Caprock Chronicles: Millard Sheets left artistic mark on Lubbock

Editor’s Note: Caprock Chronicles is edited by Jack Becker and he can be reached at jack.becker@ttu.edu. Today’s essay is by Jordan Lewis Nabors who tells us about the mosaic art inside Lubbock National Bank and the Art Deco architecture on its outside.

Few American artists have covered as much territory as Millard Sheets. Known as an outstanding watercolorist for decades, Sheets achieved distinction as an educator, lecturer, motion picture consultant, architect, illustrator, color and sign consultant, and muralist. His mosaics and murals furnish churches, hospitals, banks, universities, museums, and other public buildings nationwide.

Millard Sheets of Pomona Valley, California, spent a considerable amount of time sharing his craft with the people of Lubbock through his patronage of the arts and architecture by designing the mural in the main lobby of the Lubbock National Bank.

In his career, Sheets designed more than 100 murals and mosaics including works in Los Angeles, the University of Notre Dame, as well as the mosaics for the dome of the Blessed Sacrament Chapel of the National Shrine of the Immaculate Conception in Washington, D.C. He also designed more than 100 buildings in cities such as Dallas, Los Angeles, San Francisco, Houston and San Antonio. His paintings hang in more than 46 museums in 15 states including the Met, the Whitney, the MOMA, Chicago Institute of Art, and the White House. He’s somewhat of a renaissance man having mastered multiple mediums.

The Lubbock National Bank (LNB) building’s origins began in 1917 in a temporary, small frame building on the south side of Main Street between Texas Ave and Avenue J, at first as Security State Bank and Trust Company. In 1920, Security State Bank and Trust Company purchased Farmers National Bank of Lubbock, and in 1923, the bank built its first brick and masonry two story building. In 1925, the bank received a national charter and became Lubbock National Bank.

The present bank building at 916 Main St., built in 1939, is in an art deco style. Later, in 1959, it was renovated at the direction of Millard Sheets. His renovation of LNB spurred a widespread celebration and investment in the arts in West Texas.

In the late 1950s, LNB officials were already thinking about expanding when they visited the Mercantile of Dallas, which was recently completed by Sheets. This marked the beginning of a long friendship with not just the Maedgens but with other LNB stock holders and many other Lubbock community members.

After seeing the Dallas bank, Charles Maedgens Jr. was convinced Streets was the guy and he told his directors “Millard Streets is the man we must have to guide us in building our new bank” However, Maedgen Sr. was partial to traditional banking house facilities, but Charles dug in. The senior even commented to Jr. that the logo Millard designed was “mighty uppity, mighty uppity.”

But the persistence of the younger Maedgen and the capitulation of the other board members, started a whole new era of banking facilities in West Texas. Together, the dreams of Charles E. Maedgen Jr. and the genius of Sheets made LNB the first of West Texas banks to break from tradition and become a thing of beauty and a model of business efficiency.

In 1959, LNB needed to expand and razed the 1925 two story bank building on Main Street/Texas Avenue where the bank got its start and began construction on a new four-story building. The entire exterior of the 1939 art deco building was remodeled. Within the building an estimated 22 artistic elements, designed by Millard Sheets were constructed out of Italian travertine marble. Among the many murals within the interior of the bank the large mural in the main lobby east, which depicts the cultures of the southwestern part of the North American continent, is considered one of his outstanding works.

The Maegdan-Sheets concept of a modern banking facilities made LNB something of a tourist attraction. LNB welcomed over 50,000 people to their 1960 open house.

Most certainly due to the bank and the facility’s success, in 1971, LNB announced Court Place, a new eight-story office building, with four mosaic murals by Millard Sheets located in the ground floor lobby.

Again, in 1981, LNB announced another renovation to extend the lobby to the north, construct a new basement and add four upper floors, which added 25,000 more sq ft. As before, Sheets oversaw the construction of the décor; one additional mosaic and two murals. He again ordered Carlo Bella Travertine marble from Italy that matched the originals.

For more than 60 years, Sheets traveled the world and focused his work on the subject matter of the places he visited. In Lubbock, Sheets contributed to over many works of art, between 1959 and 1986. In 1983, Millard and his son Tony painted a mural that now sits in the Texas Tech Museum.

Because of his work in Lubbock, he became very close with local art patrons including Dr. Curry and Mrs. Fran Holden. Sheets frequented Lubbock so often and developed so many friendships that at one point he noted in a letter to Fran and Curry that he considered Lubbock his second home.

Timeline of Millard Sheets work at LNB and other locations in Lubbock:

· Lubbock National Bank, 916 Main St, Lubbock TX (1959 and 1971 and 1983) [see attached Arts in Republic Bank documents for more information]

· Lubbock National Bank, Court Place 1001 Main St Lubbock TX (1971 and 1983) [see attached Arts in Republic Bank documents for more information]

· Charles E. Maedgen Jr. Memorial Surgical Waiting Room, Methodist Hospital, 19th Street, Lubbock, TX, (1974)

· “The Spirit of Texas and Its People Begins With the Land” mosaic mural at Lubbock National Bank, 4811 50th St., (Potentially 1978 or 1982)

· “Horses in Garden” which hangs in the Texas Tech Museum (1983)

· “A Tribute to Our Heritage” at the Memorial Civic Center south concourse hallway in the Lubbock Memorial Civic Center 1501 Mac Davis Lane, Lubbock, TX, 1974 (1986)

This article originally appeared on Lubbock Avalanche-Journal: Caprock Chronicles: Millard Sheets left artistic mark on Lubbock