he lure of the Mission Inn is, in large measure, defined by the objects that Frank Miller, his family & others, selected to decorate the National Historic Landmark hotel. The objects served as props, and the hotel the setting, for this romantic recreation of the California Mission era. Bells, crosses, religious art, tiles, and other objects found throughout the hotel reflect this period of California’s history, from 1769 to 1823. Many areas of the hotel reflect the California Mission Period. Some of the best representations are found the Cloister Walk, the Saint Francis, St. Cecilia, and Santa Clara Chapels, and the Refectorio. Many other spaces within the hotel were filled with objects from around the world. Other objects were created on-site or commissioned by the Inn’s owner. Miller even employed a curator to manage the purchasing of objects for display and sale (Klotz, 1982). Guests were provided with many opportunities to purchase objects as souvenirs; reminders of their stay at the Mission Inn. Even many of the objects used to furnish the guest rooms were available for purchase.
Miller also had many of the Inn's fine decorative features created on site. Within the workshops of the hotel, artists, artisans, and craftsman created sculpture, wrought iron, furniture, pounded metalwork, and other artistic efforts. It was not uncommon for these artisans to duplicate objects Miller acquired from other sources, including furniture pieces inspired by the Arts and Crafts movement: the work of Gustave Stickley, Elbert Hubbard’s Roycrofters, and Charles Limbert (Congdon-Martin, 1998 and Hall, 2000). The Mission Inn collections include beds and desks with the Raincross symbol made by Limbert. Other furniture is marked or branded (burned) with the name “Glenwood” (the original name of the Mission Inn).
Two of the more notable artists associated with the Mission Inn were William A. Sharp and Archibald A. Barrelle. Sharp was a multi-talented artist. He designed stained glass windows and the Mission Inn shield-like escutcheon welcoming guests: ENTRES ES SU CASA, AMIGO (Enter, this is your home, friend). He was a painter and he also created the artwork used for various hotel publications, including menus and postcards. Other talented stained glass artists included William Goodhue from Boston, who designed the three windows in the Cloister Music Room dedicated to Frank Miller’s first wife, Isabella; and Jessie Van Brunt, who designed stained glass windows in the Spanish Art Gallery.
Artist Archibald Barrelle collaborated with several people, including Sharp, Thyrsis Field, W. R. Elfers, and Albert Stahler. The St. Francis bronze and iron doors, now located between the Lobby and California Room, are an excellent example of the collaboration between Field, Stahler, W. R. Elfers, and Barrelle. Each door contains thirteen panels, with each panel depicting an episode in the life of St. Francis. Barrelle served as an “artist in residence,” teaching art classes sponsored by Frank Miller, with the students enjoying a type of artist/apprentice relationships.
Miller successfully acquired objects from a variety of sources and areas of the world. The Panama Pacific International Exposition (World’s Fair) held in San Francisco in 1915 was an important source (Klotz, 1982). The two bronze Spanish Cannon at the hotel’s entrance, a carved relief depicting the world religions by sculptor Alexander Sterling Calder, and the Pontifical Court (life-like wax, paper, and wood figures of Pope Pius X and his court) were acquired sometime after the close of the fair (Klotz, 1982).
Miller purchased many paintings. Examples include the William Keith painting titled California Alps, the paintings of the California missions by Henry Chapman Ford, Mexican and Spanish Colonial Art, and works by Russian artists N. Kosscheloff and Vasilli Vereshchaginthe (Klotz, 1982). Artists J.E. McBurney and Kansas artist George Melville Stone were commissioned by Miller to create several paintings with a California mission or discovery theme (Hutchings, 1951). Their art was displayed with the Henry Chapman Ford paintings in the basement of the Cloister Walk, which served as another art gallery for Frank Miller.
The names of Sharp, Keith, Goodhue, Stone, and Van Brunt are well-documented, despite the lack of records within the Mission Inn collections. Other artists remain unknown, including those who created the Mexican Colonial paintings. In some cultures, it was not common to sign a work of art. Despite the anonymity of many of the paintings within the Mission Inn collections, they are an essential part of the artistic flavor of the site.
An important aspect of the hotel’s history is the association with Sherman Indian School (formally known as Sherman Institute). The school was moved from Perris, California (southeast of Riverside) to Riverside in 1903. Students from the school worked at the hotel in several capacities, including Housekeeping and crafted furniture. The American Indian basket collection is a reminder of this important connection to Sherman and the Native American cultures.
Another artistic is in great evidence in various sections of the hotel, far different than the image of red tiled roofs, adobe bricks, and the religious art of the many Catholic Saints. Gongs and bells, lacquered furniture, Buddha’s, and pottery of Japan, China, and other parts of the Pacific Rim countries are prominently featured throughout the hotel. Frank Miller embraced these cultures with the same enthusiasm he held for the California missions.
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Selected Bibliography
Bowman, Leslie Greene. (1990). American Arts & Crafts Virtue in Design. Boston: Bulfinch Press/Little, Brown and Company.
Congdon-Martin, Douglas. (1998). Arts & Crafts: the California Home. Atgeln, PA: Schiffer Publishing Ltd.
Gale, Zona. (1938). Frank Miller of Mission Inn. NewYork: D. Appleton-CenturyCompany.
Hall, Joan H. (2000.). Through the Doors of the Mission Inn Volume II. Riverside, CA: Highgrove Press.
Hodgen, Maurice. (2004). More Than Decoration Asian Objects at the Mission Inn. Riverside, CA: Ashburton Publishing.
Hutchings, DeWitt. (Ed.). (1951). Handbook of the Mission Inn Riverside California. Riverside, CA: Mission Inn.
Klotz, Esther. (1982). The Mission Inn: Its History and Artifacts. Riverside, CA: Rubidoux Printing.
Lech, Steven and Kim Jarrell Johnson. (2006). Riverside's Mission Inn. Mount Pleasant, SC: Arcadia Publishing.
Moore, Barbara. (Ed.). (1998). Historic Mission Inn. Riverside: Friends of the Mission Inn.
Neuerburg, Norman. (Ed.). (1989). An Artist Records The California Missions. San Francisco: The Book Club of California.
Winter, Robert. (Ed.). (1997). Toward a Simpler Way of Life The Arts & Crafts Architects of California. Berkeley: University of California Press.
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Identified Resources/Links
Pacific Asia Museum
http://www.pacificasiamuseum.org
Los Angeles County Museum of Art (includes Japanese Pavilion)
http://www.lacma.org
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