(For the past year or so I have only written here very sporadically because of my family situation. I will try to remedy that in the future. Below is an article written by two people who are intimately involved with this project. MP)
The "Our Beth" Project:
Minton Tiles and Bethesda Terrace
by Danny Callaghan (UK) & Matt Reiley (USA),
guest artists/bloggers
Background: Bethesda Terrace was designed as the formal centrepiece of Central Park, New York City. It’s affectionately known as ‘the heart of the park’. The majestic Arcade is famed for its unique Minton Tile Ceiling created with nearly 16,000 encaustic tiles made in The Potteries (Stoke-on-Trent, England) over 150 years ago. Less well known is the ‘lost floor’ also commissioned from Minton & installed at the same time in the mid 1860s; but sadly replaced by 1911 after suffering from serious water damage & subsidence. The floor designs were very different to those of the ceiling & it was created using an estimated 45,000 bespoke encaustic & (smaller) geometric tiles. The original vision for ceiling & floor tiles was hugely symbolic & significant for lots of reasons & its loss means that Bethesda Terrace & Central Park are effectively missing a very important part of this magnificent landmark.
The grand vision including Bethesda Terrace was outlined in Olmsted & Vaux’s Greensward Plan for Central Park. However, the somewhat unsung hero behind the exquisite design details including the Minton Tiles was Jacob Wrey Mould; a then recently naturalised British Architect who had previously worked under Owen Jones; the influential Architect & Design Theorist famed for his ‘Grammar of Ornament’ (published in 1856). Wrey Mould’s Minton Tile designs for Bethesda Terrace clearly owe much to his earlier experiences with Jones.
Project: A small consignment of original ceiling & floor tiles will make a unique return journey from Manhattan - via Liverpool - to their ’birthplace’ in Stoke-on-Trent as part of a transatlantic cultural (re)connection project led by Danny Callaghan (UK) & Matt Reiley (USA). The two artists will undertake a month-long odyssey - guided by the original transit route - which aims to celebrate the historic commission & promote a contemporary conversation about the wider cultural significance & value of this majestic tile masterpiece.
The Minton Tile Ceiling at Bethesda Arcade is the most visited & photographed architectural ceramic in the world; with many of the estimated 65million visitors making their pilgrimage each year. Over the decades the tiles & terrace have developed an almost mythical reputation as a focus for love, protest and congregation. A wide range of individuals & communities have strong connections with this location & these tiles; many people (rightly) lay claim to ‘Our Beth’ as the focus & backdrop for their own significant experiences down the years.
How about you? Do you have a connection with Bethesda Terrace & the Minton Tile Ceiling? You might own Minton Tiles or maybe you or your family even worked for the company & could share Minton memories? Perhaps you can shed more light on the history & contemporary nature of some of the key places that feature along the original transit route: Central Park, Port of New York, Liverpool Docks, Trent & Mersey Canal or The Potteries? What’s your ‘Our Beth’ story?
Tile Tales & More…
Here’s a taster of the original transit route & some of the shared stories Our Beth will explore & celebrate; hopefully with your help! The images are arranged in reverse order to echo the ‘return journey’ to be retraced during the project;
New York - Liverpool - Stoke-on-Trent
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Minton Tiles c. 1865 -1867; Bethesda Terrace, Central Park NYC (USA); Manufactured in Stoke-on-Trent, England |
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Miller & Coates: Tile supplier & import agent based at 279, Pearl Street, Manhattan. This is an introduction page taken from an 1890s catalogue. Miller & Coates were engaged by Central Park Commissioners to supply & broker the import of Minton Tiles for Bethesda Terrace Arcade. Credit: https://archive.org. |
Get involved & join the conversation:
Weekend Pop Up Events (Heritage Buskers, Secret Museum & Shared Tile Tales):
- 24th & 25th August 10:30am - 3:30pm at Bethesda Terrace, Central Park NYC (USA) Minton Tile Ceiling, Bethesda Arcade (Bethesda Terrace & Fountain).
- 31st August & 1st September 10:30am - 3:30pm at South Street Seaport Historic District NYC (USA) Various locations through the two days including: Fulton Street, Schermerhorn Row, Pier 16, Peck Slip, Pearl Street; check our Twitter account on the day for locations & come find us!
