Brand Library

At the base of the Verdugo Mountains lays a 5,000 square foot mansion built by Leslie Coombs Brand in 1904. Otherwise known as El Miradero, which means “vantage point”, the mansion represents the unique Indo-Saracenic architectural style influenced by Islamic and Indian design, including repeated scalloped arches. It was reminiscent of the pavilion Brand saw in Chicago at the 1893 Word’s Columbian Exposition. The interior, starkly contrasting the exterior, is designed in the late-Victorian style. When Brand passed away in 1925, he donated the house and its surrounding 488 acres to the City of Glendale to be used as a public library and public park. By 1956, the house was converted into the library that still stands today. In 1965, a rear addition was constructed to include art shows, concerts and lectures. In 2013, The Brand Library & Art Center rehabilitated the library. Spectra proudly completed restoration work of its historic features during the project including exterior ornamental plaster and re-creation of the historic ceiling murals found throughout the library.  The murals were rediscovered upon removal of suspended ceilings that kept them hidden for decades.

Scope of Work

Architectural Woodwork • Conservation • Decorative Paintings & Murals • Facade Rehabilitation • Materials Restoration • Ornamental Plaster • Plaster • Restoration Painting & Coatings • Self-Perform • Wood Doors • Wood Windows

Awards

Los Angeles Conservancy 2016