13 Oct photographic survey of 1880s exterior commercial and residential northwestern terra cotta ornament revisited

latest examples of custom-designed (e.g, louis h. sullivan and john wellborn root) and “stock” pattern 1880s red slip terra cotta ornament from my photographic study of 19th century commercial and residential chicago terra cotta, which i hope will eventually evolve into a book chronicling the extensive use of architectural terra cotta on the facades of chicago houses and buildings of the 19th and early 20th century. 

the images of richly colored and finely executed building ornament shown below was executed in the 1880s by the northwestern terra cotta company, chicago, ills. a few of the images selected (e.g., 1880s (e.g., william le baron jenney-designed richardsonian romanesque church built as the second universalist society as the church of the redeemer) showcases ornament that’s unglazed, with a reddish-orange color and greater visibility of grog. these visual characteristics are typically indicative of northwestern’s earliest ornament fabricated after they transitioned from using “white body” terra cotta strictly as “trimmings” on buildings built in the years proceeding the great chicago fire of 1871. 

further reading:

SHOWCASING ORNAMENT THROUGH A NORTHWESTERN TERRA COTTA COMPANY EXECUTIVE’S RESIDENCE