Wenceslaus Sarmiento
Encyclopedia
Peru
Peru , officially the Republic of Peru , is a country in western South America. It is bordered on the north by Ecuador and Colombia, on the east by Brazil, on the southeast by Bolivia, on the south by Chile, and on the west by the Pacific Ocean....
vian-born American
United States
The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...
modernist
Modern architecture
Modern architecture is generally characterized by simplification of form and creation of ornament from the structure and theme of the building. It is a term applied to an overarching movement, with its exact definition and scope varying widely...
architect
Architect
An architect is a person trained in the planning, design and oversight of the construction of buildings. To practice architecture means to offer or render services in connection with the design and construction of a building, or group of buildings and the space within the site surrounding the...
.
Sarmiento studied in various locations in South America
South America
South America is a continent situated in the Western Hemisphere, mostly in the Southern Hemisphere, with a relatively small portion in the Northern Hemisphere. The continent is also considered a subcontinent of the Americas. It is bordered on the west by the Pacific Ocean and on the north and east...
, for eighteen months in the office of Oscar Niemeyer
Oscar Niemeyer
Oscar Ribeiro de Almeida Niemeyer Soares Filho is a Brazilian architect specializing in international modern architecture...
, before coming to the United States. He served as the head designer for the Bank Building Corporation of America from 1951 through 1961, after which he founded his own sixty-person Sarmiento Associates office based in St. Louis, Missouri
St. Louis, Missouri
St. Louis is an independent city on the eastern border of Missouri, United States. With a population of 319,294, it was the 58th-largest U.S. city at the 2010 U.S. Census. The Greater St...
. He retired in 1980.
Sarmiento designed hundreds of banks and other buildings in the postwar years of bank modernization in downtown
Downtown
Downtown is a term primarily used in North America by English speakers to refer to a city's core or central business district ....
s, and the construction of new suburb
Suburb
The word suburb mostly refers to a residential area, either existing as part of a city or as a separate residential community within commuting distance of a city . Some suburbs have a degree of administrative autonomy, and most have lower population density than inner city neighborhoods...
an bank towers. His larger work appears as crisp International Style
International style (architecture)
The International style is a major architectural style that emerged in the 1920s and 1930s, the formative decades of Modern architecture. The term originated from the name of a book by Henry-Russell Hitchcock and Philip Johnson, The International Style...
with a visible influence from Niemeyer, perhaps most obvious in his largest project, the 1968 Phoenix Financial Center
Phoenix Financial Center
The Phoenix Financial Center is a high-rise office building located along Central Avenue in the Midtown district of Phoenix, Arizona, United States. It was built in 1968 by the Financial Corporation of Arizona. At the time, the main tower consisted only of 11 stories; the extra eight were added in...
on Central Avenue in Phoenix, Arizona
Phoenix, Arizona
Phoenix is the capital, and largest city, of the U.S. state of Arizona, as well as the sixth most populated city in the United States. Phoenix is home to 1,445,632 people according to the official 2010 U.S. Census Bureau data...
. The smaller branch banks tend to be more playful, eye-catching, Googie
Googie architecture
Googie architecture is a form of modern architecture, a subdivision of futurist architecture influenced by car culture and the Space and Atomic Ages....
projects.
Sarmiento lives in Santa Monica, California
Santa Monica, California
Santa Monica is a beachfront city in western Los Angeles County, California, US. Situated on Santa Monica Bay, it is surrounded on three sides by the city of Los Angeles — Pacific Palisades on the northwest, Brentwood on the north, West Los Angeles on the northeast, Mar Vista on the east, and...
and is still active in the preservation of his buildings.
Major works
- Pioneer Savings Bank Building, on Wilshire BoulevardWilshire BoulevardWilshire Boulevard is one of the principal east-west arterial roads in Los Angeles, California, United States. It was named for Henry Gaylord Wilshire , an Ohio native who made and lost fortunes in real estate, farming, and gold mining. Henry Wilshire initiated what was to become Wilshire...
(3245 Wilshire Boulevard, at northeast corner of New Hampshire St., opposite I. Magnin building), Los AngelesLos ÁngelesLos Ángeles is the capital of the province of Biobío, in the commune of the same name, in Region VIII , in the center-south of Chile. It is located between the Laja and Biobío rivers. The population is 123,445 inhabitants...
, 1953 - First Security Bank Building, Salt Lake City, 1955 (listed on the National Register of Historic PlacesNational Register of Historic PlacesThe National Register of Historic Places is the United States government's official list of districts, sites, buildings, structures, and objects deemed worthy of preservation...
) - Fidelity Federal Savings & Loan Building, CaliforniaCaliforniaCalifornia is a state located on the West Coast of the United States. It is by far the most populous U.S. state, and the third-largest by land area...
, 1956 - Glendale Federal Savings and Loan, Glendale, CaliforniaGlendale, CaliforniaGlendale is a city in Los Angeles County, California, United States. As of the 2010 Census, the city population is 191,719, down from 194,973 at the 2000 census. making it the third largest city in Los Angeles County and the 22nd largest city in the state of California...
, 1959 - Newport Balboa Savings, Newport Beach, CaliforniaNewport Beach, CaliforniaNewport Beach, incorporated in 1906, is a city in Orange County, California, south of downtown Santa Ana. The population was 85,186 at the 2010 census.The city's median family income and property values consistently place high in national rankings...
, 1963 - Chancery Building, on the grounds of the Cathedral Basilica of St. LouisCathedral Basilica of St. LouisThe Cathedral Basilica of Saint Louis, also known as the Saint Louis Cathedral or the New Cathedral, was completed in 1914 in St. Louis, Missouri, as the archdiocesan replacement for the Cathedral of St. Louis, King of France...
, circa 1965 - Phoenix Financial Center, Phoenix, Arizona, 1968
- Tucson Western Savings at El Con, Tucson, Arizona 1972
Sources
- National Trust page on the preservation of the First Security Bank in Salt Lake City
- photo of a Sarmiento branch bank
- Googie Redux, by Alan HessAlan HessAlan Hess is an American architect, author, lecturer and advocate for twentieth century architectural preservation."Alan Hess [is] a prominent California architecture critic who has written extensively on roadside strips," writes the New York Times...