Homewood Marked by Nearly One Dozen Haas Murals

With the addition of three recently-completed murals, Homewood can lay claim to the most Richard Haas murals in the world.

The new murals set for the village's bikeway system, the railroad and Dixie Highway will join the other eight Haas murals in the village. Haas began creating murals in Homewood in 1983 after the Homewood Village Board commissioned a series of his murals along the Ridge Road commercial properties store-backs.

The murals depict everything from a conservatory filled with flowers; a movie theatre; a music-related piece; to a 1940s-style Dixie service garage. Haas uses a technique called trompe l'oeil to invoke incredibly realistic imagery while simultaneously creating a 3D effect.

The Homewood commissions came only less than a decade after Wisconsin native Haas created his first mural in 1975, according to his website.

The initial murals are all connected by parking lots spanning from Harwood Avenue to Dixie Highway, according to Patch resources. The most-recent murals are east wall of GoodSpeed Cycles; on the south wall of South Suburban Family Shelter; and on the north wall of the Lantry/Delano building, according to resources.

Painter Thomas Melvin, a former student of Haas, began working on the murals in fall 2012, according to a Chicago Tribune article. Haas made a trip to Homewood in the fall of 2011 in order to rehab the existing downtown murals, as well as to begin the process of the three new murals. 

The lastest three murals came with a cost of $108,000. Funds will be provided through two tax increment financing districts, according to resources.

For more information about the New York City-based Haas, visit his website. To learn more about the murals located in Homewood, visit the village's website.