A LEGACY OF ART & ARCHITECTURE 1 MILLARD SHEETS: ARTIST AND DESIGNER (1907-1989) Exhibitions at the Los Angeles County Fair in Pomona. Sheets curated exhibitions that promoted the work of California artists and also brought art from other parts of the world to Los Angeles. The gallery is now known as the Millard Sheets Center for the Arts. During the 1930s, Millard Sheets began to experiment further with mural and fresco painting and was offered several commercial mural commissions. These led to interior design jobs, and as his reputation as a designer grew, so did his commis- sions. Sheets eventually transitioned to designing new construction, and significant architectural commissions followed. As he was not a licensed architect, the process for his commissions was always collaborative, with Sheets creating the design scheme and a registered archi- tect or contractor overseeing rtist and designer Millard in many of his later architec- the Los Angeles County Art the construction process. ASheets created the tural projects. Institute, which later became Sheets strongly believed in designs for some of the most He graduated from Otis Art Institute. the idea of architects and art- recognizable and popular Chouinard in 1929 as part From 1931 to 1956, Sheets ists working together toward a commercial buildings in the of a group of young artists was Director of the Fine Arts common goal, which included Los Angeles area. Trained as a whose work became known painter rather than an archi- as the California Style of MILLARD SHEET tect, Sheets took an approach watercolor painting because of incorporating artwork by of its bold new look and in- regional artists into the design novative approaches. In 1932 of buildings, which defined his he was appointed assistant S architectural work. head of the art department at PHOTO Born and raised in Scripps College in Claremont, Pomona, California, Millard California. He was named S Sheets displayed a talent for head of the department COURTE art at a very young age. He in 1936. Early on, Sheets enrolled at the Chouinard Art was intent on exploring the S Institute after graduating from relationship between various Y OF high school in 1927. While at facets of art education, includ- T ONY SHEET Chouinard, Sheets began to ing art, architecture, dance, experiment in a number of and music. He promoted this different mediums and tech- type of integrated curriculum niques, which figured largely at both Scripps College and The Word of Life tile-paneled mosaic, nicknamed “Touchdown S Jesus,” University of Notre Dame (1964), South Bend, Indiana 2 Former Scottish Rite Masonic Temple (1961), 4357 Wilshire Blvd., Los Angeles planning for art during the His use of artwork in his design process rather than commercial projects attracted placing artwork on the build- the attention of financier ing as an afterthought. He felt Howard Ahmanson, head of that integrating visual arts into the Home Savings and Loan the design of a building would Association. Ahmanson hired create an exciting presence Sheets in 1954 to design the and personality not found in new Beverly Hills branch that commissioned out-of-work work is in Southern California. other commercial structures. of Home Savings and Loan. artists to create artwork for Aside from the examples Sheets also worked to create With its colorful mosaics public buildings. Sheets later in Claremont and Pomona, buildings that connected with and stained glass windows, served on juries for numerous notable buildings by Sheets the public on an emotional the building proved so art festivals, including the Los include numerous Home level, often using artwork popular with customers that Angeles County Fair. At the Savings branches, as well as to depict local or historical Ahmanson hired Sheets to fair, he arranged for winning Los Angeles’ Scottish Rite themes that were significant to design over forty additional artworks to be exhibited Masonic Temple (1961) on the surrounding community. Home Savings branch offices in public buildings around Wilshire Boulevard. In order to incorporate a as part of the company’s Southern California, including While Sheets’s architec- diverse collection of artwork expansion plan. This project Home Savings branches. tural projects received some from a variety of mediums, would be the most important Millard Sheets’s buildings mixed reviews from archi- Sheets put his philosophy and wide-ranging architectural are generally recognized by tecture critics, his innovative of the integrated arts into commission of Sheets’s career. their rectilinear forms and approach to design proved practice and called upon other In addition to incorporat- flat planes of natural stone popular with the general artists he knew to either ing artwork into many of the that serve as a backdrop for public, who continues to be execute his designs or con- Home Savings branch offices, bold integrated artwork. Only drawn to the colorful murals tribute their own work. Many Sheets worked throughout his some of his buildings can be and bold sculptures