The gallery is framed by two large murals over its doorways, War and Peace, both by the artist Gari Melchers (1860–1932).

War portrays a chieftain of a primitive culture returning home with his fellow warriors from a successful but dearly won battle. He is crowned with a wreath of laurel and sits proudly astride a magnificent white horse. Warriors carry a roughly constructed stretcher on which they are bringing home the body of a fallen comrade for burial in his native soil. A woman kneels to care for a wounded warrior.

Peace shows a religious procession. The inhabitants of a village have come to the border of a grove bearing on a platform the image of their guardian goddess. The villagers carry various objects and lead a sacrificial bull to be offered as memorials to the goddess in thanks for peace. At the left a priest reads a blessing.

Photography by Carol M. Highsmith.