Wenceslao Sarmiento
Wenceslao Alfonso Sarmiento (September 28, 1922 – 24 November 2013), also known as W.A. Sarmiento, was a Peruvian-born American modernist architect.
Also recorded as Wenceslao Alfonso Sarmiento
Wenceslao Sarmiento

Rsrenterprises · CC BY-SA 4.0
- Name
- Wenceslao Sarmiento
- Born
- September 28, 1922
- Birthplace
- Peru
- Died
- November 24, 2013 (aged 91)
- Place of death
- Santa Monica, California
- Nationality
- United States
- Occupation
- architect
- Education
- National University of Engineering
VALÉORINE Encyclopedia
VALÉORINE documentary reading
Documentary summary
Wenceslao Alfonso Sarmiento (September 28, 1922 – 24 November 2013), also known as W.A. Sarmiento, was a Peruvian-born American modernist architect.
Admitted source layer · organised and presented by VALÉORINE
Note VALÉORINE
Wenceslao Sarmiento (1922–2013) was an American architect. Born in Trujillo, the architect died in Santa Monica. Wenceslao Sarmiento studied at National University of Engineering.
Composed from admitted, traceable facts · 26 September 2026
VALÉORINE
Reference Check
Propose documentary evidence for Wenceslao Sarmiento. A contribution is never written directly as fact: identity, source, rights and evidence gates still decide.
Sign in to contribute
World of VALÉORINE
Documentary connections
Only confirmed graph relationships appear here. Images are shown only when their identity and reuse rights both pass the documentary gate.
Documentary evidence
Documentary basis
Authority files
wikidata · Q3912867 · wikipedia · Wenceslao Sarmiento
In this article
Key facts
Key facts
• Name — Wenceslao Sarmiento • Practice — Sarmiento Associates • Born — September 28, 1922 • Birthplace — Peru • Died — November 24, 2013 (aged 91) • Place of death — Santa Monica, California • Significant Buildings — First Security Bank Building, Phoenix Financial Center • Other Names — W.A. Sarmiento Sarmiento studied in various locations in South America, for eighteen months in the office of Oscar Niemeyer, before coming to the United States. In 1951 while visiting his sister-in-law in Missouri he rear ended an architect who worked for the St. Louis based Bank Building & Equipment Corporation of America. He was hired soon after and served as the head designer for the corporation from 1951 through 1961, after which he founded his own sixty-person Sarmiento Associates office based in St. Louis, Missouri. He relocated to Santa Monica California in the 1970s. He retired in 1980. Sarmiento designed hundreds of banks and other buildings in the postwar years of bank modernization in downtowns, and the construction of new suburban bank towers. His larger work appears as crisp International Style with a visible influence from Niemeyer, perhaps most obvious in his largest project, the 1968 Phoenix Financial Center on Central Avenue in Phoenix, Arizona. The smaller branch banks tend to be more playful, eye-catching, Googie projects. Sarmiento lived in Santa Monica, California and was still active in the preservation of his buildings until his death in 2013. • Illustration — Phoenix Financial Center, Phoenix, Arizona
Major works
Major works
• Illustration — First Security Bank, Salt Lake City, Utah • Illustration — Western Savings, Phoenix, Arizona now Tombstone Tactical • Central Bank of Honduras, Tegucigalpa, Honduras (1952) • Pioneer Savings Bank Building, 3245 Wilshire Boulevard, Los Angeles, California (1953) - Now Consulate General of the Republic of Korea. • Newport Balboa Savings, 3366 Via Lido, Newport Beach California, (1954) - Significantly altered. • First Security Bank Building, 405 S. Main Street, Salt Lake City, Utah (1955) - Now Ken Garff Building, listed on the National Register of Historic Places. • American Investment Co. of Illinois, 8251 Maryland Avenue, Clayton Missouri (1955) • Hibernia National Bank, New Orleans, Louisiana (1955) • Jefferson Bank and Trust Building, 2600 Washington Avenue, St. Louis Missouri (1956) • Fidelity Federal Savings & Loan Building, 225 E. Broadway, Glendale California (1956) - Now Hollywood Production Center. • Bank Building & Equipment Corporation of America Headquarters, 1130 Hampton Avenue, St. Louis, Missouri (1957) - Now Salvation Army Midland Division. • Great Western Savings Bank, 8201 Van Nuys Boulevard, Panorama City, California, (1957) - Now LA Furniture Center. • Crenshaw Savings & Loan, 4401 Crenshaw Boulevard, Los Angeles, California (1958) - now Chase Bank) • Firestone Bank, 1115 S. Main Street, Akron, Ohio (1958) - Now Verge Building. • Glendale Federal Savings and Loan, 401 N. Brand Boulevard, Glendale, California (1959) - Now Hollywood Production Center. • Liberty National Bank & Trust Building, 416 W. Jefferson Street, Louisville, Kentucky (1960) - Now Chase Bank. • Security Federal Savings & Loan, (Skyline Building) 2600 Dr. M.L.K. Jr. N. Street, St. Petersburg, Florida (1961) • Salinas Valley Savings & Loan, 425 Main Street, Salinas, California (1962) - Now Chase Bank. • Salinas Valley Savings & Loan, 1725 Saratoga Avenue, San Jose, California (1962) - Now Chase Bank. • Newport Balboa Savings Headquarters Building, 3366 Via Lido, Newport Beach, California (1963) - Significantly altered. • Phoenix Financial Center, 3443 N. Central Avenue, Phoenix, Arizona (1964-1968) • Chancery Building, on the grounds of the Cathedral Basilica of St. Louis, 4445 Lindell Boulevard, St. Louis Missouri (circa 1965) • Ozarks Federal Savings, 2 E. Columbia Street, Farmington, Missouri (1970) • Clayton Federal Savings and Loan, 135 N Meramec Avenue, Clayton, Missouri (1970) - Now Midwest Regional Bank. • First National Bank and Trust Building, 233 S 13th Street, Lincoln, Nebraska (1970) - In association with Russell McCaleb. Now US Bank Tower. • Lemay Bank and Trust Co. 2568 Telegraph Road, St. Louis, Missouri (1972) - Demolished. • Western Savings at El Con, 3480 E. Broadway Boulevard, Tucson, Arizona (1972) Now Bank of America. • Western Savings at Metrocenter, 10005 Metro Parkway N., Phoenix, Arizona (1974) - Now Tombstone Tactical. • Lemay Bank and Trust Co. 5575 Telegraph Road, St. Louis, Missouri (1976) - Now Midwest BankCentre • American Automobile Association Building, 3940 Lindell Boulevard, St. Louis, Missouri (1977)
Identity and overview
Identity and overview
The following is established of the heading itself.
