Richard John Haas (born August 29, 1936) is an American muralist who is best known for architectural murals and his use of the trompe-l'œil style.
Haas's murals have been commissioned for interiors and exteriors of numerous public and private buildings in the United States.
Exterior projects include Chase Field; the Robert C. Byrd Federal Building & Courthouse in Beckley, West Virginia, the Boston Architectural College, the former Edison Brothers Shoe Storage building, now a Red Lion Hotel in St. Louis, the Kroeger Building in Cincinnati (Homage to Cincinnatus), the Oregon Historical Society (in Portland, Oregon), 23rd and Chestnut Streets in Philadelphia, Sundance Square in Fort Worth, Texas, multiple façades in Homewood, Illinois, the corner of 83rd and York in New York City, a mural on the Con Edison substation in Peck Slip, New York, featuring the Brooklyn Bridge, and the former Board of Education building in Brooklyn, New York.
Interiors include the New York Public Library Main Branch; the Lakewood, Ohio Public Library; the Sarasota County, Florida Judicial Center, the Smithsonian Institution, Washington, D.C., 101 Merrimac Building, Boston, the Federal Courthouse in Beckley, West Virginia, the Federal Courthouse and Federal Building in Kansas City, Kansas, the Nashville, Tennessee Public Library history murals, the 1991 five-panel mural in the lobby of the 24-story office building at Landmark Square at 111 West Ocean Boulevard in Long Beach, California representing the major aspects of economic development in the city, as well as many other murals.
[1][2][3] Haas created a three-sided mural on the Edison Brothers Stores building, St. Louis, Missouri, in 1984.
[4] In addition to a unique and quaint downtown area, Homewood, Illinois, now boasts the largest collection of Richard Haas murals anywhere in the world.
In the downtown area, there are 9 original murals which capture the history of Homewood from the movie theater and 1950s diner to paying homage to the prairie.
[citation needed] He was elected into the National Academy of Design in 1993 as an Associate member, and became a full Academician in 1994.