Have you ever noticed how many Los Angeles banks are adorned with mosaics and murals? There’s a story behind that.
As Evan Lovett tells us on L.A. In a Minute, it all started with Howard F. Ahmanson Sr., a businessman who bought the Home Savings and Loan Bank in 1947.
As Ahmanson grew his business, he contracted Pomona-based artist Millard Sheets to decorate the bank’s buildings. He gave Sheets an unlimited budget and one directive: "I want buildings that will be exciting 75 years from now.”
The result: bank branches covered in mosaics, stained glass, and sculptures depicting family life throughout the history of California, with scenes ranging from vaqueros to the Gold Rush to the motion picture industry.
Sheets eventually resigned his teaching position at Scripps College and established his own studio in Claremont, hiring a team of artists to keep up with the demand. Sheets Studio designed art for more than a hundred bank branches, many of which are still standing today.
Throughout his three-decade career as an architectural designer, Sheets also designed the mural on the side of L.A. City Hall, the Scottish Rite Masonic Temple on Wilshire Boulevard, and the “Touchdown Jesus” at the University of Notre Dame.
Check out more of Sheets’ work here, and don’t forget to follow L.A. In a Minute on Instagram and Tiktok.
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