College Town (Re)Visit - Part 1

When the air quality was unhealthy due to the Bobcat fire in the Angeles National Forest these past few weeks I took to the road to visit my old college town of Claremont, about 25 miles east of Pasadena. Happily, though the air quality was generally unhealthy everywhere, it was good in Claremont!

Over the course of several morning runs, I had a chance to see Claremont anew, in a way that I hadn’t as a student.

A note on the wildfire: it is predicted to be under control by end of September, thanks to the mighty efforts of our firefighters!

The campuses of the Claremont Colleges remain closed to visitors, so I just caught glimpes from the adjacent streets. Above, a peek at an existing building at Harvey Mudd College, a new computing center under construction, and Huntley Bookstore. Coincidentally, 2020 was a reunion year for me and It would have been the first year, I could have easily attended with a short commute. Alas, due to the pandemic, instead of an in-person event, we hosted the reunion on Zoom. Still, it was great to catch up with classmates and professors.

While a student at Harvey Mudd College, I was unaware of Claremont’s modernist history and did not have the time or information to guide me. My focus was on classwork with the occasional bike into town to stop by a favority bakery or chocolate store.

Just recently, I watched an excellent documentary Claremont Modern - The Convergence of Art and Architecture at Midcentury created by filmmaker Paul Bockhorst in partnership with the Claremont Museum of Art. It’s provided reason for future forays into Claremont and the surounding area.

For this post, we’ll focus on Millard Sheets.

Millard Sheets Studio (now Claremont Eye Associates)

I was thrilled to see up close the work of Millard Sheets, in particular his studio above at 655 Foothill Blvd. A great resource found online from the Los Angeles Conservancy provided detailed descriptions of sites to visit. Sheets may be best known to many outside of Claremont for his mosaic artwork, many at the branches of the former Home Savings Banks.

Though not a licensed architect, he designed buildings - commercial, residential and spiritual, collaborating with other architects. Sheets approach to incorporate regional artwork into his design of his buildings defined his architectural work.

U.S. Bank

The former Pomona First Federal Savings & Loan has a commanding streetside presence with its classic, symmetric, formal architecture. The tile mosaic on the south side shows Native Americans on horses surrounded by flowering yucca plants. The drive-thru added in 1982 is most wonderful using similar materials as the bank, such as travertine and it’s own tile mosaic. Denis O’Connor, who worked with Sheets on dozens of projects, designed the small mosaic.

Garrison Theater at Scripps College, Millard Sheets with S. David Underwood, 1963

United Church of Christ Congregational, Millard Sheets with Theodore Criley, Jr, 1955 (Sanctuary), 1963 (Kingman Chapel). From the Los Angeles Conservancy brochure: “Framed by local river rocks, the sanctuary’s main façade features a large ceramic cross by Sheets and a New Testament quote with lettering by Malcolm Cameron. Albert Stewart carved the wood panels flanking the entrance doors. “

To round out this post, some mid-century architecture and details on Fourth St.

We’ll visit residential Claremont in Part 2.