Glendale's Ivory Tower: The Brand Library and Art Center
Brand Library and Art Center, 1601 West Mountain Street, Glendale
by Joe Futtner
Come on, now—’fess up. You hate your local library. No, not the books. I’m talking building, here. A building with about as much visual appeal as a strip mall set into a suburban cul de sac. This is supposed to encourage users to get excited about libraries?
Imagine instead interesting architecture in an interesting context. Am I proposing institutional utopia? Public sector Shangri La? Well, a bit of this fantasy beckons the reader in Glendale, at the city’s Brand Library and Art Center.
To answer your first question: no, it’s not on Brand Avenue. The Brand Library and Art Center (truly a unique arts resource in the San Fernando Valley) does share an eponymous relationship with the Glendale roadway. Both Avenue and Library are named for Leslie C. Brand, entrepreneur and donor to the city of his estate, El Miradero. Inspired by the late-19th century architectural eclecticism that charmed Brand when he visited the 1893 Columbia Exposition, El Miradero sits imposingly in the foothills of north Glendale. Islamic in inspiration, white and marmoreal against the green and the brown of its setting, the Brand is outlandish, and stylistically discontinuous with its architectural neighbors; and, as such, is perfectly southern Californian. (“The Doctor’s House,” an immaculately restored Victorian home adjacent to the Brand and arguably of greater historical interest, is the responsibility of the City of Glendale and the Glendale Historical Society.)
Today the estate (including nearly 500 acres of the original property) is owned and maintained by the city, with various agencies and volunteer organizations contributing to the running of programs, which include recreation facilities, hiking trails, and picnic grounds. The Brand house serves as the library and the heart of the Center.
Indeed, what was once one of the East Valley’s best-kept secrets is fast becoming a popular landmark. Established in 1956, a decade after Mrs. Brand’s death, the institution was for years a Glendale sleeper, known largely to locals only. That has changed in the past ten or fifteen years, according to Director Cynthia Cleary. Along with residents of the San Fernando and San Gabriel Valleys, the Brand now “even attracts some of the West Side crowd.” The Library sees upwards of 120,000 visitors annually, a comforting figure to arts lovers and area educators.
Asked how it felt to be wedged between a major metropolis—L.A.—and art-endowed Pasadena, Cleary points to the Brand’s assets. “Pasadena . . . doesn’t have this sort of art facility. We don’t compete with them because we’re so different.”
What’s the attraction, besides the picturesque setting and the architecture? In a word: the collection.
The Brand serves as the arts and music center for the Glendale/Pasadena library consortium. The art side of the collection is well-endowed, with a strong reference collection, art and art history books, exhibition catalogues, a selection of art prints and artists’ clipping files, and 35-mm art slides. A brochure available at the front desk describes some 40,000 items distributed between the art and music collections.
Potential visitors, note: the Library is use-restricted to high school-age or older. Users tend to be a rather serious lot—many appear to be local college art history students, researching papers or preparing for classes, or art students doing what they do best: looking. The collection, while perhaps falling short of a true art history research facility, serves undergraduate and graduate needs surprisingly well.
The Brand also maintains an active art exhibition program, housed in an excellent gallery located in the 1960s-era addition to the original structure. Typically, eight or ten exhibitions are scheduled each year, featuring living southern California artists. “Brand XXIV,” the Center’s annual, juried, national competition, is scheduled for December 17 through January 31, 1995, and will be selected by artist Laddie John Dill.
Bad economic times have hit Glendale and the Brand as hard as anywhere else. The Library recently saw cuts that eliminated half of the available funds for new acquisitions, and has also endured staff cuts. The collection survived the January earthquake unscathed, but there was damage to the historical structure itself, with repair costs amounting perhaps in excess of $100,000. Director Cynthia Cleary is nevertheless optimistic. “I think California is in better shape now, so we look to the future.”
Hours: Tuesday and Thursday, 1:00–9:00 p.m.; Wednesday, 1:00–6:00 p.m.; Friday and Saturday, 1:00–5:00 p.m. ♦