Rendering by Carde-Ten Architects

The new La Crescenta Library, serving the unincorporated La Crescenta community north of Glendale and east of La Canada Flintridge, will replace an existing County Library on the same site. Light-flooded reading areas for children and adults will feature high ceilings and comfortable furniture. A meeting room accommodating approximately 100 people will be used by various community groups. The formal entrance features native stone and an adjacent plaza that will soften the busy intersection.

Evan LaGrande Wilson has designed three large-scale hand-painted murals and frieze for the interior of the library. Timothy Gibbs has designed stained glass windows featuring iconic LaCresenta landmarks for the front entrance.

About the Artists: Evan LaGrande Wilson, a painter and graduate of UCLA, has executed public and private commissions nationally, including murals for the City of San Gabriel's Auditorium and SBC/Pacific Bell in Newport Beach. Wilson is known for his versatile decorative painting styles, including gilding, trompe d'oeil and scrollwork. He has also restored historic murals at the City of Los Angeles' City Hall and the St. Andrews Baptistry in Pasadena, among many others. In May 2006, his sample painting for the dome at St. Charles Borromeo Catholic Church in North Hollywood, Ascension Scene for the Main Dome, was selected for exhibit at the M. C. Escher Museum in the Hague, Netherlands.

R. D. Gibbs and Company of Glendale was founded in 1979 by R. Douglas Gibbs, a native of Great Britain who began his career in stained glass at the Canterbury Cathedral. The company, now co-directed with son Timothy Gibbs, specializes in original, custom stained, leaded and faceted glass. Their commissions include both new work and restorations at churches through California, including St. James the Less Catholic Church in La Crescenta and a chapel window at Loyola Marymount College. Their leaded glass windows are featured at the Agoura Hills Library in Agoura Hills.

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