Works and production
Works and production
The following works and productions are recorded by name or by count. It is also recorded that wenceslao Sarmiento is recorded as human. Recorded with the occupation architect. Recorded with the gender male. Institutional cataloguing adds that wenceslao Sarmiento was born on 22 September 1922. It is also recorded that wenceslao Sarmiento died on 24 November 2013.
Places
Named by the record
Places
Only places the record itself states, plotted where the house gazetteer settles their coordinates. Nothing is inferred from a name or a nationality.
Trujillo.
Birth place
Santa Monica.
Death place
Primary material
Documents and archives
Institutional database
- Wikidata, structured authority record Q3912867: Wenceslao Sarmiento
Scholarly · Wikimedia Foundation
reference work
- “Wenceslao Sarmiento”, English Wikipedia, consulted as further reading
Reputable secondary · Wikipedia
Notes from the source article
Cited by Wikipedia
Notes from the source article
These works are cited by the source article, in its own numbering. They are recorded as its citations, not as sources VALÉORINE has verified.
- 1.washington.edu. Pacific Coast Architecture Database (PCAD).
- 2.Nichols, Chris. Mid Century Master Architect W.A. Sarmiento Dies At 91. Los Angeles Magazine. 2 December 2013.
- 3.Hess, Alan. Googie Redux: Ultramodern Roadside Architecture. Chronicle Books. 58. 2004.
- 4.History of the BB&ECA. Defining Downtown at Mid-century.
- 5.Newport Balboa Savings. Defining Downtown at Mid-century.
- 6.First Security Bank. Defining Downtown at Mid-century.
- 7.American Investment Co. of Illinois. Defining Downtown at Mid-century.
- 8.Jefferson Bank & Trust. Defining Downtown at Mid-century.
- 9.4 Apr 1957, 3 - St. Louis Globe-Democrat at Newspapers.com. Newspapers.com.
- 10.Ohio Mid-Century Modern Banks RoadsideArchitecture.com. www.roadarch.com.
- 11.The Firestone Bank. Defining Downtown at Mid-century.
- 12.Glendale Federal S&L. Defining Downtown at Mid-century.
- 13.Security Federal Savings & Loan. Defining Downtown at Mid-century.
- 14.Security Federal S&L. Defining Downtown at Mid-century.
- 15.Phoenix Financial Center. Defining Downtown at Mid-century.
- 16.Sarmiento Architects. Emporis.
- 17.135 N Meramec 1968 build pic. Newspapers.com.
- 18.US Bank Tower. Emporis.
- 19.3 Dec 1972, Page 56 - St. Louis Post-Dispatch at Newspapers.com. Newspapers.com.
- 20.6 Dec 1976, Page 11 - St. Louis Post-Dispatch at Newspapers.com. Newspapers.com.
- 21.Missouri Mid-Century Modern Office Buildings RoadsideArchitecture.com. www.roadarch.com.
References
Citations
References
Each reference names the institution holding it, so a reader may go to the document itself.
Institutional database
Wikidata, structured authority record Q3912867: Wenceslao SarmientoWikimedia Foundation
Institutional witnessreference work
Secondary witness
Further particulars
Held on the record
Further particulars
Open the remaining particulars
This entry is compiled from 2 catalogued sources across 2 independent registers. The registers consulted are Wikimedia Foundation and Wikipedia. Every statement above is held against the register that stated it; where the registers are silent, the entry is silent.
The Encyclopedia exists whether or not anything is for sale. Corrections are recorded rather than overwritten, and every version of this record is kept. Published 17 August 2026.
Elsewhere in Design
11,558 published records in this field, each with its sources named.
- Wayne McAllisterDesigner
- Webster PaulsonDesigner
- Wellington ReiterDesigner
- Welton BecketDesigner
- Wenche SelmerDesigner
- Wendel RoskopfDesigner
- Wendell Jerome CampbellDesigner
- Wendy CheesmanDesigner
Best supported in this field
For owners
Own a work by Wenceslao Sarmiento?
A specialist will read what you send and tell you what the house can establish, what it cannot, and whether the object is suited to sale. There is no charge and no obligation. The object stays with you throughout; nothing is shipped to us unless it is arranged in writing beforehand.