Clark contributes legacy of culture to UCLA

Clark contributes legacy of culture to UCLA

By Michael Howerton

The West Adams district is one of the oldest neighborhoods in
Los Angeles, and in another era it was the most prestigious of
addresses. There is little evidence today to tell of its past
­ when mansions lined the streets and housed the most powerful
families in America.

It is no longer the hot spot for high society as it was in the
1920s, but one estate remains to give a flavor of the opulence and
grandeur that characterized the neighborhood in those days ­
that of Clark.

William Clark Sr., came out west from Philadelphia in the 1860s
like thousands of others in search for gold and finally found his
fortune in the copper mines of Montana. He won the title of the
copper king and eventually became senator.

The family’s fortune assured, the Clarks moved out to Los
Angeles. In L.A., Clark built the first railroad from San Pedro to
Salt Lake City which ran through Las Vegas. In fact, Clark bought
the whole city of Las Vegas as well, which to this day still is in
Clark County.

"Everything was possible for these people," said Norman Thrower,
past director of the Clark Library. "Clark was talked about as one
of the 100 men who owned America."

One of Clark’s sons, William Andrews Clark, Jr., used his
inheritance after his father’s death to become a patron of the arts
on a grand scale. He took to collecting books and manuscripts and
establishing a library in 1926, on the family estate in ritzy West
Adams. The library bears his father’s name.

"This was at a time when American book collectors were building
libraries on the scale of museums," said John Bidwell, Clark
librarian, referring to how Clark Jr., made sure no expense was
spared in the construction of a library built for the then
astronomical sum of $1 million.

Having no heirs, Clark Jr., donated the estate and library to
UCLA, which at the time was still just called the Southern Branch.
He become the university’s first major contributor, said Peter
Reill, the current director of the Clark library and the UCLA
Center for 17th- and 18th-century studies.

Clark Jr.’s patronage was not confined solely to literature, but
encompassed much of the art world.

He built the first observatory in Los Angeles on top of his
house on the Clark estate, Thrower said. After being damaged in the
1971 earthquake, the house was demolished and the space is now the
library parking lot. The telescope Clark used is now housed in the
Life Sciences building on campus.

He was also an important and generous patron of music in Los
Angeles, founding the Los Angeles Philharmonic Orchestra in 1919
and supporting it single-handedly out of his own pocket until his
death in 1934.