that of his colleagues at Scripps life to bring awareness to the classified as New Formalism, distinguish his buildings. This College became frequent integrated arts, developing yet in general, his architec- integration of art and archi- collaborators on his design many programs that promoted ture shares New Formalism’s tecture is a defining feature projects, including former stu- the relationship between art reinterpretation of tradi- of Sheets’s buildings—which dent Susan Lautmann Hertel and architecture. During the tional forms and styles with underscores the importance and fellow instructors such as Great Depression, Sheets modern aesthetics. Though of protecting both structure ceramic and textile artist Jean served on the local com- he did receive commissions and site-specific art together, Goodwin Ames and sculptor mittee of the Public Works in other parts of the country, in situ, as part of Millard Albert Stewart. Administration, where he his greatest concentration of Sheets’s unique legacy. helped coordinate projects BY LARRY UNDERHILL; LOWER LEFT PHOTO BY REGINa o’brien BY REGINa LEFT PHOTO UNDERHILL; LOWER BY LARRY S TOP AND LOWER RIGHT PHOTO AND LOWER TOP Former Home Savings and Loan (1956), Former Home Savings and Loan (1968), 1500 Vine St. 9245 Wilshire Blvd., Beverly Hills (at Sunset Blvd.), Hollywood 3 POMONA MALL VINTAGE PHOTO VINTAGE a blueprint for SECOND STREET BETWEEN PARK AVENUE urban revitalization. AND LINDEN STREET Five years in the planning, the mall Millard Sheets was just one part of S COURTE 1962 a massive plan of civic improvements that were originally S eauty in the downtown part envisioned to en- Y OF PO “Bof a city is a necessity, not compass nearly all a luxury. People will always of Pomona. M ONA PUBLIC LIBRARY; COLOR PHOTO BY LARRY UNDERHILL BY LARRY COLOR PHOTO PUBLIC LIBRARY; ONA respond to beauty if we make Sheets’s design it intimate and personal and for the shopping related to the charter and center was simple: close patron Howard Ahmanson to of vacancies in the retail integrity of the city.” This was off nine blocks of an exist- locate a new Home Savings stores. In 1977, five of the how Millard Sheets summed ing shopping district; add and Loan branch on the mall, nine blocks were reopened up his philosophy for the trees, benches, artwork, and resulting in the impressive to automobiles in an effort design of the Pomona Mall fountains; and include plenty tower designed by Sheets to lure shoppers back. The shortly after it opened in 1962. of nearby parking. Many (see page 5). The east end east end of the mall remained The Pomona Mall was hailed of these elements remain of the mall was anchored by closed to traffic, and it has as one of the first pedestrian today, including mosaics and upscale department store since been integrated into malls in the United States and sculptures by Sheets and Buffum’s (1962), with a sleek the campus for the Western nationally recognized as fellow artists Arthur and modern design by Welton University of Health Sciences. Jean Ames, Betty Davenport Becket & Associates. The west end of the mall is Ford, and John Svenson. The mall was initially now the center of a growing To enhance the potential vibrant and popular, but as arts colony, with galleries, for the project’s success, early as 1969 local newspapers studios, and restaurants. Sheets asked friend and noted an alarming number 4 CHASE TOWER (formerly home savings and loan) rather than using the tradi- Like many of Sheets’s 100 WEST SECOND STREET, tional concept of different architectural designs, the POMONA treatments for the front and tower integrates site-specific Millard Sheets with rear. The double-height band artwork. A mosaic depicting Langdon & Wilson of travertine on the second a family scene is set within 1963 floor references Sheets’s the travertine band above the typical Home Savings designs. main entrance. On the interior, Yet for this project, he created the banking floor contains a uilt to house the new a texturally rich tower that large painted mural by Sheets BPomona branch of Home goes beyond the aesthetic of along with collaborator Susan Savings and Loan, this six- the other branches. Panels Hertel. Square columns clad story office tower is among of exposed aggregate con- in polished marble punctuate Sheets’s largest and most crete alternate with panels of the open space. unique architectural designs. sculptural grillwork (featur- Chase now owns the build- The building was developed ing an interlocking “H” and ing and announced a proposal as an anchor for the adjacent “S” design), emphasizing the in 2011 to demolish it. The Los pedestrian mall that Sheets verticality of the building. Angeles Conservancy and its designed, and both the Despite its solid appearance, Modern Committee are work- tower and mall are closely the building is almost entirely ing with local preservation and tied to the postwar urban glass on the ground floor and community groups to seek a revitalization efforts surround- third floor (above the traver- preservation solution.