Millard Sheets Designs, Home Savings for Compton, 1958; seen 2012
This week I am teaching an intensive course, so not a lot of time to post. But here I think the image says it all.
Home Savings & Loan, Compton, sculpture detail, 1958; seen 2012
This is an 1958 original Millard Sheets Designs building, 1801 N. Long Beach Blvd., with the exterior architecture, mosaic, gold tiles, and even sculpture in place. (I assume the inside was gutted; I was there when it was closed.) Its theme–working me–fits with what I know of Compton as an up-and-coming middle-class African American community in the 1950s, making it unique among the neighborhoods where Home Savings located. And the style of these black-granite-background sites such as Whittier and the original Buena Park location are a bit of a mystery to me (though Lillian Sizemore is helping me figure it out).
But yet the alterations are somewhat extreme — and the building is again for lease (contact is Sam Kangavari).
Just a reminder of the research, education, and preservation work still to be done to protect these wonderful banks.
Millard Sheets Designs, Home Savings for Compton, mosaic detail, 1958; seen 2012
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Hi,
I was poking around and found this resume of Tom Van Sant:
http://www.tomvansant.com/id68.html
If you scroll to 1962, he claims credit for the “Sources of Knowledge” mosaic at the Home Savings & Loan in Compton.
Thought you might be interested–
Vickey
#1: I met Tom Van Sant on Monday! The Los Angeles Conservancy Modern Committee gave him the “Modern Master” award at a ceremony in the offices of Richard Neutra.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aqeTplQqv28
#2: The interior of the Compton branch has a mosaic. Photos from my 2010 survey can be found here: http://tinyurl.com/lge8dr3
Wow, great to hear that the mosaic survives inside! Is Van Sant the designer of the inside or outside work, do you know? As for when they moved, it was 1979-1980, my records show…
Hello Chris. Please let me know how far you went with your survey of this building. Also, the link to your photos is dead. Thank you!