Saving the Bank’s Artistic Assets

Adam Arenson, University of Texas at El Paso

Abstract

Save some memorable banks! For three decades, Millard Sheets and his studio artists created mosaics, murals, and sculptures for the Home Savings banks in California. Sold in 1999 to Washington Mutual, some of the locations were decommissioned as banks. Now, with the sale of Washington Mutual to Chase being completed, this artwork is again under threat. Historians, preservationists, and partisans of public art should work to identify and preserve these unique looks at California's history and memory.