- 14th & 15th September 10:30am - 3:30pm at Albert Dock, Liverpool (UK)* Various locations through the two days including: Salt House Quayside, Pump House, Merseyside Maritime Museum, Canning Dock, Piermaster’s House, Dukes Dock; check our Twitter account on the day for locations & come find us!
- 21st & 22nd September 10:30am - 3:30pm at CLAYHEAD, Stoke-on-Trent (UK)* Winkhill Mill, Swan Street, Stoke-on-Trent ST4 7RH. Click here for a location map.*UK dates coincide with national Heritage Open Days 2019; click here for more information.
Website & Social Media
You can follow the journey & join the conversation by exploring the journal (blog), listening to our podcasts & interacting with us on Twitter @potteriestiles. Our website social (media wall) will also enable you to connect with us & share your contributions if you use Twitter, Facebook or Instagram & use #OurBeth (click here to check it out).
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(I would like to thank Danny Callaghan and Matt Reiley for allowing me to post this material. Danny was also very helpful to me when I wrote about the restoration of the Bethesda Terrace tiles in 2016.
For more information about this project and about tile making in the UK, take a look at the websites mentioned in this post--Ceramic City Stories, the "Our Beth" homepage, and http://www.thepotteries.org--histories of the potteries in the six towns that make up the City of Stoke-on-Trent.)
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REQUEST FOR INFORMATION:I'm trying to locate images of a 1927 set of 10 American Encaustic Tiling Co. art-deco tiles for an article. The tile set was designed by the Mexican artist and costume designer Augustin Lazo for Carlos Chávez' Aztec Ballet, which was performed in 1927/28. A tile set was placed in the Metropolitan Museum of Art's traveling exhibit, the "International Exhibition of Ceramic Art" in 1928, and two tiles were pictured in the catalog. I went to the Met library, but they couldn't find any photos of the tile set in their archives. So far, I only have seen images of four of the tiles. Do you know of anyone or any institution that might have photos of the rest of the tiles? Some of those other tiles were described as "dancing medicine man, sun warrior, Indian warrior & bird, and headless dancing figure."
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| One of the Aztec Ballet tiles. (From a private collection managed by Joanne Stuhr Curatorial Services, Tucson, Arizona.) |
(Please contact me with any information at mpadwee'at'gmail'dot'com.)
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LINKS TO MY PAST BLOG ARTICLES
"Three Photographers--One Family" an exhibit; and the Maison Jamaer in Brusselsread more...
"New Discoveries III: A Children's Tile Mural in New Jersey"read more...
"New Resources and Updates: the Shopfront Elegy blog and Jean Nison's tiled furniture"
"Newark, New Jersey Loses Another Architectural Gem: Science High School"
"A Possible Early Sketch for one of Frederick Dana Marsh's Marine Grill Murals" and a new exhibit.
"The Commercial and Personal Art Tiles of Rafael Guastavino, Jr.: Part II"
"The Lower East Side and Bialystoker Landsmanshaftn"
"The Identification of United States Art Tiles" and three new resources
"Tile Advertisements in the Paris Métro" and "SAVED!!! The Empire State Dairy Tile Murals in Brooklyn, New York"
"The Sevillian tile style: Catalogo de Azulejos de Estilo Sevillano"
"Bits and Pieces: Updates for the Lever House, the Kesner Building and 2116 Ditmas Avenue, Brooklyn" and an obituary for Robert Pinart
"The Commercial and Personal Art Tiles of Rafael Guastavino, Jr." (Part I)
"Art Deco Commercial Architecture: Montgomery Ward’s Mid-Size Department Stores"
"Tessellations: Islamic Tile Patterns and M.C. Escher"
"Grant's Tomb, the Community and the Gaudi-esque benches of Pedro Silva" AND A request for help
"A Factory As It Might Be" and the 2016 Ortner Preservation Awards
The Atlantic Terra Cotta Company and the Beginnings of Polychrome Terra Cotta Use
Bits and Pieces: The Brooklyn-Battery Tunnel and following up on the James N. Gamble House and the Charles Volkmar Overmantle Mural
Art Deco Buildings and Their Lobbies: the Chrysler Building, the Film Center Building and the Kent Garage/Sofia Brothers Storage Warehouse
ARCHITECTURAL MURALS OF LUMEN MARTIN WINTER and a REPORT ON THE EMPIRE STATE DAIRY BUILDING
The Heart of the Park: Bethesda Terrace and its suspended Minton Tile ceiling
A Landmarks hearing was held on July 19, 2016...
