November 25, 1866 [Clermont, Ohio]–February 7, 1934 [Redondo Beach]
Pemberton was born in Clermont, Ohio, moving to Los Angeles in 1892. He married Jeanette Elizabeth Drummond in 1897 with whom he had a daughter, Lucille, in 1898. He eventually settled in Redondo Beach, where he became a successful architect. Jeanette died in 1912 at the age of 35. Pemberton later married Alice de Longpré , daughter of famed painter of flowers, Paul de Longpré, who had immigrated from France in 1890 and settled in Los Angeles in 1899. The Pemberton-designed Redondo Beach Public Library, built in 1930 in a style that mixed Mission Revival, Dutch colonial and classical elements, was added to the National Register of Historic Places in 1981. An earlier building, the Diamond Apartments (1912) was added in 1992. In addition to poetry, Pemberton wrote a five-act tragedy named Life and Death of Joan of Arc, and two operas: Mardi Gras and Nawab.
