Pictured below is perhaps the most artful example of antique tiles in downtown Lexington Virginia. It is the floor of R.E. Lee Espicopal Church built in 1885 and located at 123 W. Washington Street. Various size pieces of tile including squares, triangles, rectangles, and parallelograms make up this butt joint quarry tile installation.

  

Another outstanding display can be seen in Lexington's old courthouse, renamed 2 South Main.
It has recently been renovated and converted to office spaces. You'll find a beautiful
example of 1896 decorative butt joint quarry tile.

When you think of Lexington, Virginia, you might think of George Washington, Thomas Jefferson, Robert E. Lee, Stonewall Jackson, Cyrus McCormick, Sam Houston and George C. Marshall, Washington & Lee University and Virginia Military Institute. You might think of national historic landmarks or the majestic Natural Bridge. All play significant roles in Lexington and Rockbridge County's rich history of people and institutions, making Lexington a popular tourist destination for history buffs.

But there's a little-known history on the floors of Lexington. Its homes and shops have numerous examples of antique tile installations in a variety commonly seen today only in major cities. By walking around just one square block of the charming downtown area, you can see at least a dozen antique tile installations that have not been covered up or replaced.

At Creative Tile, we are in the process of researching these installations to find out the names of the companies or individuals who expertly and artistically laid these tiles which have held up to at least a hundred years of foot traffic and weather. An expert on the subject of historic buildings in Lexington has suggested that the tiles may have been laid by a local brick layer named John Champ, but we don't yet have a confirmation of that.

Champ was an important figure in modernizing downtown buildings during the late 1800s and the early 1900s as materials became accessible with the completion of rail lines through the area. Around the time that the tiles were being laid, large plate glass windows were also being installed in many of the storefronts. These were common practices of the era, not unique to Lexington. What is unique to Lexington is the long-running concerted effort to preserve the architectural integrity of its downtown.

As we get more information about the history of these installations, we will post it on this site. If you have any information about tile installations of this era, we would love to hear from you. We're curious about the origin of the tiles, the price, the profession, or any anecdotes you can share.

Worth noting is the manner in which all of the tiles pictured here have been laid. Had the tiles been spaced and grouted the way they are commonly installed today, they would not be here to be enjoyed. The grout joint is installed tile's weakest link and accounts for the shorter life span of modern tile surfaces..

Subject: Re: Antique tile manufacturers

Charlie, this is great! We will post your web address in our upcoming E-News that's sent out to 1000+ tile nuts around the country. See http://www.tileheritage.org/THF-ENews_04-10.html.

As you are no doubt aware, the geometric tile floors in the church are what the British call "geometrics" and Americans call "encaustics," even though technically these are not encaustic (inlaid) tiles. By 1885 there were a number of companies in the US, maybe a half dozen, that manufactured these geometrics; most of them made encaustic tiles as well but these would have been more expensive. The chances are that the name of the manufacturer may be ifound on the backs of the tiles, so if any happen to be loose...

The courthouse tiles are true encaustics and were probably made in the US. Again, you'd have to lift a tile to identify the maker. It's likely that Mike Sims (simsm@ohiou.edu) would be able to tell you the company that made them (and the other encaustics on the tour). Mike is this country's premier encaustic tile historian.

The initial installations on the tour are ceramic mosaics that (also) were produced by a number of companies beginning in about 1890. Made of porcelain and most often unglazed, these tiles were designed to last a long time and they have indeed. The reason most have been lost as they've been torn out in order to modernize a building. But today, things are turning around: American Restoration Tile in Little Rock (see http://www.restorationtile.com/) is busy reproducing these tiles for historic repairs as well as for new installations.

I can't thank you enough for contacting Tile Heritage.

Joe Taylor
President

Join Tile Heritage! For research and preservation of ceramic surfaces.

Subject: Re: encaustic tile

Hi Charlie,

I can identify a few of the installations' makers due to each company usually, but not always, producing own set of encaustic designs.
1) R.E. Lee Church - no distinctive encaustic tiles, but if date is correct, then maker probably American Encaustic Tiling Co. (Zanesville, Ohio); United States Encaustic Tile Company/Works (Indianapolis, Indiana); or Star Encaustic Tile Company (Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania). A.E. or U.S. best guess.
2) Old Courthouse - Mosaic Tile Company of Zanesville, Ohio. They made encaustic tiles like these 1895 - 1900 under company founder Hermann Mueller's patented and award-winning process.
3) Southern Inn entrance - hard to tell from small picture of encaustic tile, but most likely U.S.E.T. Co./Works. Possibly English.
4) Lexington Coffee - hard to tell from small image, but U.S.E.T. best guess, a slight chance Columbia Encaustic Tile Company (Anderson, Indiana).

As to the others - there were a bunch of companies making vitreous ceramic mosaic tile floors at the time. No telling who made which since there was so much overlap and similarity of design from maker to maker.

As to production methods, etc., there area number of books that address these topics in far greater detail than I can cover in an email. Good sources include:
Minton Tiles 1835 - 1935; The Decorated Tile (Austwick); Church Tiles of the 19th Century; Victorian Ceramic Tiles (Bernard). These are all English books, but the American tile companies employed pretty much the same methods. For some American variations, see "F.H.Hall: Pioneer and Enigma of the American Tile Industry" (in Tile Heritage, A Review of American Tile History, Vol. 3, No. 1, 1996 - Tile Heritage Foundation).

Regarding installing tile floors in 19th century - a good, smooth, level cement base was required; tiles often soaked in water overnight so wouldn't suck all the water out of the installation cement before it dried/cured; always started in the exact center of the floor and worked toward the walls - easier to hide variations in floor dimensions along edges with slightly different widths of edge tiles.

Hope this helps.
Mike Sims