Downtown Post Office Mural – Burbank CA

City:
Burbank, CA

Site Type:
Murals, Art Works

New Deal Agencies:
Treasury Section of Fine Arts (TSFA), Arts Programs, Federal & Military Operations, Public Buildings Administration (PBA)

Completed:
1940

Artist:
Barse Miller

Quality of Information:
Moderate

Marked:
Unknown

Site Survival:
Extant

Description

In 1940, Barse Miller painted a two-panel mural at the Downtown Post Office in Burbank, CA. The project was funded by the Section of Fine Arts (SFA) under the newly-created Public Buildings Administration.

“This postal branch is graced by a two-panel mural saluting the city’s most famous industries–filmmaking and aeronautics. Titled ‘People of Burbank,’ the 1940 work by Barse Miller fits in with the building’s tile and wrought-iron Spanish mission motif” (Rasmussen, 1993).

Barse Miller was a teacher at The ArtCenter School in Los Angeles. His other New Deal–funded works in the region include a set of four frescoes (1936) at George Washington Preparatory High School in Los Angeles, CA.

Note: Established in 1939, the Section of Fine Arts succeeded the Treasury Section of Painting and Sculpture (1934-1938) and the Treasury Section of Fine Arts (1938-1939) in overseeing artworks created to enhance public buildings, notably post offices.

Source notes

Cecilia Rasmussen, "WPA Projects," Los Angeles Times, Nov. 22, 1993 (accessed Mar. 25, 2023).

New Deal/W.P.A. Art in California (accessed Mar. 25, 2023)

New Deal Art Registry

Site originally submitted by Shaina Potts on June 15, 2009.
Additional contributions by Natalie McDonald.

Location Info


135 E Olive Ave
Burbank, CA Los Angeles County

Coordinates: 34.1805, -118.3097

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