Two Restorations: The City Hall Subway Station and the Tweed Courthouse
Egyptian, Moorish and Middle Eastern Ornamentation Used In Art Deco Terra Cotta in New York City, and Empire State Dairy Update
Wall Murals in Brooklyn: A Mini Survey
Inside Prospect Park: The park's Rustic, Classical and other Internal Architecture
Herman Carl Mueller in Titusville and Trenton, New Jersey; A Charles Volkmar Discovery in Clifton, New Jersey
A Book Review and New Discoveries and Updates-II: Jean Nisan, Ceramic Tile Artist
Polychrome Terra Cotta Buildings in Newark, New Jersey
New Discoveries-I: The Tiled House of Jere T. Smith
Introducing the Stained and Dalle de Verre Glass Art of Robert Pinart
Bits and Pieces: Polychrome Terra Cotta- and Tile-Clad Buildings
Socialist and Labor Architecture and Iconography in New York City
Bits and Pieces: Two Mosaics--Hamden, CT and Manchester, NH
The Renaissance Casino and Ballroom Complex in Harlem: Another Tunisian Tile Installation Headed for Demolition
Clement J. Barnhorn and the Rookwood Pottery
The Woolworth Building
The Mosaic Art of Hildreth Meière
Lost Tile Installations: The Tunisian Tiles of the Chemla Family
The Grueby Children's Murals on East 104th Street
The Experimental Lustre Tiles of Rafael Guastavino, Jr.
Bits and Pieces: Two "E"s--Eltinge and Elks; and more about Jean Nison
The Ceramic Tiles and Murals of Jean Nison
Pleasant Days in Short Hills: A Rookwood Wonderland
Architectural Ceramics in the Queen City
Isaac Broome: Innovation and Design in the Tile Industry after the Centennial Exhibition
"Immigration on the Lower East Side": A Public Arts Mural Created by Richard Haas
Movie Palaces-Part 2: The Loews 175th Street Theatre
Béton-Coignet in New York: The New York and Long Island Coignet Stone Company
Michelin House, London
Movie Palaces, Part 1: Loew's Valencia Theatre
An Architectural and Ceramic Tour of Istanbul - Part II
The Tiles of Fonthill Castle
An Architectural and Ceramic Tour of Istanbul - Part I
Tiled Facades in Madrid
Nineteenth Century Brooklyn Potteries
Ernest Batchelder in Manhattan
Leon Victor Solon: Color, Ceramics and Architecture
Architectural Art Tiles in Reading, Pennsylvania
Charles Lamb and Charles Volkmar
Kansas City Architecture - II
Kansas City Architecture - I
Westchester County--Atwood and Grueby
Modern Houses in New Caanan, Connecticut
PPG Place, Pittsburgh
Aluminum City Terrace, New Kensington, Pennsylvania
Newark's WPA Tile Murals: “Fine Art is an Important Part of Everyday Life”
Public Art Programs in New York City: The CETA Tile Murals at Clark Street
Concrete and Tiles-I: Moyer, Mercer, Murosa
The Café Savarin and the Rookwood Pottery; Chocolate Shoppe Rebounds
Architectural Ceramics of Henry Varnum Poor
Herman Carl Mueller and the Church of St. Thomas the Apostle
Meet Me at the Astor
The Mikvah Under 5 Allen Street; "Historic Hall" Apartments Revisited
London Post-3
Some Moravian Tile Sites in New York
London Post-2
London Post-1
Brooklyn's International Tile Company
Subway Tiles-Part III, the Squire Vickers Era
Subway Tiles-Part II, Heins and LaFarge
Subway Tiles--Part I, Guastavino tiles
Trent in New York-Part III, Historic Hall Apartment House
American Encaustic Tiling Company-Part II, Artists' Tiles
Trent in New York-Part II, a Dey Street Restaurant
American Encaustic Tiling Company-Part I, Tile Showrooms
Trent in New York-Part I, The Bronx Theatre
Fred Dana Marsh's Tiles
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About this blog:
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