Named for the real estate developer behind the Los Angeles Open Space Network, these gardens occupy a former parking lot adjacent to architect Bertram Goodhue’s iconic Los Angeles Central Library. The landscape features a restaurant, tiered fountains lined with cypress trees, and a generous lawn. Jud Fine and Laddie John Dill with Meneo Mizuno designed site-specific sculptures.
While the general layout and feel of the garden has been maintained, seemingly small changes have the potential to add to accumulative impact to the Network as a whole. For example, alterations to the perimeter entrances impact the Maguire Gardens connection to the public realm and to Bunker Hill Steps.
However, the Los Angeles Public Library has put forward a good effort to recognize Halprin’s role in designing the public space. Halprin is mentioned in a detailed write up on the history and design of the building on the Library’s website, and a plaque has been placed onsite that recognizes the design team behind the landscape. Work remains to be done on raising the visibility of the Maguire Garden’s role within the Network.
Los Angeles Open Space Network
Condition: B
Good, but needs work
Visibility: B
Moderate Discussion of Halprin
National Register of Historic Places
Alan Ward, FASLA
Ward, a principal at Sasaki in Boston, Massachusetts, is a planner, designer, author, and photographer. His photographs have appeared in more than 200 books and magazines and have been in numerous exhibitions, including the award-winning exhibition Built Landscapes: Gardens of the Northeast. His most recent exhibition Luminous Landscapes, debuted at the National Building Museum in 2016. Ward’s recent landscape design work includes the rehabilitation of the landscape at the Lincoln Memorial in Washington, D.C.
