Soulard Tiles

This stunning mural is right on Russell St. in Soulard.  Made of extremely irregularly shaped pieces of terra cotta, some details don't make it to adjacent tiles such as the left cow's legs.  No matter.  It is still a magnificent picture. 

Below is the entire tableau. Click to enlarge them to good effect.

Cathedral Basilica of St. Louis

Cape Girardeau: Southeastern Missourian tiles

Two large murals picturing the history of printing and developments in the field of news, made of highly colorful 6 inch ceramic tiles, are on the eastern exterior wall of the Southeastern Missourian newspaper building in Cape Girardeau.  The paper commissioned the murals, completed in 1947, from the Mosaic Tile Company of Zanesville, Ohio. You can (or will shortly be able to) find more details on my blog St. Louis Mosaic. Pictured here is the first mural,  The Art of Printing, as well as several individual tiles from that mural.  The colors are rich and the murals are filled with detail.

St. Louis: tiles

The arts are also highly valued.

St. Louis: tiles

Science and astronomy are represented in this beautiful tile picture on Henry Shaw School.

St. Louis: tiles

This is the second of a four-part series of tiles on the Henry Shaw School on Columbia Ave. in The Hill neighborhood of St. Louis.

Mathematics is the subject of this design.

St. Louis: tiles

This week features a series of four designs, two each on either street end of the front of the [ -shaped Henry Shaw School on Columbia Avenue. The tiles illustrate four areas of education: history (today's), science, the arts and mathematics.

Built in 1907, this may be a William Ittner school although I believe the architect is uncertain.

If anyone has more information on these tile designs, or on the practice of illustrating the areas of education with symbols, I would like to hear from you. Thanks.

St. Louis: tiles

Carpe Diem, indeed!

St. Louis: tiles

Terra cotta on the Seventh District Police Station's Mounted Patrol Division stable on South Grand at Magnolia.

St. Louis: tiles

These tiles that show the elements of the zodiac are on the east and west facing walls, respect- ively, of the courtyard of the Bryan Mullanphy school on Shaw Boulevard. The zodiac tiles appear identical; the borders are similar in design but the individual tile patterns vary.

The architect was William Ittner of St. Louis, who had 50 schools to his credit plus several homes and notable public buildings.

St. Louis: tiles

Moolah Temple ...the place to start my collection of ceramic tiles on buildings in the city.

Anyone who has spent an hour here knows that red brick was the exterior building material of choice for many years. Builders added tiles, usually sparingly, as ornamentation on many older public buildings and businesses. The tiles added interest to a brick facade by use of design and color.

Builders also used shiny glazed bricks, especially green, and terra cotta of different shades, and they added additional interest with unusually shaped entranceways and roof lines.

Who were these tile artisans? We shall find out.

As the project develops look for me to create a separate blogger site with a link from this page.