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Join us as we read novels by the great American author of the gilded age, Edith Wharton. Pulitzer Prize-winning American novelist and short story writer known for her sharp social commentary and depictions of upper-class life at the turn of the 20th century.
Each month we will read one of her most famous novels. This month we are reading The House of Mirth. The first American novel to provide a devastatingly accurate portrait of New York's aristocracy, it is the story of the beautiful and beguiling Lily Bart and her ill-fated attempt to rise to the heights of a heartless society.
The original 32,000 sq. ft Peninsula Center Library built in 1967 was designed by pioneers in “green” design, A. Quincy Jones and Frederick E. Emmons. With vertical wood louvers to control sunlight, the original steel and reinforced concrete building also included coffered slab ceilings with recessed lighting, glass walls, and local Palos Verdes stone and white columns. All furnishings were contemporary with many pieces designed by Jones and Emmons specifically for the Library.
In 1995, architects Zimmer, Gunsul, and Fransca (ZGF) renovated and expanded the space, nearly doubling its size. Using the existing concrete-frame building, the building maintains the original entrance on Deep Valley and added the new entrance on Silver Spur. The building also features major public artworks such as the Stellar Axis by Lita Albuquerque, the bronze cheetahs with the stone column by Gwynn Murrill, and the Light in the Forest mural by Myrna Shiras which are integral parts of the building.
