Banking on Beauty

Lovers of California art and architecture will swoon at the photos of the murals, statues and mosaics that Sheets designed for about 200 Home Savings and Loan branches between the 1960s and 1980s. . . . Banking on Beauty invites readers to remember a time when our captains of industry cared about public spaces as much as they did the bottom line — and it also challenges us to preserve those remaining buildings that possess Sheets originals. ~Gustavo Arellano, Los Angeles Times

Once upon a time, a visit to a department store or a branch bank was a chance to be inspired by fine art…waves of corporate takeovers doomed most of the art, but some remain, like the 1968 masterpiece at Sunset and Vine that's now a Chase bank. This richly illustrated book finally tells their story. ~Los Angeles Magazine

[L]avishly illustrated…If you'd like to explore [Millard Sheets's art] yourself, you won't find a better guide than Arenson's Banking on Beauty." ~The Objective Standard

Banking on Beauty…shows that commercial architecture does not have to be drab. ~World Magazine

Arenson alternates between telling the story of, on the one hand, [Howard F.] Ahmanson and the growth of his savings and loan business, and, on the other hand, [Millard] Sheets and the development of his artistic practice, to great effect. ~Journal of Urban History

This lavishly illustrated book by Adam Arenson offers an in-depth and insightful history of Millard Sheets…With almost 160 color plates, this beautiful book is a stunner that not only gives Sheets's lifework a place to shine but also offers an unusually rich study of the places, people, and events that shaped the artists creative vision over a fifty-year period. ~California History

This is a valuable work of original research on a subject that has needed study for decades. Studies of California modern design in this period have been largely focused on residential architecture. Arenson’s book demonstrates that commercial designs are of equal importance for consideration; in some ways they are more important, because they brought modern design to popular audiences in their daily lives. This book will be an important contribution to an ongoing reassessment of California design and architecture in the twentieth century. ~Alan Hess, architect and author of Forgotten Modern: California Houses, 1940–1970

Millard Sheets and the artists associated with his studio in Southern California created extraordinary works of art for Home Savings and other financial institutions in the middle of the twentieth century. Like the marvelous mosaics, murals, and stained glass illustrated in this book, Adam Arenson’s Banking on Beauty depicts in rich color and detail the relationships between Sheets, his patron Howard Ahmanson, his studio collaborators, and the communities they hoped to serve. For readers interested in the nexus between beauty, commerce, and community, this is a must-read. ~Eric John Abrahamson, author of Building Home: Howard F. Ahmanson and the Politics of the American Dream

In this deeply researched and broad-ranging study of patronage and artistry, Adam Arenson vividly evokes the civic impulse of private enterprise at midcentury. The Home Savings and Loan buildings emerge as a rich cultural landscape that bridges Art Deco, New Deal, and Modernist aesthetics. Beautifully illustrated, Arenson’s work enhances our understanding and appreciation of this period, and the book will be of great value to historians of American architecture, art, and urban planning. ~Elihu Rubin, Yale School of Architecture, author of Insuring the City: The Prudential Center and the Postwar Urban Landscape

Banking on Beauty is a thoroughly researched and thought-provoking exploration of the distinctive Home Savings Bank branches designed by the Millard Sheets Studio…Banking on Beauty provides a compelling case for preserving these structures. ~Journal of American History