On April 15th, the South Pasadena City Council approved Phase I of the Library’s Exterior Beautification Project to enhance the Oxley Street main entrance side of the Library Park. More than $34,000 is available for the project. Funding sources include the Carole Kretzer Estate, the Library Budget, South Pasadena Beautiful, the Public Library Fund of the California State Library, The Rotary Club of South Pasadena, The Friends of the South Pasadena Public Library, and memorial donations from 2 private parties. The Project was previously approved by the Library Board of Trustees on February 12, 2009 and discussed by the Cultural Heritage Commission on March 18, 2009.

The Public Library Exterior Beautification Project began about 2 years ago when the Friends and the Library Board of Trustees agreed to earmark the remaining funds from a bequest from the Carole Kretzer Estate to the effort. In 2004 Kretzer Estate funds were used to purchase the large chandeliers hanging from the rotunda of the main reading room of the Library and for a major portion of the 2007 re-carpeting project. The Exterior Beautification Committee was soon formed with representation from the Library Board of Trustees, the Cultural Heritage Commission, the Friends Board, South Pasadena Beautiful, The Rotary Club of South Pasadena, and a staff member from Public Works, and the Library itself. Volunteers who have served the effort include Dorothy Cohen, Glen Duncan, Brendan Durrett, Judy Graven, Pam Hames, and Kristin Roche. Jesse Barajas, the Public Works Department’s Maintenance Supervisor, and City Librarian Steve Fjeldsted are also on the Committee. All members represent at least one of the aforementioned groups. Sarah Peterson of LandSpaces Landscape Design has provided valuable assistance as well, offering expertise and drawing the artist’s rendering, the site plan and other diagrams.

The Committee met more than a dozen times to develop Phase I of the Exterior Beautification Plan, a project that now includes a sculpture, new park benches, new waste receptacles, large urns, brickwork, sprinklers, stones, an irrigation system, and a variety of flowers, shrubs, and trees.

During planning process Donna Williams from Williams Art Conservators visited and inspected the “The Children’s Hour” artwork by famed 20th Century sculptor Merrell Gage that was planted in the ground outside the Library’s Oxley Street entrance. The broken, chipped, and badly worn stone casting had been almost completely forgotten and was almost partially obscured by a Sago Palm. The work features a quote from Longfellow’s classic poem of the same name and depicts a father reading to his three young daughters. Previously, “The Children’s Hour” had hung over the Library’s Children’s Room door between 1930 and 1982. Then it was placed in the ground by the Oxley Street entrance when the Library was expanded and redesigned for its reopening in 1982.  Two other Gage artworks adorn the exterior of the Oxley Street side of the Library: a Spanish Galleon and St. George and the Dragon. They are small sculptures that sit on piers. Other Gage artwork, in the form of literary friezes and plaques bearing the names of some of the great authors of The West complement the Library on its El Centro Street side.

Because of the local and national cultural and historical significance of Merrell Gage and “The Children’s Hour,” Donna Williams recommended its careful removal, relocation, and storage until such time as it can be restored and returned to the Library in a spot that befits it. As a result, the piece was moved to the City Yard for safekeeping, a delicate task accomplished by a Public Works crew with her oversight.  Fortunately it was unscathed in the massive fire at the City service yard that was also occurring on April 15. The restoration and re-placement of “The Children’s Hour” at the Library would be very expensive, difficult, and time-consuming and, consequently, the Committee decided to declare that particular facet of the Exterior Beautification Project to be Phase II. The group also decided to work on Phase II only after Phase I is completed, which could be as early as July of this year.

The goal of the Exterior Beautification Project is to make the Library grounds more aesthetically pleasing, extend their attractiveness and functionality further beyond their walls, and to enhance the capability of the Library Park to serve as an outdoor gathering place. Presently, the El Centro Street side of the Library, where the entrance to the Community Room is located, is much more appealing to the senses than the Oxley Street side. The El Centro Street side was once the main reading room of South Pasadena’s historic 1930 Carnegie Library. Designed in the Mediterranean Revival style by Norman Foote Marsh, the famous South Pasadena architect who was also a Library Trustee, it currently functions as the Library Community Room, a very popular meeting and event venue.

The plants in Phase I of the Library Exterior Beautification Project were not only selected for their visual appeal and their hardiness, but in some cases for their fragrances too. They are meant to add a palette of vibrant colors to the environment. The flowers and other plants –as well as some of the other design features– are meant to function as a multi-sensory drawing card. They are also meant to help transform the Oxley Street side of the Library into an area comparable in attractiveness to the El Centro side, albeit with a very different appearance. 

The Exterior Beautification Plan is expected to influence many visitors to read outside, use their laptops, or to study or relax out front. The Plan also adds wrought iron waste receptacles and benches to match the ones found elsewhere in the Park, including the ones in front of the Senior Center. Phase I’s sculpture of the boy and girl reading has been unanimously approved for the timeless image it projects and to invoke positive memories of the wonders of reading. It is anticipated that the sculpture will become a powerful symbol of the South Pasadena Public Library and the community’s strong interest in families, education, and the arts and culture.