Los Angeles Ca ~ LA Central Public Library ~ Creative Pond ~
Image by Bill Badzo
MAGUIRE GARDENS
The Maguire Gardens is one of downtown Los Angeles’ favorite outdoor spaces. It consists of parklike grounds incorporating major public art works on the library’s Flower Street (west) side, and encompasses lush planting on the building’s 5th Street (north) side and landscaped terraces on the Hope Street (south) side.
The landscaping on the Hope St side is all that remains of Bertram Goodhue and Carleton Winslow’s original library gardens. Both the old East Lawn and the West Garden were demolished, one to provide space for the Bradley Wing and the other paved over for staff parking in the late 1960’s.
The main portion of the Maguire Gardens is located between the library building and Flower Street. It is named for Robert Maguire, the real estate developer who played a large role in preserving the Goodhue Building and helping to restore the building and its grounds after the devastating arson fires of 1986. Maguire brought in landscape architects Lawrence Halprin and Douglas and Regula Campbell to design a new interpretation of the old West Garden that could incorporate major public art projects.
