A little history behind the property: 

 

Located in the Verdugo foothills, the library is housed in a 1904 mansion that was once the home of early Glendale developer Leslie C. Brand and his wife Mary Louise. Dubbed El Miradero, the residence was designed by Leslie Brand's brother-in-law Nathaniel Dryden with a late-Victorian interior and an Indo-Saracenic exterior modeled after the East Indian Pavillion at the1893 Colombian Exposition in Chicago, which Mr. and Mrs. Brand had attended.

 

The wealthy couple hosted many grand affairs at El Miradero, including 1921's legendary fly-in party, during which the estate's gates were locked and the only way to gain access was to land a private plane on the property's landing strip. An additional historica note - this was the location of the first Glendale/Burbank airport at the time. Brand, who died in 1925, bequeathed El Miradero to the city, his will stipulating that the property be used exclusively for a public park and library. Following Mary Louise's death in 1945, the residence was converted into a library. It opened in 1956, with an adjacent gallery and 140-seat recital hall added in 1969.

 

It's an amazing place to work, write and sit in a place of history and look out the windows and imagine what it was like when Mr and Mrs. Brand lived in that home.