140 acres of land for $50 million. As part of ongoing assembled land exchanges with the Bureau of Land Management (BLM), the American Land Conservancy (ALC) proposed to convey the Thunderbird Lodge parcel in exchange for public lands in Clark County, Nevada. ALC had developed its proposal at the request of the Nevada State Director's Office to facilitate the acquisition of the Lodge property for management by the U.S. Forest Service. The property was valued at approximately $50 million of which $3,500,000 was attributable to the contributory value of the existing structures. In 1999, BLM exchanged the land in Clark County to Del Webb for the Lodge property for an amount of $40 million. The U.S. Forest Service preferred not to acquire and maintain existing historical structures and therefore an additional $9.8 million note was given by Del Webb to found the Thunderbird Lodge Preservation Society who now has a reservation from the U.S. Forest Service to manage the Whittell Estate structures and 6 acres of land around the buildings.

TLPS is a non-profit, 501(c)(3) organization. In addition, the Thunderbird Lodge was added to the National Register of Historic Places in November, 2000.