Last month, the Clark participated in the American Institute of Architects (AIA) Los Angeles Arch Tour Fest with a special walking tour focused on the North Range—the 1990 architectural addition many of you know primarily as the quiet edge of the Great Lawn. Led by architect Barton Phelps, whose firm designed the project, the tour offered a rare look at how the North Range was conceived as both a functional expansion and a spatial counterweight to the historic library. Participants moved through its courtyards and interior spaces while learning how the design navigated William Andrews Clark Jr.’s stipulation that nothing be built within one hundred feet of the library, all while creating flexible facilities to support the growing scholarly community the site now serves.
Before the group reached the North Range, Ikumi Crocoll, Instruction and Engagement Librarian, and I provided an overview of the architectural evolution of the grounds—from the original residence, tea pavilion, and observatory to the later designs that reshaped the property in response to changing needs. This history helped connect familiar features such as the Great Lawn, the outdoor reading room, and the axial garden plan to the designers and decades that produced them. For many attendees, it was the first time seeing the Clark not only as a home for early modern collections and public programs but also as a layered work of landscape and architecture. We look forward to offering future programs that explore this dimension of the Clark and invite our wider community to experience the site through new perspectives.
– Derek Christian Quezada Meneses, Head Librarian